I was watching an HBO documentary “Six By Sondheim”, analyzing six songs by one of the great musical theatre composers of our time (if not all time) Stephen Sondheim, and his thoughts on his biggest hit, “Send In The Clowns” are worth repeating.
1. Sondheim makes the point that so many great songs get added during Out Of Town performances not because of pressure on the composer but because the composer has had the chance to watch the finished product and can write for the actual actors.
2. “Send In The Clowns” is easy to sing.
The first thought is so smart it feels like masterclass time, yes of course watching the finished(ish) product will inspire Sondheim to write something precisely as it is needed. He can see what is needed, he can hear who is singing it.
So “Send In The Clowns” was written for Glynis Johns (Mrs. Banks from Mary Poppins of course) , a sweet but not a technically superior singer. Hal Prince said she needed a song in the second act and Sondheim wasn’t quite sure till he saw a scene where her lover leaves Glynis and on paper the scene belongs to the lover but on stage it belonged to the woman left alone.
The scene seen in context itself inspired the song, by seeing it out of town, Sondheim figured out how to write his biggest song.
But as I mentioned, Glynis was not a technically excellent singer so Stephen wrote it for her with pauses between lines…
Isn’t it rich (1 beat, 2 beats, 3 beats)
Are we a pair (1 beat, 2 beats, 3 beats)
Me here at last on the ground you in midair
(1 beat, 2 beats, 3 beats)
The song is a standard because it is so easy for singers to sing, Sondheim gives them the time to breath deeply and pace the song, in the entire lyric there is exactly one run on sentence . So, along with it being a beautifully crafted number, it is one singers flock to.
