Stephen Sondheim Overview

Stephen Sondheim earned his musical stripes alongside the best in the business: his first foray into creating a musical was as lyricist to Leonard Bernstein's composer for "West Side Story" (1957). After a second lyrical outing with Jules Styne's music for... [more]

Stephen Sondheim earned his musical stripes alongside the best in the business: his first foray into creating a musical was as lyricist to Leonard Bernstein's composer for "West Side Story" (1957). After a second lyrical outing with Jules Styne's music for "Gypsy" (1959), Sondheim was ready to brave Broadway solo. Beginning with the saucy hit "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" (1962), his series of experimental, witty, and challenging musical comedies revitalized a sluggish box office and injected new life into what many believed was a dying art form. Daring to omit predictable hit songs (the typical musical always had a few for the sake of the bottom line), Sondheim crafted intricately inventive scores that reflect the ambiguities and frailties of human relationships. His musicals struck a chord with the audiences of the '60s and '70s, who were ready for substance and tired of corn. Musically Sondheim's scores are among the most complex ever written for the commercial stage. His lyrics are equally innovative, relying heavily on internal rhyme to evoke character, mood, and emotion. With "Company" (1970) and "A Little Night Music" (1973), his reputation as a whiz kid was upgraded to that of maestro. The success of both shows and Sondheim's first commercial hit song, "Send in the Clowns," catapulted the cutting-edge composer to the front ranks of show business. He took root there when his next big show opened to universal acclaim. "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (1979) combines raucous characters with rhapsodic music. The production won eight Tony awards and two Grammies for the original cast album. Sondheim hit his artistic stride with 1984's "Sunday in the Park with George." Echoing the pointillist technique of its subject, painter Georges Seurat, the music builds up sequences of singular notes for a dappled effect; the score's intriguing charm and uncommon depth won the composer a Pulitzer Prize. With "Into the Woods" (1987), he reworked classic children's fairytales such as Little Red Riding Hood and Jack and the Beanstalk into a commentary on darker adult realities. In the '90s his themes grew still darker and still more adult: "Assassins" (1990) explores the history of American presidential assassination, and "Passion" (1994) examines bachelorhood and adultery, revealing the interconnectedness of love and obsession, beauty and desire. Sondheim's greatest works have been termed "the ultimate extension of Carousel's 'bench scene'" - that is, the perfect and seamless blending of song and speech. While he may not offer the razzmatazz of "42nd Street" or the glorious sentimentality of "Show Boat," his ingenious fusion of operatic leitmotiv, traditional musical theater, and complex internal rhymes and rhythms leave him the uncontested master of the Broadway stage. [show less]