# Showstoppers

- Institution: Gresham College
- Speaker: Professor Dominic Broomfield-McHugh
- Year: 2024
- Level: For everyone
- Language: English
- Subjects: History, Art, architecture and design, Music
- Source: [Gresham College](https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/series/showstoppers)
- Licence: [Educational use (Gresham College's terms)](https://www.gresham.ac.uk/terms-and-conditions)
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (sources give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the source's own words)

'Send in the Clowns’ was probably the most commercially successful song by the revered Stephen Sondheim, yet it confounds the expectations of a showstopper, having been written for an actress of limited singing ability, the late Glynis Johns. This lecture considers the song in the context of the musical A Little Night Music, and how major singers like Frank Sinatra, Judy Collins and Sarah Vaughan came to cover it. How has a song of limited vocal range and abstract lyrics become such a favourite?

## Lectures

1. [The Sondheim Showstopper: ‘Send in the Clowns’](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/gresham/series-showstoppers/56e852bcfa25) (Audio)
2. [The Operatic Showstopper: ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/gresham/series-showstoppers/f93a498bafcd) (Audio)