Katie Welsh takes the stage at Feinstein’s/54 Below on June 10 to salute the female characters of Stephen Sondheim in her concert Women in the World of Sondheim
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The concert event got us here in the BBox office thinking, shouting, and breaking china discussing the great Sondheim ladies (through the filter of produced on Broadway and with music & lyrics by Steve).
Here’s our ranking of the 10 most fascinating.
10. Sally Durant Plummer (Follies)
Poor delusional Sally. It's heartbreaking to watch as she throws her life away with both hands for a fantasy from decades ago.
9. Dot/Marie (Sunday in the Park with George)
How can you resist loving this fiery tart who longs to better herself and prove worthy of the egomaniac artist she loves? Then when you add in the whole Marie drama...please.
8. Countess Charlotte Malcolm (A Little Night Music)
Honestly any and every lady from Night Music could be on this list, but the Countess shines whether she's played by Dame Diana Rigg or Erin Davie. She's sardonic yet still romantic in the end, and she needles and baits all the other characters in such a magnificent way.
7. Marta (Company)
She's the pulse of the city and her goal in life is to sit alone at a bar, dressed in black, and cry. Come on!
6. Mary Flynn (Merrily We Roll Along)
She's an addict and a writer. She's smart. She's maternal in her friendship with the guys, despite being madly in love with her bestie.
5. The Witch (Into the Woods)
Mother issues abound with this witch. Shit with her mother and that hideous transformation, then that awful dynamic with her adopted daughter, Rapunzel.
4. Joanne (Company)
You bet your ass baby! Whether Joanne is toasting the ladies who lunch, revealing the secrets of her failed marriages, or spilling the tea on the little things couples do together, it's always WTF with her.
3. Fosca (Passion)
Sickly, obsessive, and depressed but filled with so much desire it kills her.
2. Phyllis Rogers Stone (Follies)
To live through what Phyllis lives through during this reunion (and her whole marriage) to at the end leave with her husband and just continue on? My God this woman.
1. Mrs. Lovett (Sweeney Todd)
This woman loves Sweeney so much that she knows the entire time his wife is alive but doesn't tell him; she goes along with murder and cannibalism (hell, she comes up with the cannibalism idea!); and somehow she's still like a mother to little Tobias.
