Biography
Stephen Sondheim (1930-2021), born in New York City, was the most intellectually ambitious and influential musical theatre composer of the second half of the twentieth century. Sondheim wrote lyrics for West Side Story (1957) and Gypsy (1959) before establishing himself as composer-lyricist with A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962). His mature masterpieces, most in collaboration with director Harold Prince, include Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), Sweeney Todd (1979), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), and Into the Woods (1987). His final work, Here We Are (posthumous 2023), completes a lifetime's reinvention of musical theatre form. Sondheim's complex harmonies, intricate lyrics, and refusal of sentimentality transformed what Broadway could express. He died in Roxbury, Connecticut in 2021.
On Stagelog
Loading stats...