Joel’s Latest Stanford Course: Four More by Sondheim! Starts April 29

My next Stanford class, MUS 178B Four More by Sondheim: West Side Story, Gypsy, A Little Night Music, and Pacific Overtures, will be offered through Stanford’s Continuing Studies Program (CSP) as a live virtual online course on 4 FRIDAYS: Apr 29—May 20 from 11:00 am—1:00 pm (PT).

A continuation of last spring’s Sondheim course, we will focus on four landmark musicals: two early works featuring Sondheim as lyricist only—West Side Story and Gypsy—and two musicals from his successful collaborative period with director Hal Prince—A Little Night Music and Pacific Overtures. We will dig into the music, the lyrics, the structure, the mechanics of what makes these musicals so fantastic and important, and why Sondheim deserves the praise and position in our culture.

Reminder: while this is a Stanford CSP course anyone can register, and the silver lining of a virtual course is… you don’t even have to leave your house to attend. Sondheim from the privacy of your living room? Yes, indeed! Over the past two years people have registered from across the country. You can register HERE. Want an even brighter silver lining? Those registered can access class recordings if you cannot make a session in-person, or simply want to watch it again later.