Classical & Opera Codexery

Stephen Sondheim

Composer and lyricist who reinvented the American musical.

Last updated

Stephen Sondheim

via Wikipedia: Stephen Sondheim · see source

Eight Tony Awards, eight Grammy Awards, and five Olivier Awards were among the many accolades Sondheim received, and he is recognized for transforming the American musical.[1]

Making and release

His first Broadway show for which he wrote both music and lyrics was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, which opened in 1962 and ran for 964 performances.[2] Sondheim made a historic breakthrough as both composer and lyricist with Company in 1971, his first collaboration with director Harold Prince.[3] Sondheim dominated Broadway in the early 1970s, winning Tony Awards for Best Score in three consecutive years for Company, Follies, and A Little Night Music.[3] Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street opened in 1979 and brought Sondheim another Tony Award.[3]

Sondheim collaborated with playwright-director James Lapine to create Sunday in the Park with George in 1984, and teamed up again for Into the Woods in 1987 and Passion in 1994.[4] Between Broadway assignments, Sondheim wrote scores for the films Stavisky in 1974 and Reds in 1981.[3] Sondheim co-wrote two non-musical mysteries: the film The Last of Sheila in 1973 with Anthony Perkins, and the play Getting Away with Murder in 1996 with George Furth.[4] The HBO documentary Six by Sondheim in 2013 chronicled his life and artistic process.[4]

Oscar Hammerstein II served as an early mentor to Sondheim, and later in his career he worked repeatedly with Harold Prince and James Lapine.[5] At the Tony Awards, the production received six awards, one of which was for Best Musical.[6]

What the cited sources add

The achievement.org biography states that Sondheim's parents divorced when he was ten, and he was taken by his mother to live on a farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.[3] According to the same source, Sondheim resolved to write for the theater after seeing Rodgers and Hammerstein's success with Oklahoma! and South Pacific.[3] The musopen.org guide notes that Sondheim, an enthusiast for games and puzzles, co-wrote two non-musical mysteries.[4] The achievement.org biography reports that Sondheim served as president of the Dramatists Guild from 1973 to 1981.[3]

According to the achievement.org biography, Sondheim gathered 50 years of his writing in two volumes: Finishing the Hat and Look, I Made a Hat.[3]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Stephen Sondheim" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Remarks by the President at Medal of Freedom Ceremony", White House, November 24, 2015 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Stephen Sondheim" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Skethway, "Look Back at the Original Production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum", Playbill, May 8, 2021 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. "Stephen Sondheim Biography and Interview", achievement.org. facts only, no text reused. achievement.org
  4. "Stephen Sondheim for Piano – Guides", musopen.org. facts only, no text reused. web.archive.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Stephen Sondheim" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "About Stephen Sondheim", Everything Sondheim; Weber, "Hal Prince, Giant of Broadway and Reaper of Tonys, Dies at 91", The New York Times, July 31, 2019; "The Bard of Ambivalence", Jewish Currents (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Stephen Sondheim" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Tony Award Nominations", Tony Awards, 1963 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Stephen Sondheim (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

More in Classical & Opera

Victoria de los ÁngelesTito GobbiTitta RuffoWilhelm BackhausWilhelm KempffWanda LandowskaWitold LutosławskiUnsuk ChinYundiVirgil ThomsonWilliam BillingsJerome Kern

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

Spotted an error? Know more?

Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced

Comments

Loading…
Open in the interactive codex →