Two recent items, starting with one that arrived in the mail along with Stephen Sondheim’s Finishing the Hat: a DVD of the 1966 ABC Stage 67 production of Evening Primrose, a tv musical, a tragic love story, with music and lyrics by Sondheim (starring Anthony Perkins, Charmian Carr, Larry Gates, and Dorothy Stickney).
So this is now added to the Sondheim material on my iTunes: Company, Follies, Gypsy, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, West Side Story (some in several versions), plus Barbara Cook Sings Mostly Sondheim and the cast recording of Sondheim on Sondheim. Fabulous stuff, all with a dark side and amazing lyrics.
And then, in the book department, a gift from two friends, a copy (signed by the author) of David Chu’s new Frozen Music: A Literary Exploration of California Architecture — a fascinating collection of writing on the subject from the beginnings (George Vancouver’s Early Days) through recent times. Including a selection from Helen Hunt Jackson’s 1884 novel Ramona (special to me since I live on Ramona St. in Palo Alto, one of the many literarily named city streets; the immediately parallel streets are Emerson on one side, Bryant on the other).
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