Stephen Sondheim

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Lore & Background

Sondheim was born on March 22, 1930, into a Jewish family in New York City, the only child of affluent parents living in the San Remo at 145 Central Park West. After his parents divorced, he lived on a farm near Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and was described in *Stephen Sondheim: A Life* as an isolated, emotionally neglected child. He formed a close friendship with James Hammerstein, son of Oscar Hammerstein II, who were neighbors in Bucks County. The elder Hammerstein became Sondheim's surrogate father, influencing him profoundly. When Sondheim asked Hammerstein to evaluate his first musical, *By George*, Hammerstein called it 'the worst thing I've ever read' but then spent the rest of the day going over it, and Sondheim said, 'In that afternoon I learned more about songwriting and the musical theater than most people learn in a lifetime.' Hammerstein designed a course for Sondheim on writing a musical, having him write four musicals under specific conditions: based on a play he admired (George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly's *Beggar on Horseback*), based on a play he liked but thought flawed (Maxwell Anderson's *High Tor*), based on an existing novel or short story not previously dramatized (his unfinished version of *Mary Poppins*), and an original (which became *Climb High*). None were produced professionally. Sondheim attended Williams College, where he initially majored in mathematics but switched to music after taking an elective during his first year. He studied with Milton Babbitt, whom he called 'a frustrated show composer' with whom he formed 'a perfect combination.' Sondheim told Meryle Secrest, 'I am his maverick, his one student who went into the popular arts with all his serious artillery.' He graduated magna cum laude in 1950. He began his career writing lyrics for *West Side Story* (1957) and *Gypsy* (1959), then transitioned to writing both music and lyrics. His Broadway musicals include five that earned the Tony Award for Best Musical: *A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum* (1962), *Company* (1970), *A Little Night Music* (1973), *Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street* (1979), and *Passion* (1994). *Sunday in the Park with George* (1984) won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, one of the few musicals so honored.

Reader's Guide

Stephen Sondheim's significance lies in his transformation of the American musical into a vehicle for complex, darker themes. His music and lyrics are characterized by their complexity, sophistication and ambivalence, addressing subjects beyond traditional musical theater. He received eight Tony Awards, eight Grammy Awards, and five Olivier Awards, and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1982. He was awarded the Kennedy Center Honor in 1993 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. Theaters are named after him both on Broadway and in the West End of London. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for 'Sooner or Later' from *Dick Tracy* (1990). Many of his works have been adapted for film, including *West Side Story* (1961), *Gypsy* (1962), *A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum* (1966), *A Little Night Music* (1977), *Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street* (2007), *Into the Woods* (2014), and *West Side Story* (2021). He published two books involving his collected lyrics, starting with *Finishing the Hat*.

Did You Know?

• Sondheim traced his interest in musical theater to *Very Warm for May*, which he saw when he was nine; he recalled, 'The curtain went up and revealed a piano... I thought that was thrilling.'
• He recalls the premiere of Rodgers and Hammerstein's *Carousel* as 'a seminal experience of my life. I was completely overwhelmed.'
• Sondheim was a gofer for Rodgers and Hammerstein's *Allegro*, and later said, 'Somebody said to me once, "Your whole life has been fixing *Allegro*. That's what I've been doing."'
• He studied with Milton Babbitt, whom he called 'a frustrated show composer,' and they met once a week in New York City for four hours, dissecting songs by composers like Rodgers and Hart, George Gershwin, and Jerome Kern.
• Sondheim's first teacher at Williams College was Robert Barrow, who made him realize 'that all my romantic views of art were nonsense' and that 'art is something worked out.'