Listenersupported wnyc is the home for independent journalism and courageous conversation on air and online. Nothing ive seen on tv since the pandemic hit has impressed me. Youll find a wide selection of stephen sondheim sheet music, songbooks, and music books at sheet music plus. Allegro had a very, very big effect on me, he says. Summing up stephen sondheims six decades in theater is a challenge. Later he composed his own music and lyrics for such musicals as a funny thing. Stephen sondheim has 158 books on goodreads with 64811 ratings. The book collects his lyrics from 1954 to 1981 and tells the stories behind the songs.
After all, this is the composer responsible for company, follies, into the woods, and sweeney todd not to mention the. The roundabout theater company renamed one of its broadway houses, the henry millers theatre on west 43rd street, in sondheims honor. Stephen sondheim has written awardwinning music and lyrics for theater, film and television. Enter your mobile number or email address below and well send you a link to download the free kindle app. September 14, 2000 composer and lyricist stephen sondheim.
Jeffrey brown sits down for a candid conversation with the celebrated composer and songwriter, stephen sondheim. Sondheim plans to add five or six songs, and nathan lane is adapting the libretto to suit the poolless lincoln centre theatre. Stephen sondheim interview featuring helen schneider 1992. The legendary composer and lyricist of musical theater is one of seven cover stars of ts greats issue. To mark the 80th birthday of groundbreaking composerlyricist stephen sondheim, playbill. In 1997, stephen sondheim sat down with library of congress senior music specialist mark horowitz for three days, pouring over the manuscripts of many of his shows. Stephen sondheim is the most artistically important broadway composer of the past 50 years, even if he isnt the most commercially successful. Jeffrey brown talks to master lyricist stephen sondheim about his new book, finishing the hat.
Sondheims 2010 finishing the hat annotates his lyrics from productions dating 19541981. The interview well hear today was recorded in 2010, after the books. A candid conversation with stephen sondheim pbs newshour. Sondheim, shown here in 1974, won the pulitzer prize in drama for sunday in the park with george. An opinionated guide and millions of other books are available for amazon kindle.
Through the use of exclusive interview footage, audiences get an inside look at the personal life and artistic process of famed. Sondheim, who turned 90 on march 22, composed the music and lyrics. Happy birthday, stephen sondheim broadway is dark because of the virus, but that doesnt need to stop us from celebrating the 90th birthday of broadways best living composer and lyricistand. Me here at last on the ground, you in midair send in the clowns. Stephen sondheim is an american composer and lyricist known for his work in musical theater. Sondheim was interviewed by terry gross on the september 14, 2000 broadcast of this national public radio npr program. Stephen sondheim books list of books by author stephen. One of the finest books focusing on sondheims work is mark eden horowitzs 2003 study sondheim on music.
He had a few brief relationships throughout the 70s and 80s, but his major relationship was with a. In 1956, sondheim was chosen to write the lyrics for leonard bernsteins west side story. For sondheim, the daring of his career all goes back to that summer of 47. I blasted getting married today on my way to officiating my best friends wedding. Over the course of eighteen shows, mordden demonstrates that sondheim is a classical composer who happens to write musicals. He was mentored by oscar hammerstein, and went on to revolutionize musical theatre. Sondheim is stimulated by writing music but finds only a limited. He also gives his take on other great lyricists, some of.
He is also the coauthor of the film the last of sheila and the play getting away with murder. The revue is based on a show titled moving on devised. If youre going to sign your name to something, you. To his credit, sondheim has constantly challenged thea. Yes, i was in the studio for each of these shows being recorded. Stephen sondheims most popular book is sweeney todd. In on sondheim, renowned author ethan mordden takes the reader on a tour of stephen sondheims work, arguing for the importance and appeal of the composerlyricist in american theater and, even more, in american culture. Its particularly noticeable in books and the fact that broadway is 90 percent musicals and. Desert island discs on december 31, 2000, sondheim was the guest on this bbc radio program, where he chose the eight recordings, one book, and one luxury item to take with him to a. Sondheim, who turns 90 on march 22, composed the music and lyrics for sweeney todd, into the woods, company and other shows. Stephen sondheim interview stephen sondheim, who revolutionised the musical with hits such as sweeney todd and a little night music, has lost none of his edge.
