| Stephen Sondheim |
Article Index for Stephen |
Website Links For Stephen |
Information AboutStephen Sondheim |
Stephen Joshua Sondheim (b. March 22 1930 is an American Stage Musical and film composer and lyricist, one of the few people to win an Academy Award , multiple Tony Awards (seven, more than any other composer), multiple Grammy Awards , and a Pulitzer Prize . He has been described by Frank Rich in the '' The New York Times '' as "the greatest and perhaps best-known artist in the American musical theater." 1 His most famous scores include (as composer/lyricist) '' A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum '', '' Company '', '' A Little Night Music '', '' Follies '', '' Sweeney Todd '', '' Into The Woods '', '' Sunday In The Park With George '', and '' Assassins '', as well as the lyrics for '' West Side Story '' and '' Gypsy ''. EARLY LIFE Stephen Sondheim was born to Herbert and Janet ("Foxy") Sondheim, in .'' Sondheim traces his interest in theater to '' Very Warm For May '', a Broadway musical he saw at the age of nine. "The curtain went up and revealed a piano," Sondheim recalled. "A butler took a duster and brushed it up, tinkling the keys. I thought that was thrilling."2 When Stephen was 10 years old, his father Herbert, a distant figure in Stephen's life, abandoned him and his mother. Under the laws of the day, Sondheim's mother retained full custody. Unfortunately for young Stephen, he saw his mother "Foxy Sondheim" as narcissistic, emotionally abusive, and a Hypochondriac . Stephen "famously despised" Foxy; he once wrote a thank-you note to close friend Mary Rodgers that read, "Dear Mary and Hank, Thanks for the plate, but where was my mother's head? Love, Steve." When Foxy died in September 15th 1993, Sondheim refused to attend her funeral. CAREER Mentorship under Oscar Hammerstein II At about the age of ten, around the time of his parents' divorce, Sondheim became friends with Jimmy Hammerstein, son of the well-known lyricist and playwright Oscar Hammerstein II . The elder Hammerstein became a surrogate father to Sondheim, as the young man attempted to stay away from home as much as possible. Hammerstein had a profound influence on the young Sondheim, especially in his development of love for musical theater. Indeed, it was at the opening of Hammerstein's hit show '' South Pacific '' that Sondheim met Harold Prince , who would later direct many of Sondheim's most famous shows. During high school, Sondheim attended George School , a private Quaker Preparatory School in Bucks County, Pennsylvania . He had the chance to write a comic musical based on the goings-on of his school, entitled '' By George ''. It was a major 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. Hammerstein hated it. "But if you want to know why it's terrible," Hammerstein consoled the young man, "I'll tell you." The rest of the day was spent going over the musical, and Sondheim would later say that "in that afternoon I learned more about songwriting and the musical theater than most people learn in a lifetime." ''Sondheim & Co.", Craig Zadan, p. 4, 1974, 1986, Harper & Row, ISBN 0-06-015649-X 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:
None of these "assignment" musicals was ever 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. In 1950, Sondheim graduated Magna Cum Laude from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts , where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He went on to study composition with the composer Milton Babbitt . In Mark Eden Horowitz 's ''Sondheim on Music'', Sondheim says that when he asked Babbitt if he could study Atonality , Babbitt replied "No, I don't think you've exhausted your Tonal resources yet." Sondheim agreed, and despite frequent Dissonance and a highly chromatic style, his music remains resolutely Tonal . Move to Broadway and work as lyricist "A few painful years of struggle" followed for Sondheim, during which he conditionally auditioned songs and lived in his father's dining room to save money. He also spent some time in Hollywood writing for the television series '' Topper ''. Though, to date, Sondheim has only dabbled in movie musicals, he devoured the film of the forties and fifties and has called cinema his "basic language." In the fifties, his knowledge of film got him through '' The $64,000 Question '' contestant tryouts. Though his favorite movies include classics like '' Citizen Kane '', '' The Grapes Of Wrath '', and '' Stairway To Heaven '', Sondheim says he dislikes movie musicals. He added that "studio directors like Michael Curtiz and Raoul Walsh ....were heroes of mine. They went from movie to movie to movie, and every third movie was good and every fifth movie was great. There wasn't any cultural pressure to make art."3 In 1954, Sondheim 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 . In 1998 ''Saturday Night'' received a professional recording, followed by an Off-Broadway run at Second Stage Theatre in 2000. Sondheim's big break came when he wrote the lyrics to '' West Side Story '', accompanying Leonard Bernstein 's music and Arthur Laurents 's book. The 1957 show, directed by Jerome Robbins , ran for 732 performances. While this may be the best-known show Sondheim ever worked on, he has expressed some dissatisfaction with his lyrics, stating they don't always fit the characters and are sometimes too consciously poetic. In 1959, he wrote the lyrics for another hit musical, ''''. Sondheim would have liked to write the music as well, but Ethel Merman , the star, insisted on a composer with a track record - thus Jule Styne was hired. ''Sondheim & Co.", Craig Zadan, p. 38, 1974, 1986, Harper & Row, ISBN 0-06-015649-X Sondheim questioned if he should write only the lyrics for yet another show, but his mentor Oscar Hammerstein told him it would be valuable experience to write for a star. Sondheim worked closely with book writer Arthur Laurents to create the show. It ran 702 performances. Finally, Sondheim participated in a musical for which he wrote both the music and