The Most Valuable Lesson Nathan Lane Learned From Stephen Sondheim

When Stephen Sondheim passed away last month, he left behind a legacy that redefined musical theater. His work shows every sign of enduring: A new revival of the Sondheim classic “Company” is currently up on Broadway, while his “Assassins” is in the midst of a star-studded run Off-Broadway. And just last month, Netflix released Lin-Manuel Miranda’s film adaptation of “Tick, Tick…Boom!” in which Bradley Whitford plays a lightly fictionalized version of the legendary composer.

There was a time, however, when the name Sondheim was not synonymous with theatrical success. In fact, much of his early and middle career was laden with flops. In a recent Variety tribute, frequent Sondheim collaborator and Tony Award winner Nathan Lane recalled the particularly poor reception a 1974 production of Sondheim’s “The Frogs” received. 

Though the show only ran for eight performances, the composer took it in stride. “Don’t worry, Nathan,” Lane recalled Sondheim saying. “When they revive it in 10 years, everyone will think it’s wonderful.”

The actor would go on to revise the libretto of “The Frogs,” eventually mounting a reworked production on Broadway in 2004. Despite his best efforts, this revival did not fare much better than the original. Lane, however, was grateful for the experience—and for Sondheim’s advice to try and try again. 

“We tried. And we failed,” said Lane of the revival. “But we got six fabulous new Sondheim songs. You’re welcome.” 

The failure of “The Frogs” and Sondheim’s encouragement to tweak it and try it again taught Lane about creative endurance. Sometimes, it can take a while for audiences to catch up with you. And sometimes, they never catch up at all. But Lane’s collaboration with Sondheim proved to be more valuable than commercial success. 

“Seriously,” said Lane, “it was thrilling to be on the other side of things and see how a scene or a speech you wrote would become a song by the master. It was worth it all just for that.”