Sondheim and Ebert

No particular Palo Alto angle today. Just two great arts stories about two of the arts world's greats.

Here is a lovely New York Times write-up about the recent 80th-birthday tribute to Stephen Sondheim at Avery Fisher Hall in NYC. I would have given many, many things to have been there.

If I could have heard only one of the numbers? Ah, I'd pick Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin teaming up once more to sing "Move On" from "Sunday In the Park With George." And I love that La Stritch wore a hat when Patti LuPone sang "The Ladies Who Lunch" to her. ("Does anyone still wear a hat?")

Secondly, a rich Esquire piece about Roger Ebert living with cancer and without the ability to speak. The way Ebert has been freed to express himself on the page -- the words simply flowing -- was deeply moving. Chris Jones' article is as much a portrait of an artist evolving (and of a remarkable marriage) as it is an inspiring piece about survival. The occasional flashes of humor are startling and gutsy, like when a woman at a party writes Ebert a note, and the film critic simply points to his ears as if to say, "They still work, y'know."

Pictured: A New York Times photo of the Sondheim celebration, taken by Sara Krulwich.