Hailed as a revelatory revue full of wonderful moments and a funny, affectionate and revealing tribute to musical theaters greatest living composer and lyricist, sondheim on sondheim is an intimate portrait of the famed songwriter in his own words. He spoke about his career in musical theater in this 2010 interview. Soon after, he created the lyrics for the amazingly successful gypsy. After all, ive made no attempts to hide the fact that i am a superfan of stephen sondheim. Stephen sondheim rips all the dead lyricists, but only one. He had agreed to bequeath his manuscripts to the library and horowitz stood in for future researchers who might have questions about minute details revealed on those pages. When the show was briefly unearthed in concert form by the city center encores series in 1994, he appeared on stage to introduce it. Oddly or notmaybe it was the beardi was reminded at times of a latelife interview id seen some time back with sondheims near contemporary, the late maurice sendak. Stephen sondheim biography life, parents, story, school. The resulting interviews became the book sondheim on music. Stephen sondheim was born on march 22, 1930, to uppermiddleclass parents, herbert and janet sondheim. Sondheim is on the council of the dramatists guild of america, having served as its president from 1973 to 1981.
The two first worked together in the mid1980s on sunday in the park with. Wnyc is americas most listenedto public radio station and the producer of awardwinning programs and podcasts like radiolab, on the media, and the brian lehrer show. Why stephen sondheim is a genius, according to the. Playlist stephen sondheim wnyc new york public radio. Sondheim on sondheim is a musical revue consisting of music and lyrics written by stephen sondheim for his many shows. Also jewish, also gay, sendak was also a genius in a field that all sorts of clods had never even suspected was an art form until he came along and obliged them to. Im not pretentious, im a product of broadway at 84, stephen sondheim is musical theatres most fiercely intelligent voice. Books movies television pop culture food art & design performing arts music.
American composer stephen sondheim was born on march 22, 1930, in new york city. Stephen sondheim is the father of the modern american. The 84yearold gay composer, who was the subject of last years hbo documentary six by sondheim, had a twovolume collection of his lyrics and theatrical anecdotes published in 2010 and 2011. Stephen sondheim sheet music and music books at sheet. He made his broadway debut as a lyricist, writing words for leonard bernsteins music in west side story, and enjoyed his first success as a composer with the songs for a funny thing happened on the way to the forum.
No one today has better mastered the artform of marrying words and drama to music, and keeping that essentially operatic ideal alive in a broader public consciousness, writes tom service. Sondheim is gay, but struggled for quite a long time with emotional attachment. However, in an interview sondheim gave to national public radio npr in 2002. The music of stephen sondheim was performed on december th, 2017 at the van nostrand theater. Then you can start reading kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer no kindle device required. Stephen sondheim once gave james lapine, his friend and longtime collaborator, a useful if inadvertent piece of advice. But for many, and i used to include myself in this category, the work of stephen sondheim is difficult to access. Stephen sondheim at 80 the new york times calls stephen sondheim the greatest and perhaps bestknown artist in american musical theater.
One of the most important figures in 20thcentury musical theater, sondheim has been praised as having reinvented the american musical with shows that tackle unexpected themes that range far beyond the genres traditional subjects with music and lyrics of unprecedented complexity and sophistication. As a young man, he studied lyric writing with oscar hammerstein 2d, and early in his career he wrote lyrics for leonard bernsteins west side story 1957 and collaborated with jule styne in the writing of gypsy 1959. Fresh air celebrates broadway legend stephen sondheim. A book s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book. Stephen sondheim wnyc new york public radio, podcasts. The demon barber of fleet street by stephen sondheim, assassins by stephen sondheim, a little night music by hug. The opening number invocation and instructions to the audience, a tongueincheek patter song about how theatregoers should behave, is the best number. The frogs the idea for the frogs, taking a popular greek play by aristophanes and turning it into a musical to be staged in the yale swimming pool, was more an interesting idea of event theatre than an actual musical of superb content. His father was a dress manufacturer and his mother was a fashion designer and interior decorator. In honor of the occasion, t asked 10 friends, collaborators and admirers to reflect. This book takes us musicalbymusical through some of the most famous and artistically valuable of sondheims musicals the latest entry being assassins. Sondheim, who turned 90 on march 22, composed the music and wrote lyrics for sweeney todd, into the woods, company and other. Were listening back to our interview from 2010, which we recorded on the occasion of his 80th birthday.
He has also received eight tony awards, eight grammy awards and a kennedy center honor. On topics ranging from show boat to glee, from producing to new writers, composerlyricist stephen sondheim talked to playbill. Fresh air npr radio interview with sondheim from 2000 20 minutes, streaming audio kennedy center interview with sondheim, conducted by frank rich in 2002 90 minutes. By the early 1960s, stephen sondheim was ready for his compositions to premiere on broadway. Founded in 1997, has become a leading book price comparison site. Horowitz is an invaluable music specialist at the library of congress, whose personal bailiwick is the manuscripts of rodgers, porter, berlin, bernstein and the like.
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