On Moving Showstoppers: Stephen Sondheim’s ‘I’m Still Here’, There and Everywhere

Abstract

What is it like to hear Sondheim out of context? Is there any excuse for it? When a song is extracted or, in his phrasing, ‘appropriated’ from a show, are we to suppose this song has lost its meaning? In posing such questions, this essay assumes what may sound a counterintuitive approach to appreciating Sondheim’s craft: a dramatic craft to which the idea of plotting, and plotlessness, is central. After surveying Sondheim’s thoughts on the matter, including his views on the attempts by appreciative listeners to turn his musicals into revues of the kind we experience in Follies (1971), the essay takes up ‘I’m Still Here’ as a case study. In doing so, it sheds some light (not always positively) on the function and adaptability of the Sondheim showstopper.