Stephen Sondheim

Categories: 1930 births | Jewish Americans | Members of The American Academy of Arts and Letters | Musical theatre composers | Musical theatre lyricists | Puzzle designers | National Medal of Arts recipients

Image:Stephen Sondheim.jpg
Stephen Sondheim

Stephen Joshua Sondheim (born March 22, 1930) is an American musical theater lyricist and composer.

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Early life

Sondheim was born to a Jewish family in New York City and grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and later on a farm in Pennsylvania. An only child of well-to-do parents living in a high-rise apartment on Central Park West, Sondheim's childhood has been described as isolated and emotionally neglected. His parents, Herbert and Janet "Foxy" Sondheim, were non-religious Jews, though Foxy had grown up in an Orthodox family; Sondheim had no formal religious education or association, did not have a Bar Mitzvah, and reportedly did not set foot in a synagogue until he was 17. He graduated from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts in 1950.

When Stephen was ten years old, his father Herbert -- always a somewhat distant figure -- abandoned him and his mother, a traumatic event which would have major repercussions on both his private life and his public work. Under the laws of the day, Sondheim's mother retained full custody, which was perhaps unfortunate for her son; Foxy Sondheim was narcissistic, emotionally abusive, and a hypochondriac. After the departure of her husband, she became sexually predatory towards her son as a substitute for his absent father: she would suggestively lower her blouse or spread her legs in front of him, she would lounge about and absently ask him to make her drinks, she would hold his hand and stare at him through the entirety of a Broadway show. Many have speculated that it was this early intense love/hate relationship with his monstrous mother that would re-emerge in many of Sondheim's later works, which often treat love and commitment as claustrophobic and smothering, most notably in his musical Company. Perhaps also as a result of his relationship with his mother, Sondheim would become known for giving words and music to a series of strong, manipulative, somewhat unstable female characters, including Mamma Rose in Gypsy, Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, and the Witch in Into the Woods, all of whom are obsessive about keeping a hold on their child or lover.

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Career

At about the age of ten, around the time of his parents' divorce, Sondheim became friends with Jimmy Hammerstein. Jimmy's father was the well-known lyricist and playwright Oscar Hammerstein II. Hammerstein became something of a surrogate father to Sondheim, as the young man (for obvious reasons) attempted to stay away from home as much as possible. To say that Hammerstein was an influence on Sondheim is to make a gross understatement; if Oscar had been a geologist, Sondheim observed later in life, he probably would have become one too. During high school, Sondheim had the chance to write and see performed a farcical musical he wrote based on the goings-on of his school, entitled By George. It was a major popular success among his peers, and it inflated the young songwriter's ego considerably; he took it to Hammerstein, and asked him to evaluate it as though he had no knowledge of its author. The next day Sondheim came back. Hammerstein hated it. "But if you want to know why it's terrible," Hammerstein consoled the young man, "I'll tell you."

Thus began one of the most famous apprenticeships in the musical theatre, as Hammerstein designed a kind of course for Sondheim to take, on the construction of a musical. This training centered around four assignments, which Sondheim was to write. These were:

  • A musical based on a play he admired (which became All That Glitters)
  • A musical based on a play he thought was flawed (which became High Tor)
  • A musical based on an existing novel or short story not previously dramatized (which became the unfinished Mary Poppins)
  • An original musical (which became Climb High)

None of these "assignment" musicals were produced professionally. High Tor and Mary Poppins have never been produced at all, because the rights holders for the original works refused to grant permission for a musical to be made -- besides, Mary Poppins was never even finished.

Sondheim went on to study composition with the composer Milton Babbitt, though he would not allow this famous atonal composer to teach him the twelve-tone system, perhaps deciding there was no place for it in contemporary musical theatre. In 1954, he wrote both music and lyrics for Saturday Night, which was never produced on Broadway and was shelved until a 1997 production at London's Bridewell Theatre.

At the age of 25, Sondheim wrote the lyrics to West Side Story, accompanying Leonard Bernstein's music and Arthur Laurents's book. In 1959 he wrote the lyrics to the musical Gypsy, with music by Jule Styne and a book again by Laurents. Finally in 1962 Sondheim saw a musical for which he wrote both the music and lyrics, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, open on Broadway. His next musical, Anyone Can Whistle, was a financial failure, though it has developed a cult following and is currently being revived in a series of high-profile concerts. He donned his lyricist-for-hire hat for one last show, Do I Hear a Waltz?, with music by Richard Rodgers -- the one project he claims he regrets doing -- and since then has devoted himself to both composing and writing lyrics for a series of critically acclaimed musicals.

Sondheim's work is most notable for his use of complex polyphony in the vocal parts, such as the chorus of five minor characters who function as a sort of "Greek Chorus" in A Little Night Music. He also displays a penchant for angular harmonies and intricate melodies reminiscent of his hero, Bach (he once claimed that he listens to no one else). To aficionados, Sondheim's musical sophistication is considered to be greater than that of many of his musical theater peers, and his lyrics are likewise renowned for their ambiguity ("Send In The Clowns"), wit ("Buddy's Blues") and urbanity ("The Little Things You Do Together"); he employs various literary techniques and devices that make his writing more akin to poetry than Tin Pan Alley.

Indeed, in 1968 and 1969, Sondheim published an astonishingly inventive series of word puzzles in New York magazine. These are sometimes inadequately referred to as mere crosswords; in fact, the form and construction of the puzzles was every bit as creative and diabolical as the clues.

Regarded by some as the anti-Andrew Lloyd Webber (though Lloyd Webber composed the distinctly Sondheimesque Tell Me On A Sunday), Sondheim is nevertheless no stranger to popular as well as critical success. In 1985, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Sunday in the Park with George, one of the few times that a musical has taken the award.

He came out as gay around 2000. http://www.nndb.com/people/325/000023256/ He shares the same birthday with Andrew Lloyd Webber

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Major works

Unless otherwise noted, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.

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Minor works

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Stage

  • By George (1945), a musical Sondheim wrote at age 15 lampooning the denizens of George School, which he attended at the time.
  • Phinney's Rainbow (1948), a musical satire on college life that Sondheim wrote at age 18 lampooning the denizens of Williams College, which he attended at the time.
  • All That Glitters (1948), based on Beggar on Horseback by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly.
  • Climb High (1951), an original musical about a college student moving to New York City to become an actor.
  • Additional lyrics for the 1974 revival of Candide.
  • The Frogs (1974), a musical version of Aristophanes' comedy with a book by Burt Shevelove. Performed in the Yale University swimming pool.
  • Getting Away With Murder (1996), a "comedy thriller" (non-musical play), co-written with George Furth.
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Film / TV

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External links