Forty years ago a Milwaukee Journal editor was in New York on business, and he decided to spend some free time in a Broadway theater.
Growing up in the small upper peninsula Michigan town of Hubbell, Paul Salsini had little opportunity to see professional theater, but he got his hands on a cast album of "South Pacific" when he was in the eighth grade. It whetted his appetite for Broadway musicals.
Salsini chose to see Stephen Sondheim's "Follies" on that night in 1971. The decision changed his life, and it had a small but interesting impact on American theater.
"I was blown away by the show," he recently recalled. "The songs, the story, the performances, the production.
"I didn't understand the symbolism and the many layers, and I didn't know anything about Sondheim. I wondered, who was this guy?"
Not only did Salsini find out who Sondheim was. He amassed what is believed to be the largest collection of Sondheim related material not owned by the composer-lyricist himself.
The retired journalist has given it to Marquette University, which is using it to establish the Stephen Sondheim Research Collection. Salsini is a Marquette graduate and has taught part-time at the school since 1970.
The collection has such value, authors Meryle Secrest ("Stephen Sondheim") and Stephen Banfield ("Sondheim's Broadway Musicals") came to Milwaukee to explore it while researching their books. It consists of 31.7 cubic feet of material that includes books, magazines, scripts, scores, articles, reviews, programs, compact discs, long-playing records, audio tapes, videotapes, posters, window cards, a few of Sondheim's letters and other memorabilia.
"Mr. Salsini built a multi-format collection with remarkable depth and scope," Matt Blessing, the head of special collections and archives at Marquette's Raynor Memorial Libraries, wrote in an email to me. "We're committed to building the collection in the years ahead."
Salsini dived into learning about Sondheim and becoming knowledgeable about his work after that chance encounter with "Follies" in 1971. He saw many Sondheim shows multiple times – 12 or 13 for "A Little Night Music" – and "Follies" remains his favorite. "Losing My Mind" from that musical is his most-beloved Sondheim song.
Sondheim's lyrics fascinate and appeal to Salsini as much as his music. "The layers of meaning in his lyrics are so complex," he said. "You can listen to a Sondheim song many times and always find something new.
"His shows are an experience. They are so unpredictable and so innovative."
While his day jobs at the Milwaukee Journal were state editor and staff development director, Salsini co-founded the Sondheim Review, a quarterly magazine, in 1994 and edited it for 10 years. It was a labor of love, and much of his Sondheim collection was accumulated at that time. "People sent me a lot of stuff," he explained.
The magazine prompted several phone chats with the composer. They were always pleasant, and Sondheim even spoke with great excitement when he was writing "Passion," but a formal interview proved to be difficult.
"He was the hardest interview I have ever done. I had trouble getting information out of him," Salsini said.
Not all of Salsini's attention was focused on Sondheim. He frequently took long weekends in New York to see other theater, and he built a collection of 1,300 cast albums he has given to the Skylight Opera Theatre for its professional use.
Salsini retired from the Milwaukee Journal when it merged with the Milwaukee Sentinel in 1995.
The Marquette collection will be available to the school's students and outsiders as well as researchers, according to archivist Blessing. Anyone not affiliated with the university must pay a $5 daily or $50 annual fee for access. A small public exhibit of collection artifacts will be on display Oct. 10 to Nov. 28 in the Raynor Library lobby, 1355 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Salsini is also a novelist who has published a trilogy set in the village of his parents' birth in Tuscany. A fourth novel is in the works.
Damien has been around so long, he was at Summerfest the night George Carlin was arrested for speaking the seven dirty words you can't say on TV. He was also at the Uptown Theatre the night Bruce Springsteen's first Milwaukee concert was interrupted for three hours by a bomb scare. Damien was reviewing the concert for the Milwaukee Journal. He wrote for the Journal and Journal Sentinel for 37 years, the last 29 as theater critic.
During those years, Damien served two terms on the board of the American Theatre Critics Association, a term on the board of the association's foundation, and he studied the Latinization of American culture in a University of Southern California fellowship program. Damien also hosted his own arts radio program, "Milwaukee Presents with Damien Jaques," on WHAD for eight years.
Travel, books and, not surprisingly, theater top the list of Damien's interests. A news junkie, he is particularly plugged into politics and international affairs, but he also closely follows the Brewers, Packers and Marquette baskeball. Damien lives downtown, within easy walking distance of most of the theaters he attends.
