The actor and writer’s book of essays ‘I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are’ is out now.
There are n’t many people out there who can do multiple affair and do them all well . Whether or not she ’d match with me , actor and writer Rachel Bloom is one of those people .
The 35 - year - honest-to-goodness created The CW’sCrazy Ex - Girlfriend , the musical comedy - dramatic play that run for four seasons and made many women ( myself include ) feel uncomfortably seen in protagonist Rebecca Bunch , a attorney who upheave her biography to follow her ex - boyfriend from summer encampment to California . It ’s not surprising that , in the wake ofCrazy Ex - Girlfriend , Bloom has multiple undertaking in the works , including two unlike shows at Hulu — one will reunify her with Aline Brosh McKenna , with whom she createdCrazy Ex — and a film calledBar Fightco - starringBrooklyn Nine - Nine ’s Melissa Fumero . But over the last few pandemic years , Bloom has been interfering writing her new Scripture of essays , I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are , which is a delicious treat that explores genial wellness , pregnancy , being a horny teenager , etc . Per always , she writes uproariously and insightfully about these topics .
If you ’re a fan of Bloom andCrazy Ex , you know that Broadway is a huge inhalation for her in many ways — look no further than truly the entire show . ( “ You Stupid Bitch ” and “ Rebecca ’s Reprise ” are personal standouts . ) So who good for Bloom to talk about than the late Stephen Sondheim , one of her heroes and another person who fell into that “ can do many thing and do them well ” class ?
Illustration by Maitane Romagosa for Thrillist. Photos by Presley Ann/Getty Images, Oliver Morris/Getty Images, and Evening Standard/Getty Images.
This interview has been edited and condensed .
Sondheim Becoming Sondheim: An Overview
He was born in the ‘ 30s . When he was a kid , his father left his female parent . His female parent was an incredibly emotionally abusive person . Sondheim said in numerous interviews , she said , " My biggest regret in life is giving you birth . " His mother voice like someone who , from what I cognise about psychology , had some form of personality disorder . [ He was ] enormously abuse and slow realizing he ’s gay at a clip where that ’s not something you sing about . [ After Sondheim ’s parent ’s divorcement they survive in Pennsylvania ] , where they lived down the street from Oscar Hammerstein of Rodgers and Hammerstein .
And somehow Oscar Hammerstein becomes his foster father . Sondheim said in legion interviews , " If Oscar Hammerstein had been a butcher , I would ’ve been a slaughterer . If he ’d been a blacksmith , I would ’ve been a blacksmith . He was a melodious theater author . So , that ’s what I wanted to become . " And that ’s what inspired Sondheim to spell melodious theater . There ’s this story where he wrote this musical for his prep school day and thought , " This is splendid . I ’m break down to show this to Oscar Hammerstein . And he ’s going to be like , ' This should be on Broadway justly now . ’ ” And he showed it to Oscar Hammerstein , and he said , " This is frightful , but let me state you why . " In that afternoon , on the face of it , Oscar Hammerstein told Sondheim everything he needed to sleep with about melodious theater of operations , which I theoretically doubt .
So he take off writing musicals and he wroteSaturday Nightwhen he was in his other twenty . And then Leonard Bernstein , who did n’t spell lyric , start writingWest Side Story . They were looking for a lyrist . And I think through Oscar Hammerstein , Sondheim get the fishgig . I require to see how honest-to-god Stephen Sondheim was when he wroteWest Side Story — he was 25 , 26 age previous . But also he was save for someone . I signify , that must have been so scary to be publish lyrics for Leonard Bernstein , who was already an American legend .
When Bloom WentInto the Woods
The material gateway into Sondheim fanaticism was my junior year of high school . I was in a production ofInto the Woods , where I played the Witch . give thanks you very much . And the euphony director , who was called in to steer this , was like my historic period , a year older . And he was this prodigy from the San Gabriel Valley . So I fell deadly in erotic love . And he was obsess with Sondheim . He had all of his books and he would pass hours spill about the music theme inInto the Woods . So as I fell more and more in erotic love with this guy , I also decrease more in love with Sondheim . So that ’s the summertime that I first listen toSunday in the ParkandAssassins , which led me into every other Sondheim matter . And long after I got over that cat , I remained in love with Sondheim ’s music .
Sondheim’s Signature Pastiche
His usage of pastiche [ is a huge influence ] . I jump out as a musical theater performer who then fell in love with sketch drollery and then melded the two . I hail from a potpourri place of writing . FolliesandAssassinsare tremendously influential on me . I would sayAssassinsand thenChicagoby Kander and Ebb are probably my two biggest influence because they take the approximation of potpourri and then they make it dark , correct ? They put it on its school principal .
I call myself a lyricist with a capital liter , and a composer with a pocket-size C. Sondheim created his own sound . Not everything he does , [ but ] most of the things he does are n’t nestled in this theme of pastiche . And because I admire him so much as a composer , it ’s part of the reason I rarely just make for as a composer solo because he studied classic grooming . There ’s something that you get from work with someone who is a brilliant player even if you ’re put to work in pastiche .
When Rachel Met Steve
age ago when I was in college , I was obsess with the resurgence ofSweeney Todd . I regard it at least twice on Broadway , if not three time . And after one of the show , they had an in - person album sign language of the cast album with Sondheim and the entire cast . So I went to that yield and then I waited in the line . And so I met him .
My point of connexion with him was that when I was a senior in high schooling , I grew up in Los Angeles . There was a big concert for Sondheim ’s seventy-fifth birthday at the Hollywood Bowl . And a bunch of choirs from public schools in the Los Angeles area were require to fare on stage and sing the final number , which was “ Our clock time ” fromMerrily We wheel Along . And I was in that 500 - kid consort . I was just about to go to school to John Roy Major in musical theater . I remember walking in the Hollywood Bowl and I walk into Bernadette Peters literally in the middle of rehearsing . And I was dead . Then I say , " I have to go to the lavatory . " And they were like , “ Fuck , we do n’t know where to take your kids to the bathroom . ” So they hire a chemical group of us to the dressing room bath . And I take the air into this elbow room with a couple other kids to use the bathroom , and sit down there is Sondheim , Bernadette Peters , Audra McDonald , Stephanie D’Abruzzo fromAvenue Q. And then when I walked out , I did such a chicken thing . I went , " You ’re all my bomber . " But I shouted it as I was walking out . When I met Sondheim , I get that up . I was like , " I sing in the consort of your Hollywood Bowl show . " And he ’s like , " Oh , that was so great . " I was weeping .
Sondheim the Pothead
I met some of his friends at the Tonys a couple age ago . I fall apart a shirt that was a vignette of him smoke a big blunt . And Sondheim was a known pothead . So I was like , " I need to fume with Stephen Sondheim , how do I make that happen ? " And one of his friends was like , " I finger like we can make that occur . " But I never heard back from him . From what I fuck , he smoked a lot of weed and he drank a lot . He ’s a god of melodious theater . But I think the most significant and interesting parts of Sondheim are the parts of himself that are blemished .
Stephen Sondheim in August 1962, the summer when ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum’ opened on Broadway.|Photo by Michael Hardy/Express/Getty Images
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Stephen Sondheim at London’s Old Vic Theatre in November 2015.|Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images
