Genius who reinvented the musical
PRAISED as a lyricist of genius, Stephen Sondheim created original American musicals in the post-war years with classics such as I Feel Pretty and Everything’s Coming Up Roses. He learnt his craft at the feet of a musical maestro, Oscar Hammerstein, whose talents merged effortlessly with composer Richard Rodgers.
By chance he was a friend of Hammerstein’s son Jimmy and, aged 15, presented a school show he’d written and asked him to ignore the fact he was a family friend. Hammerstein did not hold back, telling him it was the worst thing he had ever read but set Sondheim on the road to greatness.
“I had a very concise course in writing for the musical theatre,” Sondheim said. “We spoke about everything; characters, plays, scenes, songs, how to structure each. So I dare say that I knew more about songwriting at the end of that afternoon than most people know in a lifetime.”
Born in Manhattan, New York, his father Herbert was a garment manufacturer who left his mother, Janet, for another woman when Stephen was 10. He had a strained relationship with his mother throughout his adult life and did not attend her funeral.
Sondheim studied music and mathematics at Williams College in Massachusetts. During one holiday break he worked on the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Allegro.
John Huston employed him as a clapper boy on his film Beat The Devil in 1953 but his big break came when playwright Arthur Laurents asked him to write the lyrics forWest Side Story.
For the musical Gypsy, featuring the life of Gypsy Rose Lee, his song Everything’s Coming Up Roses entered the language.
In 1962 he enjoyed success as both composer and lyricist for the farce A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum.
In 1965, working with James Goldman, he produced Follies, which went on to win seven Tonys.
A Little Night Music produced more awards when it ran on Broadway in 1973 with his classic Send In The Clowns.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (1979) was a hit on Broadway and at London’s Theatre Royal and was turned into a film in 2007.
He spent many years seeing psychoanalysts and it wasn’t until he was in his 40s that he felt confident and comfortable with being gay.
His legacy is a catalogue of songs which will stand the test of time.