Stephen Sondheim: Relational Psychoanalyst of the American Musical Theater

ABSTRACT

In 1913 Sigmund Freud wrote that he was incapable of obtaining any pleasure from music because his mind rebelled “against being moved by a thing without knowing why I am thus affected.” Therefore, it can be argued that Freud bequeathed to us a practice that privileged words, and the necessity to transform affects into words, due, in part, to his own entrenched defenses. This paper seeks to remedy this bequest by asserting the importance of music into the psychoanalytic canon through an appreciation of composer Stephen Sondheim’s work. We argue that he is unparalleled in his capacity to immerse his audience in the conflicts, affects, and self-deceptions of the actors on the stage so as to feel into their own desires, longings and defenses. In his willingness to explore the darkest emotions without shame, Sondheim creates, what Stolorow calls, a relational home for all those who feel ashamed, anguished about who they are, or what they feel.

KEYWORDS:

• Sondheim
• musical theater
• psychoanalysis and music
• Broadway
• lyrics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ From “Side by Side by Side,” Company, 1970.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ilene Philipson

Ilene Philipson, Ph.D., Psy.D., holds doctorates in sociology, clinical psychology, and psychoanalysis. She is a training and supervising analyst at the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles, a faculty member at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis, and is in the private practice of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis in Oakland, California. In addition to On the Shoulders of Women: The Feminization of Psychotherapy (Guilford), her books include Married to the Job (Simon & Schuster); Ethel Rosenberg: Beyond the Myths (Rutgers University Press); and Women, Class, and the Feminist Imagination (Temple University Press).

D. Bradley Jones

D. Bradley Jones, Psy.D., LCSW, is a graduate of two psychoanalytic institutes: The Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity (IPSS) in New York City, and The Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis (ICP/LA) in Los Angeles, California. He is a Supervising Training Analyst and faculty at both institutes, and is on the coordinating committee of IPSS. In private practice for 25 years now, Bradley has a special interest in working with substance use, people in the performing arts, polyamory and non-monogamous relationships, and also with long term survivors of HIV infection. He has published numerous articles found in the journals Psychoanalysis, Self and Context and Psychoanalytic Inquiry. His cabaret act, Dr. Bradley’s Fabulous Functional Narcissism, was nominated for a Manhattan Association of Cabaret (MAC) Award in New York City, and a Broadway World Award in Los Angeles.