lyrics, '' A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum ''. It opened in 1962 and ran 964 performances. The book, based on the farces of Plautus , was by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart . Sondheim's score was not especially well-received at the time - the show won several Tony Awards , including best musical, but Sondheim did not even receive a nomination. In addition, some critics felt the songs were not properly integrated into the farcical action. At this point, Sondheim had participated in three straight hits - he'd yet to taste failure on Broadway. His next show ended the streak. '' Anyone Can Whistle '' (1964) was a 9-performance flop, although it introduced Angela Lansbury to musical theatre and has developed a Cult Following . In 1965 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 has since openly regretted working on. In 1966, he semi-anonymously provided the lyric for '' The Boy From... ,'' a parody of '' The Girl From Ipanema '' that was a highlight of the off-Broadway revue '' The Mad Show ''. (The official songwriting credit went to the linguistically-minded pseudonym "Esteban Rio Nido," which translates from the Spanish to "Stephen River Nest." In the show's Playbill , the lyric was credited to " Nom De Plume "). Maturity as composer/lyricist in the 70s Since then Sondheim has devoted himself to both composing and writing lyrics for a series of varied and adventuresome musicals, beginning with the innovative "concept musical" '' Company '' in 1970. Sondheim's work is notable for his use of complex , 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 , wit, and urbanity. Sondheim collaborated with producer/director Harold Prince on six distinctive musicals between 1970 and 1981. '' Company '' (1970) was a "concept musical", a show centered around a set of characters and themes rather than a straightforward plot. '' Follies '' (1971) was a similarly-structured show filled with pastiche songs echoing styles of composers from earlier decades. '' A Little Night Music '' (1973), a more traditionally plotted show based on an Ingmar Bergman film, was one of his greatest successes, with '' Time '' magazine calling it "Sondheim's most brilliant accomplishment to date."4 Notably, the score was mostly composed in Waltz Time (either ¾ time, or multiples thereof.) Further success was accorded to ''A Little Night Music'' when "Send in the Clowns" became a hit for Judy Collins . Although it was Sondheim's only Top 40 hit, his songs are frequently performed and recorded by cabaret artists and theatre singers in their solo careers. '' Pacific Overtures '' (1976) was the most non-traditional of the Sondheim-Prince collaborations, an intellectual exploration of the westernization of Japan. '' Sweeney Todd '' (1979), Sondheim's most operatic score (and his only show to find a definite foothold in opera houses), once again explores an unlikely topic, this time murderous revenge and Cannibalism . The libretto, by Hugh Wheeler , is based on Christopher Bond 's 1973 stage version of the Victorian original. Later work '' Merrily We Roll Along '' (1981), with a book by Furth, is one of Sondheim's more "traditional" scores and was thought to hold potential to generate some hit songs ( Frank Sinatra and Carly Simon each recorded a different song from the show). Sondheim's Music Director , Paul Gemignani , said, “Part of Steve’s ability is this extraordinary versatility.” ''Merrily'', however, was a 16-performance flop. "''Merrily'' did not succeed, but its score endures thanks to subsequent productions and recordings. According to Martin Gottfried, "Sondheim had set out to write traditional songs… But {Link without Title} that there is nothing ordinary about the music." Gottfried, Martin. Sondheim. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1993, pgs. 146-147 Sondheim and Furth have extensively revised the show since its initial opening. The failure of ''Merrily'' greatly affected Sondheim; he was ready to quit theater and do movies or create Video Game s or write mysteries. He was later quoted as saying, "I wanted to find something to satisfy myself that does not involve Broadway and dealing with all those people who hate me and hate Hal." Gottfried, Martin. Sondheim. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1993, pg. 153 The collaboration between Sondheim and Prince would largely end after ''Merrily''. Instead of quitting the theater following the failure of ''Merrily'', however, Sondheim decided "that there are better places to start a show", and found a new collaborator in the "artsy" James Lapine . Lapine has a taste "for the Avant-garde and for visually oriented theater in particular." '' Sunday In The Park With George '' (1984), their first collaboration, was very much the avant-garde, but they had blended it together with the Profession alism of the commercial theater to make a different kind of musical. Sondheim again was able to show his versatility and his adaptability. His music took on the style of the artist Georges Seurat 's painting techniques. In doing so, Sondheim was able to bring his work to another level. "Sondheim’s work has such reach, there is so much emotional resonance, that many observers take it personally and become as fascinated with the artist as with the art; they see him in his work." In 1985, he and Lapine won the Pulitzer Prize In Drama for '' Sunday In The Park With George ''. It is one of the only seven musicals that have taken this prestigious award. The Sondheim-Lapine collaboration also produced the popular Fairy-tale show '' Into The Woods '' (1987) and the rhapsodic '' Passion '' (1994). Despite a popularity among musical theater insiders that continues to grow, it was noted in 2002 that "Sondheim has never quite escaped the ghetto of cult enthusiasm.... {Link without Title} has always been an acquired taste. He's never achieved the sort of popularity of Andrew Lloyd Webber or had a megahit on the order of a '' Cats ''."Brown, Chip. "Sondheim!", ''Smithsonian'', Aug. 2002, 33(5). |
|
|