AT 74, Stephen Sondheim could easily be resting on his considerable laurels and collecting royalty checks. But when you remain the most vital force in American musical theater, the laurel resting has to wait. Two new recordings demonstrate exactly why Sondheim remains the gold standard in contemporary musicals. Never mind that the man hasn't had a hit since 1987's "Into the Woods." He aimed for Broadway last year with "Bounce," but the show's title proved to be incorrect. "Bomb" was more like it after tryouts in Chicago and Washington, D.C. failed to thrill either critics or audiences. Funding never materialized for a New York production, which just goes to show you that if Stephen Sondheim can't make it to Broadway, things are out of whack in the world of commercial theater.

Listening to the original cast recording of "Bounce" (Nonesuch), it's clear that the show did not fail on the basis of its score. Based on the true story of brothers Addison and Wilson Mizner, "Bounce" is about aiming for dreams -- gold in the Yukon, Utopia in Florida -- and repeatedly falling on your face. "Bounce" sounds like "A Little Night Music" crossed with "Merrily We Roll Along." The innovative spark of those shows is missing here, but Sondheim is in fine melodic and lyric form. Cast members Howard McGillin and Richard Kind as the enterprising brothers are superb and receive excellent support from Michele Pawk, Gavin Creel and movie musical legend Jane Powell. While "Bounce," which has a book by John Weidman, hardly sounds like the failure it was purported to be, the show doesn't have nearly the power of "Assassins," the controversial show Sondheim created with Weidman in 1991.

Thirteen years ago, audiences failed to embrace "Assassins," the dark story of nine successful or would-be presidential assassins including John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald. The show is not exactly "Hello, Dolly!" This year's Broadway revival by the Roundabout Theatre Company not only won five Tony Awards but also hit a nerve with audiences more willing to deal with the darker side of what it means to be an American with a dream. The original Off Broadway "Assassins" recording is superb, but the newly released Broadway recording on PS Classics is just as good if not better. There's a vitality to the performances and to Paul Gemignani's music direction that makes Sondheim's songs even more thrilling.

One advantage to the new recording is the inclusion of a song written for the London production. "Something Just Broke" is a stunning, moving reaction from the American people following a cataclysmic event such as a presidential assassination. The new disc, sharply produced by Tommy Krasker, also includes a non-musical numbers, including a long monologue by Sam Byck (played by "Sex and the City" star Mario Cantone), whose plan was to hijack a passenger plane and fly it into Richard Nixon's White House. The monologue, as you can imagine, is even more chilling now than it was in 1991.

Unfortunately, the new "Assassins," which was to have run into September, closed early last month. And still Sondheim charges on. The revamped version of his 1974 Aristophanes frolic "The Frogs" is currently on the boards at New York's Lincoln Center in an expanded version rewritten by and starring Nathan Lane. The show features six new Sondheim songs. There's an excellent 2001 Nonesuch studio recording of the original "Frogs" starring Lane, but it's likely the new production will be recorded at the end of the run in October.

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