A Little Stephen Sondheim

The master of musical theater, Stephen Sondheim, once stated that his original ambition was to become a mathematician, and that he became a composer

largely by chance. A big influence was that famed lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II (of Rodgers and Hammerstein) was a neighbor when Sondheim was a boy. When he wrote a musical for a school production, he showed it to Hammerstein, who told him it was the worst musical he had ever read. However, Hammerstein also told him that it nonetheless showed a lot of latent talent and proceeded to tell him everything that was wrong with it and how to fix it, for which Sondheim was always grateful.

Born in New York City in 1930, Sondheim began his professional career by writing the lyrics for West Side Story (1957) and Gypsy (1959). He then transitioned to writing both music and lyrics for the theater, and his best-known works include A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Sunday in the Park With George (1984) and Into the Woods (1987).

Sondheim’s Broadway musicals are known for tackling unexpected themes that ranged beyond the genre’s traditional subjects, while addressing darker elements of the human experience. His music and lyrics are tinged with complexity, sophistication and ambivalence about various aspects of life. He died November 26, 2021 at the age of 91.