Streep by Any Other Name Would Be as Sweet.

       Stephen Sondheim tickled me today in a Times interview about Into the Woods.

       The lyricist-composer was alongside Meryl Streep talking about the movie version of the stage musical opening Christmas Day.  Streep was saying she never could have imagined when she first saw the show on Broadway many years ago that she would be able to play the witch role.

       Sondheim said, "You were ordained for the part.  The last name of the woman playing the witch on stage that day and your own are anagrams of each other."

       Perhaps you recall that the person who did the part on Broadway was Bernadette _ _ _ _ _ _?

       Love that Sondheim, master of words in all their incarnations.