Vvrrruup!

If you haven't already read this Craig Carnelia interview with Stephen Sondheim, which first appeared in the Dramatist's Guild journal and more recently appeared in ASCAP's journal, it's well worth your time. Talking about subtext, Sondheim says, "Self-delusion is the basis of nearly all the great scenes in all the great plays, from Oedipus to Hamlet." I think he coins a verb here: "It's very hard to make things rhyme properly and rhythm properly, and most lyric writers today don't want to work that hard." You'll have to read the whole thing to find out why "Vvrrruup!" is his "major early memory of musical theater," and for the interview's oddly revealing closing anecdote.