Процитируем классиков
You said "Send In The Clowns" was written during rehearsal, can you tell us how that came about?
Stephen Sondheim: We hired Glynis Johns to play the lead, though she had a nice little silvery voice. But I'd put all the vocal weight of the show on the other characters because we needed somebody who was glamorous, charming and could play light comedy, and pretty, and to find that in combination with a good voice is very unlikely, but she had all the right qualities and a nice little voice. So I didn't write much for her and I didn't write anything in the second act. And the big scene between her and her ex-lover, I had started on a song for him because it's his scene, and Hal Prince, who directed it, said he thought that the second act needed a song for her. And this was the scene to do it in. And so he directed the scene in such a way that even though the dramatic thrust comes from the man's monologue, and she just sits there and reacts, he directed it so you could feel the weight going to her reaction rather than his action. And I went down and saw it and it seemed very clear what was needed, and so that made it very easy to write. And then I wrote it for her voice, because she couldn't sustain notes. Wasn't that kind of singing voice. So I knew I had to write things in short phrases, and that led to questions, and so again, I wouldn't have written a song so quickly if I hadn't known the actress.
How long did it take to write?
Stephen Sondheim: I wrote most of it one night, and finished part of the second chorus and I'd gotten the ending. I don't remember. At any rate, the whole thing was done in two days.
Which came first, the lyrics or the music?
Stephen Sondheim: They come together, sure.