It occurred to me today that there were two giants of the twentieth century whose paths never crossed, or if they did I'm not aware of it. For if they had, what they could have achieved together would be worth a lot of money to a lot of people. I know it would be worth hundreds to me. The giants were Stephen Sondheim and Judy Garland. Anyone familiar with both of these great talents can easily appreciate how fantastic it would be to have Judy sing, "Send in the Clowns", "I'm Still Here", "Not a Day Goes By", or any of the dozens of other Sondheim songs that his fans never, ever get tired of. There's no question that today's greatest talents already sing his songs: Bernadette Peters, Barbara Cook, the late Cleo Laine, Elaine Stritch, Mandy Patinkin and others too numerous to list. But I am sure even they would agree that Garland would bring something unique to Sondheim's songs. His profound understand of love, pain, and melancholy and her amazing ability to plumb the depths of every emotion were made for each other. Oh, well. If there is a great Garland impersonator out there, let us hope some day to see an album titled, If Garland Had Sung Sondheim.
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