For Sondheim's birthday, they sent in no clowns

Stephen Sondheim turned 80 this year, and it's a miracle his arteries survived all the birthday cake.

Tributes abounded, perhaps none grander than this, at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall in March. Broadway fans will salivate at each grand entrance, from two-time Tony Award winner Patti LuPone (who first sang Sondheim lyrics when she was 15, starring as Louise in a Northport neighborhood production of "Gypsy") to Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, Audra McDonald and more than a dozen others, plus (hilarious) host David Hyde Pierce and the soaring New York Philharmonic, led by longtime Sondheim conductor Paul Gemignani.

Director (and co-writer, with Hyde Pierce) Lonny Price has no easy task: covering Sondheim's prolific output, from early lyricist work ("West Side Story") to triumphs writing both music and lyrics, including "Company" (1970), followed by "Follies" (1971), "A Little Night Music" (1973), "Pacific Overtures" (1976) and "Sweeney Todd" (1979) - just to name the first five.

MY SAY

After a fun start, it's a slow build, with a few surprises for Sondheim fanatics (like husband-wife duo Jason Danieley and Marin Mazzie singing "naughtier" lyrics cut from "Do I Hear a Waltz?"). The engine revs once Patinkin and Peters reprise their star turns in "Sunday in the Park With George" (Sondheim's Pulitzer Prize winner), singing the artistic anthem "Move On." How the heck do you follow that? Send out dueling Sweeneys (Michael Cerveris and George Hearn), then a lascivious Mrs. Lovett (LuPone), for an ode to cannibalism (brilliant idea). A ballet pas de deux danced to Sondheim's theme for the movie "Reds" provides a sweet respite before going full throttle with six leading ladies unleashing killer ballads, including LuPone (roaring on "The Ladies Who Lunch"), Donna Murphy (a smoldering "Could I Leave You?"), Peters (heartbroken, with "Not a Day Goes By") and Elaine Stritch (the showstopper, "I'm Still Here").

BOTTOM LINE

Despite an occasionally jittery camera, the overall feel is intimate. Price catches sweet moments and cleverly offers shots from behind the orchestra or offstage, as if you're not only an audience member but part of the cast viewing from the wings. And wanting more.

GRADE

A