It's Time! Stephen Sondheim Could Achieve EGOT Status with Take Me to the World
What do Mel Brooks, Robert Lopez, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Richard Rodgers and Marvin Hamlisch have in common? All of them have created beloved music for the stage and beyond, and all have coveted EGOT status. This means they have won the grand slam of awards—Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. Who deserves to join this club? Broadway deity Stephen Sondheim! Now the 90-year-old titan of the theater has another shot.
Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration, a starry benefit concert for ASTEP that was broadcast on Broadway.com in April is eligible for a Primetime Emmy Award in Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) category. Isn’t it time Sondheim (an executive producer on the special) get to EGOT level? It would be the birthday present he deserves.
The online concert featured memorable performances and appearances from a bevy of bold-faced names, including Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski, Audra McDonald, Jake Gyllenhaal, Annaleigh Ashford, Patti LuPone, Mandy Patinkin, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Bernadette Peters, Neil Patrick Harris, Linda Lavin, Lea Salonga, Ben Platt and many more.
Co-produced and hosted by Raúl Esparza with musical direction by Mary-Mitchell Campbell and directed by Broadway.com's Paul Wontorek, the special was greeted with wide acclaim from critics and audiences alike. We're not in the business of offering "for your consideration" content, but we're making an exception for Sondheim, the winner of seven Tony Awards (including one for Lifetime Achievement), eight Grammys (including a Trustees Award) and one Academy Award. How wonderful would it be for the greatest living Broadway composer to add an Emmy to the list? It's time.
