Stars on Sondheim: Denis O'Hare on His Sondheim Desert Island Discs

March 22 marks Stephen Sondheim's 90th birthday. It's impossible to state the great contribution and influences this titan of the stage has made to musical theater, but we're taking a stab at it by reaching out to some stars who have appeared in his many shows to share their personal experiences.

Denis O'Hare is a mainstay on Ryan Murphy's FX television show American Horror Story, but the Tony-winning and Emmy-nominated actor is also a lover of Stephen Sondheim. He starred as Charles Guiteau in the 2004 Broadway production of Assassins, the musical Sondheim wrote with John Weidman about presidential assassinations. He also starred opposite Amy Adams in the 2012 Public Theater production of Into the Woods at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. O'Hare played the Baker and Chip Zien, who originated the role on Broadway, played the Mysterious Man in that production. Here, O'Hare remembers a comment from Sondheim that put him on an emotional roller coaster.

Describe your first meeting with Sondheim.
I don’t think he’d remember it—at least I hope he doesn’t. I was auditioning for Passion, so this was in the early '90s. I’d fallen in love with the song, “I Remember,” from Evening Primrose and I decided to sing it for him. My preparation was not the best, and I don’t think I managed any of the strange interval and chord changes. He and the rest of the team very graciously listened to me and then someone, maybe Sondheim, made a comment about what a wonderful, but difficult, song it was to sing. I didn’t get the part. My next audition was years later for Assassins. For that, I hid behind the piano while I sang a bizarre Kurt Weill song. I’ve never been a great auditioner.

What’s your favorite personal Sondheim anecdote.
We were doing Assassins, and it was after we’d opened, maybe a few days into the run. I was coming downstairs from our evening show, and Sondheim was coming up the stairs—maybe to visit Michael Cerveris or Neil Patrick Harris. As I turned the corner and descended towards him, he looked up and said, “Ah, Mr. O’Hare. You were your usual competent self.” I spent the rest of the evening wrestling with depression and elation.

Which Sondheim role would you love to tackle, whether you’re appropriate or not?
I’m not sure I’d ever be cast as Henrik now, but I love his songs in A Little Night Music. Of course, the part I’d really love to do is Charlotte from the same musical. Again, not sure I’d ever get the chance but the song "Every Day a Little Death" is one of my favorites. 

Tell us about a note you received from Sondheim that you’ll never forget.
He wrote me a lovely note after we did Into the Woods in 2012. I think it was typewritten in American typewriter font, which I loved. I saved it.

What’s your desert island Sondheim cast recording?
I have to have two: The original A Little Night Music with Glynis Johns and Len Cariou, and our version of Assassins directed by Joe Mantello. I feel like that production was so right on and so good, and since none of us were on stage the whole night, I got to listen to my fellow cast members sing, and I got to watch them and there were so many amazing performances. Paul Gemignani’s conducting was flawless; I just love that opening music. So twisted and fate-filled. So…American.