A couple of rare Sondheim Christmas songs to get you in the festive spirit

Wishing you all the best for the festive season. It's not easy to find a Sondheim song suitable for the season, but there are a couple of "half-Sondheims" that might get you in the Christmas mood...

The first, written with Mary Rodgers, is "Christmas Island at Christmas Time", which in typical Sondheim style subverts your Christmas expectations with a song about how hot is it at this time of year – if you live on the Indian Ocean's Christmas Island, south of Java, Indonesia! Singing this Christmas calypso is SSSSPOTY winner Kris Olsen at the Society's cabaret in 2013:

The second, also performed at our 2013 Christmas cabaret, is the more traditional "If I Had Three Wishes for Christmas", written with Jule Styne for Gypsy. The song, performed here by Kate Hume, was cut:

If I had three wishes for Christmas, I'd make my first wish for a tree.

I'd make my second for a gift from someone, A remembrance from one who is dear to me.

I'd make my third for a snowball, And if my three wishes came true,

On Christmas night I'd light my tree,

The snow falling silently, And open my Christmas present from you.

I'd make my third for a snowball, And if my three wishes came true, On Christmas night I'd light my tree, The snow falling silently,

And open my Christmas present from you.

There is actually a third Christmas number in the Sondheim catalogue, entitled "Christmas Carol". It was "arranged" for the Broadway play I Know My Love (1949), although the song was only added for the 1951 post-Broadway tour. As I understand it, it was Sondheim's first professional credit, and according to one report, he was wrongly named in the playbill as Clifford Sondheim (although I've not been able to find any evidence for this).

Playbill from the Gayety Theatre production of I Know My Love (1949) in Baltimore, Maryland, which features Sondheim's "Christmas Carol"

Pictured here is a – presumably amended – playbill from the Gayety Theatre productionin Baltimore, Maryland, in which Steve is correctly named. Unfortunately, there are no known recordings. If anyone knows otherwise, I'd love to hear from you.

All the best for 2025!

Craig & The Trustees