Paul Salsini

FOR TEN YEARS, they exchanged notes, letters, faxes, and phone calls. Stephen Sondheim would contact him, and Paul Salsini, the founder and editor of The Sondheim Review, would respond. And vice versa. Now, Salsini, a Milwaukee journalist, has described his unlikely long-distance relationship with the fabled composer/lyricist in Sondheim & Me: Revealing a Musical Genius. The memoir includes the dozens of notes that Sondheim sent Salsini about articles in the magazine. It was clear that, at least at the start in 1994, he read every word of every issue, and often his comments were what Sondheim called "emendations," pointing out a typo, a wrong first name or a misreading of a scene. There were a few disagreements; Sondheim was furious about the magazine's review of one of his shows and called to loudly complain. After the magazine published his lyrics for a high school show, he wrote to "object vigorously to your reprinting my juvenilia." But mostly there was a good working relationship, and Sondheim's responses were encouraging and sometimes enthusiastic. "Congratulations on another good issue " "Keep up the good work " Sondheim & Me also includes numerous reports of talks, forums, and Q&As in which Sondheim revealed his process for composing, his inspirations, his comments on his shows (the original film of West Side Story "isn't any good," the first act of Sunday in the Park with George "is a stunt," the film of A Little Night Music is "dreadful"). The magazine reported on the openings of Passion, Saturday Night, and the troubled Mizner musical. And the decade also saw the Broadway revivals of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, Into the Woods, and Gypsy. Besides all that, there was the $10 million Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration with a repertory of six of his musicals. It was a remarkable decade for Stephen Sondheim, and Paul Salsini and The Sondheim Review were there to report it all. Almost none of the book's material has been seen by the general public--at its height, The Sondheim Review had but a few thousand subscribers. To thoroughly understand the great, revolutionary artistry of Stephen Sondheim, Sondheim & Me is indispensable. In what may be something of an exclusive, the book also contains an extensive, detailed chronology of Sondheim's life, his works, and the many tributes he received. Sixty-four pages of photos of Sondheim productions, along with many TSR covers and the notes Sondheim wrote, enhance this illuminating, groundbreaking book.

FOR TEN YEARS, they exchanged notes, letters, faxes, and phone calls. Stephen Sondheim would contact him, and Paul Salsini, the founder and editor of The Sondheim Review, would respond. And vice versa. Now, Salsini, a Milwaukee journalist, has described his unlikely long-distance relationship with the fabled composer/lyricist in Sondheim & Me: Revealing a Musical Genius. The memoir includes the dozens of notes that Sondheim sent Salsini about articles in the magazine. It was clear that, at least at the start in 1994, he read every word of every issue, and often his comments were what Sondheim called "emendations," pointing out a typo, a wrong first name or a misreading of a scene. There were a few disagreements; Sondheim was furious about the magazine's review of one of his shows and called to loudly complain. After the magazine published his lyrics for a high school show, he wrote to "object vigorously to your reprinting my juvenilia." But mostly there was a good working relationship, and Sondheim's responses were encouraging and sometimes enthusiastic. "Congratulations on another good issue " "Keep up the good work " Sondheim & Me also includes numerous reports of talks, forums, and Q&As in which Sondheim revealed his process for composing, his inspirations, his comments on his shows (the original film of West Side Story "isn't any good," the first act of Sunday in the Park with George "is a stunt," the film of A Little Night Music is "dreadful"). The magazine reported on the openings of Passion, Saturday Night, and the troubled Mizner musical. And the decade also saw the Broadway revivals of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, Into the Woods, and Gypsy. Besides all that, there was the $10 million Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration with a repertory of six of his musicals. It was a remarkable decade for Stephen Sondheim, and Paul Salsini and The Sondheim Review were there to report it all. Almost none of the book's material has been seen by the general public--at its height, The Sondheim Review had but a few thousand subscribers. To thoroughly understand the great, revolutionary artistry of Stephen Sondheim, Sondheim & Me is indispensable. In what may be something of an exclusive, the book also contains an extensive, detailed chronology of Sondheim's life, his works, and the many tributes he received. Sixty-four pages of photos of Sondheim productions, along with many TSR covers and the notes Sondheim wrote, enhance this illuminating, groundbreaking book.

FROM WWI TO COVID, from Florence to the tiny villages of Tuscany, stories of love, courage and adventure from award-winning author Paul Salsini. FROM A TUSCAN TREASURY "So we became spies. When Maria and I would enter a village we would find out if there were any Germans or Fascists there so the partisans would know if it was safe to enter. Sometimes we'd be stopped, but mostly we just looked like simple Italian women with scarves on our heads and prayer books in our hands. We always told them we were going to church to pray for the end of the war." From "The Staffetta" "Anna, can I tell you something? After I left you on the doorstep that night, I couldn't stop thinking about you. I couldn't sleep nights. I went on long runs, but that didn't help. I was supposed to referee a football game Saturday morning and I made terrible calls. I couldn't concentrate hearing confessions Saturday afternoon. I barely made it through Mass on Sunday. Anna, I couldn't wait to see you again." From "Anna and the Television Priest"

Strange things are known to happen in the rugged Garfagnana region of Tuscany. A friendly ghost in a monastery. A visit from a soldier from the other side. A village that sleeps for a hundred years. The legend of ghosts in the theater. All these make their appearance in The Ghosts of the Garfagnana: Seven Strange Stories from Haunted Tuscany-a new book by Paul Salsini, the award-winning author of the popular six-volume A Tuscan Series.