Stephen Sondheim, legendary theatrical songwriter, lyricist and composer, has died. He was 91.
Early on in his unparalleled career, Sondheim wrote the lyrics to the classic musicalsWest Side Story,which premiered in 1957, andGypsytwo years later.
Sondheim would go on to compose the music and lyrics for such lasting works as 1962’sA Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, along withCompany, Follies, A Little Night MusicandSweeney Todd:The Demon Barber of Fleet Streetin the 1970s.
The next decade saw Sondheim remain more than relevant on the Great White Way, with entries includingSunday in the Park with GeorgeandInto the Woods.
In the ’90s, Sondheim continued to tower in his field, creating two of the most audacious and innovative musicals in his career:Assassinsin 1990 andPassionin 1994.
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He is the recipient of eight Tony Awards, including a special lifetime achievement Tony Award, and in 2010 the Henry Miller’s Theatre was renamed the Stephen Sondheim Theatre on West 43rd Street in New York City in his honor.
In 1985, he won the Pulitzer Prize for drama forSunday in the Park with George, an accolade he shared with that musical’s book writer, director and frequent collaborator James Lapine.
Sondheim was born in 1930 in New York, and became a dutiful piano student from the age of 7 or 8. “It was the sort of thing a nice Jewish boy did, and my parents used to bring me out and show me off,” the theater legendtold PEOPLE in a feature from 1976.
After his mother Etta Janet Fox divorced Herbert Sondheim, a prominent New York dress manufacturer, and settled down on a farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Sondheim began to really fall in love with music — mainly because their neighbors were the Hammersteins. “[Academy Award-winning lyricist] Oscar [Hammerstein II] was one of the most remarkable men I’ve ever met — generous, witty and sharp-tongued, and it was he who encouraged my interest in music and the theater,” he said.
Of his own work, Sondheim said at the time, “My main goal is to tell a story and, if I tell that story well, tell it with resonance, the inferences to be drawn will take care of themselves.”
Sondheim’s rich and prolific body of work has served as the basis for several lauded films and stage revivals, including Tim Burton’s Oscar-winning movie adaptation ofSweeney Toddwith Johnny Depp, 2014’sInto the Woodsstarring Meryl Streep, and 2017’s Broadway revival ofSunday in the Park with Georgewith Jake Gyllenhaal.
Earlier this month,Sondheim was presentat the first preview ofCompanyback after the theater hiatus due to COVID-19. He received a dedication from star Patti LuPone along with a standing ovation from the audience.
Bradley Whitford also portrays Sondheim inLin-Manuel Miranda’s recently released filmTick, Tick… Boom!, about the life of late songwriter andRentcreator Jonathan Larson.
Sondheim is credited as a major influential figure in Larson’s life, whose song “Sunday” takes a riff from Sondheim’sSunday in the Park With George.
source: people.com
