Stephen
Sondheim,
the
songwriter
who
reshaped
the
American
musical
theatre
in
the
second
half
of
the
20th
century
with
his
intelligent,
intricately
rhymed
lyrics,
his
use
of
evocative
melodies
and
his
willingness
to
tackle
unusual
subjects,
died
on
November
26.
He
was
91.
Sondheim's
death
was
announced
by
Rick
Miramontez,
president
of
DKC/O&M.
Sondheim's
Texas-based
attorney,
Rick
Pappas,
told
The
New
York
Times
the
composer
died
Friday
at
his
home
in
Roxbury,
Connecticut.
Sondheim
influenced
several
generations
of
theatre
songwriters,
particularly
with
such
landmark
musicals
as
"Company",
"Follies" and
"Sweeney
Todd",
which
are
considered
among
his
best
work.
His
most
famous
ballad,
"Send
in
the
Clowns",
has
been
recorded
hundreds
of
times,
including
by
Frank
Sinatra
and
Judy
Collins.
The
artist
refused
to
repeat
himself,
finding
inspiration
for
his
shows
in
such
diverse
subjects
as
an
Ingmar
Bergman
movie
("A
Little
Night
Music"),
the
opening
of
Japan
to
the
West
("Pacific
Overtures"),
French
painter
Georges
Seurat
("Sunday
in
the
Park
With
George"),
Grimm's
fairy
tales
("Into
the
Woods")
and
even
the
killers
of
American
presidents
("Assassins"),
among
others.
Tributes
quickly
flooded
social
media
as
performers
and
writers
alike
saluted
a
giant
of
the
theatre.
"We
shall
be
singing
your
songs
forever,"
wrote
Lea
Salonga.
Aaron
Tveit
wrote:
"We
are
so
lucky
to
have
what
you've
given
the
world."
“The
theatre
has
lost
one
of
its
greatest
geniuses
and
the
world
has
lost
one
of
its
greatest
and
most
original
writers.
Sadly,
there
is
now
a
giant
in
the
sky,"
producer
Cameron
Mackintosh
wrote
in
tribute.
Music
supervisor,
arranger
and
orchestrator
Alex
Lacamoire
tweeted:
"For
those
of
us
who
love
new
musical
theatre:
we
live
in
a
world
that
Sondheim
built."
Six
of
Sondheim's
musicals
won
Tony
Awards
for
best
score,
and
he
also
received
a
Pulitzer
Prize
("Sunday
in
the
Park"),
an
Academy
Award
(for
the
song
"Sooner
or
Later"
from
the
film
"Dick
Tracy"),
five
Olivier
Awards
and
the
Presidential
Medal
of
Honor.
In
2008,
he
received
a
Tony
Award
for
lifetime
achievement.
Sondheim's
music
and
lyrics
gave
his
shows
a
dark,
dramatic
edge,
whereas
before
him,
the
dominant
tone
of
musicals
was
frothy
and
comic.
He
was
sometimes
criticised
as
a
composer
of
unhummable
songs,
a
badge
that
didn't
bother
Sondheim.
Frank
Sinatra,
who
had
a
hit
with
Sondheim's
"Send
in
the
Clowns",
once
complained:
"He
could
make
me
a
lot
happier
if
he'd
write
more
songs
for
saloon
singers
like
me."
To
theatre
fans,
Sondheim's
sophistication
and
brilliance
made
him
an
icon.
A
Broadway
theatre
was
named
after
him.
A
New
York
magazine
cover
asked
"Is
Sondheim
God?"
The
Guardian
newspaper
once
offered
this
question:
"Is
Stephen
Sondheim
the
Shakespeare
of
musical
theatre?"
A
supreme
wordsmith
—
and
an
avid
player
of
word
games
—
Sondheim's
joy
of
language
shone
through.
"The
opposite
of
left
is
right/The
opposite
of
right
is
wrong/So
anyone
who's
left
is
wrong,
right?"
he
wrote
in
"Anyone
Can
Whistle".
In
"Company",
he
penned
the
lines:
"Good
things
get
better/Bad
gets
worse/Wait
—
I
think
I
meant
that
in
reverse."
He
offered
the
three
principles
necessary
for
a
songwriter
in
his
first
volume
of
collected
lyrics
—
Content
Dictates
Form,
Less
Is
More,
and
God
Is
in
the
Details.
All
these
truisms,
he
wrote,
were
"in
the
service
of
Clarity,
without
which
nothing
else
matters."
Together
they
led
to
stunning
lines
like:
"It's
a
very
short
road
from
the
pinch
and
the
punch
to
the
paunch
and
the
pouch
and
the
pension."
Taught
by
no
less
a
genius
than
Oscar
Hammerstein,
Sondheim
pushed
the
musical
into
a
darker,
richer
and
more
intellectual
place.
"If
you
think
of
a
theatre
lyric
as
a
short
story,
as
I
do,
then
every
line
has
the
weight
of
a
paragraph,"
he
wrote
in
his
2010
book,
"Finishing
the
Hat",
the
first
volume
of
his
collection
of
lyrics
and
comments.
Early
in
his
career,
Sondheim
wrote
the
lyrics
for
two
shows
considered
to
be
classics
of
the
American
stage,
"West
Side
Story"
(1957)
and
"Gypsy"
(1959).
"West
Side
Story",
with
music
by
Leonard
Bernstein,
transplanted
Shakespeare's
"Romeo
and
Juliet"
to
the
streets
and
gangs
of
modern-day
New
York.
"Gypsy",
with
music
by
Jule
Styne,
told
the
backstage
story
of
the
ultimate
stage
mother
and
the
daughter
who
grew
up
to
be
Gypsy
Rose
Lee.
It
was
not
until
1962
that
Sondheim
wrote
both
music
and
lyrics
for
a
Broadway
show,
and
it
turned
out
to
be
a
smash
—
the
bawdy
“A
Funny
Thing
Happened
on
the
Way
to
the
Forum",
starring
Zero
Mostel
as
a
wily
slave
in
ancient
Rome
yearning
to
be
free.
Yet
his
next
show,
“Anyone
Can
Whistle”
(1964),
flopped,
running
only
nine
performances
but
achieving
cult
status
after
its
cast
recording
was
released.
Sondheim's
1965
lyric
collaboration
with
composer
Richard
Rodgers
—
“Do
I
Hear
a
Waltz?”
—
also
turned
out
to
be
problematic.
The
musical,
based
on
the
play
“The
Time
of
the
Cuckoo,”
ran
for
six
months
but
was
an
unhappy
experience
for
both
men,
who
did
not
get
along.
It
was
“Company,”
which
opened
on
Broadway
in
April
1970,
that
cemented
Sondheim's
reputation.
The
episodic
adventures
of
a
bachelor
(played
by
Dean
Jones)
with
an
inability
to
commit
to
a
relationship
was
hailed
as
capturing
the
obsessive
nature
of
striving,
self-centered
New
Yorkers.
The
show,
produced
and
directed
by
Hal
Prince,
won
Sondheim
his
first
Tony
for
best
score.
“The
Ladies
Who
Lunch”
became
a
standard
for
Elaine
Stritch.
(AP)
RB
RB
Photos
Courtesy
of
DW
News