Catch the Stephen Sondheim Easter Eggs in 'Glass Onion'

Musical theater giant Stephen Sondheim's love of puzzles is legendary. It began when he started collecting antique puzzle games in the 1950s and grew him creating crosswords for New York Magazine and to creating elaborate murder mystery games he played with some of his famous friends over the years. From that idea Sondheim and his friend, actor Anthony Perkins worked out the screenplay to "The Last of Sheila," their 1973 mystery (directed by Herbert Ross) set in the Mediterranean in which a murder mystery game is played out. The film's premise has multimillionare James Coburn inviting some of his friends – each with a secret – to his yacht to play a game in which a murder needs to be solved each night as each of their secrets are revealed. That is until a murder does takes place.

If the story sounds familiar, it is likely because it has been lifted for "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery" currently streaming on Netflix. In Rian Johnson's latest, tech billionaire Edward Norton invites his clique of old friends to a Greek island where he is planning an elaborate murder game in which he casts himself as the victim. Also on hand is Daniel Craig recreating his role as Benoit Blanc, a modern day riff on Agatha Christie's Hercules Poirot. One mystery that is solved about Blanc's character is his sexuality, which was speculated on when the first "Knives Out" was released in 2019. This time it is confirmed that Blanc is gay when his partner (Hugh Grant) is identified.

Johnson recently acknowledged to the New York Times that he proudly cites "The Last of Sheila" as "a source of inspiration for his "Knives Out" films." And that he wanted both Sondheim and his long-standing friend Angela Lansbury, who triumphed in the composer/lyricist's "Sweeney Todd" in 1978, to appear in the film. "Todd" was described as "a musical thriller."

The opportunity came late in 2021 when Johnson came up with the idea of having a Pandemic-depressed Blanc failing at a game of "Among Us" he is playing online with Sondheim, Lansbury, Natasha Lyonne and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Johnson explained to the Times that "he wanted the Sondheim and Lansbury cameos to stand as tributes to two of his favorite artists – and to give him an excuse to interact with these cultural greats whose paths he might not otherwise have crossed."

Ram Bernstein, Johnson's producing partner, said," I wasn't really sure how to get to him. But then I was on a call with Bryan Lourd, our agent, and it somehow came up. I said, we really would love Stephen to do this. And I swear, five minutes later, he emailed me: he's going to do it."

They filmed his scene via Zoom in November 2021 shortly before his death that November 26.. It was Sondheim's first and last appearance in a narrative film (He had previously appeared in an acting role in a 1974 television adaptation of the Ring Lardner short story "June Moon" for PBS.)

During his Zoom call to Sondheim, Johnson said he also wanted to include Angela Lansbury in the scene. "And he said, 'Oh, Angie – I'm friends with her. Tell her I'm doing it. She'll do it.'"

"Sondheim's ties to the mystery genre go deeper still: his only nonmusical Broadway production was the play "Getting Away With Murder," which he wrote with George Furth and which ran for just over a month in 1996," writes the Times. In an interview with The New York Times that year, "he recounted how Laurence Olivier had told him he'd used Sondheim as his model for the game-loving mystery author he played in the 1972 movie 'Sleuth.' (In the same interview, Anthony Shaffer, the author of 'Sleuth,' denied a longstanding rumor that he had originally titled it 'Who's Afraid of Stephen Sondheim?'")

Lansbury was also no stranger to the mystery genre having played her iconic role of detective Jessica Fletcher for twelve seasons on the megahit "Murder She Said." Her character was also inspired by another famous Agatha Christie sleuth – Miss Marple. For the Lansbury sequence, Johnson visited her in her Los Angeles home this fall. She died on October 11 days before of her 97th birthday. "She couldn't have been lovelier and more generous," Johnson said, adding that Lansbury was perfect for the scene in every way except one: "Not a gamer," he explained. "And so she was very patient in letting me describe the rules of 'Among Us,' up to a point. At which point she just said, 'You know what? Just tell me what the lines are. I'll trust you.'"

But that's not the only Sondheim easter egg in the film – in the scene where Hugh Grant answers the door to the apartment he shares with Craig, in hazy distant on the wall is a poster for the original production of "Merrily We Roll Along," Sondheim's famous 1981 flop that lasted 16 performances and led to his professional breakup with director/producer Harold Prince whom he collaborated on a string of game-changing musicals the decade before. Johnson also dropped a Sondheim easter egg in the first "Knives Out" when Blanc is heard singing "Losing My Mind" from "Follies," which many at the time felt was a clue that his character is gay.

"Merrily We Roll Along" has also been getting renewed attention of late when a 2012 London-born revival (that also played Boston) under the direction of actress/director Maria Friedman opened at the New York Theatre Workshop earlier this month. Featuring Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, and Lindsay Mendez , the production received raves and quickly sold out its limited engagement. Shortly after opening, it was announced that this cast will star in the production when it moves to Broadway next fall. Will "Merrily" roll back to Broadway a hit? Time will tell.