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The earliest available Sondheim musical on the DVD shelf is Sweeney Todd. As the first national tour ended in the summer of 1981, the show was taped at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles and televised the following year. This was not the massive Broadway production, nor the Broadway company; but close enough, as Angela Lansbury recreated her role opposite George Hearn (who had replaced Len Cariou in New York). What's more, two of the hauntingest original cast performances — Edmund Lyndeck's Judge Turpin and Ken Jennings' Tobias — are preserved.

Sunday in the Park with George, which had a shorter run, was taped on stage at the Booth Theatre following the closing of the show in 1985. Many, though not all, of the original cast were brought back for the affair. Thus, we had Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, Charles Kimbrough and Dana Ivey in what was more or less the show as it appeared on Broadway.

Into the Woods, too, was taped late in the original Broadway run. Bernadette Peters, Joanna Gleason, Chip Zien, Tom Aldredge, Robert Westenberg — most of whom had long left the cast — reprised their roles.

Other Sondheim musicals which have been preserved include the 1990 New York City Opera production of A Little Night Music, starring Sally Ann Howes, Regina Resnick and George Lee Andrews (which was telecast but never commercially released); a 1993 made-for-TV version of Gypsy, starring Bette Midler; the 1996 Donmar Warehouse production of Company (telecast but apparently never commercially released); the 2001 pay-for-view telecast of the Broadway production of the anthology revue Putting it Together, starring Carol Burnett; and the 2006 Broadway revival of Company, starring Raul Esparza.

Not included above are various taped concert versions of Sondheim musicals (leading off with "Follies in Concert") and various tributes, benefits and the like. There are also non-commercial Sondheim items in the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Of keen interest to anyone interested in the Sondheim/Prince era is an original cast item that does not actually include the show itself. "Original Cast Album: Company," D. A. Pennebaker's documentary look at the Company cast recording sessions, is absolutely riveting. And then there's the Sondheim musical written not for stage but television, the one-hour "Evening Primrose." Starring Anthony Perkins and Charmian Carr, this was telecast one November evening in 1966 after which it more or less disappeared. Now, as part of Sondheim's 80th birthday celebration, "Evening Primrose" is finally scheduled to be commercially released on DVD in May.

We should also mention film adaptations of several Sondheim musicals. These range from West Side Story to Sweeney Todd, with Gypsy, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and A Little Night Music along the way. Sondheim's work written expressly for film falls outside our field of study, although two items retain our interest: "The Last of Sheila," Herb Ross' 1973 whodunit with screenplay by Sondheim and Anthony Perkins; and Alain Resnais' 1974 "Stavisky," with a luscious score by the master.

The most fascinating original cast preservation, alas, isn't on the list. The original Broadway production of Pacific Overtures was taped at the Winter Garden in June 1976, a few weeks before it closed, for telecast in Japan only. Perhaps the most artistically valuable of these preserved Sondheim musicals — next to Sweeney Todd? — this Pacific Overtures has never been commercially available for viewing in the United States. Copies are said to be floating around in the middle of the sea, as they say, and the tape can be seen at the collection of the Museum of Television and Radio. And most instructive it is, too! —especially for people who never saw the original productions of the Sondheim/Prince musicals. Continued...