Works of Stephen Sondheim

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Stephen Sondheim circa 1970 Stephen Sondheim - smoking.JPG
Stephen Sondheim circa 1970

Stephen Sondheim was an American composer and lyricist whose most famous work includes A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), and Into the Woods (1987). He is also known for writing the lyrics for West Side Story (1957) and Gypsy (1959).

Contents

Major works

YearTitleMusicLyricsBook
1954 Saturday Night Stephen Sondheim Julius J. Epstein, based on the play Front Porch in Flatbush by Epstein and his brother Philip.
1957 West Side Story Leonard Bernstein Stephen Sondheim Arthur Laurents, based on Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.
1959 Gypsy Jule Styne Stephen SondheimArthur Laurents, based on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee.
1962 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum Stephen Sondheim Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart, based on the farces of the ancient Roman playwright Plautus, specifically Curculio , Pseudolus , Miles Gloriosus , and Mostellaria .
1964 Anyone Can Whistle Stephen SondheimArthur Laurents
1965 Do I Hear a Waltz? Richard Rodgers Stephen SondheimArthur Laurents
1966 Evening Primrose Stephen SondheimJames Goldman, based on a John Collier short story published in the 1951 collection Fancies and Goodnights .
1970 Company Stephen Sondheim George Furth
1971 Follies Stephen SondheimJames Goldman
1973 A Little Night Music Stephen Sondheim Hugh Wheeler, inspired by the 1955 Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night .
1974 The Frogs Stephen SondheimBurt Shevelove, based on the Ancient Greek comedy The Frogs by Aristophanes. The book was revised in 2004 by Nathan Lane.
1976 Pacific Overtures Stephen Sondheim John Weidman
1979 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Stephen SondheimHugh Wheeler, based on the 1970 play Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond.
1981 Merrily We Roll Along Stephen SondheimGeorge Furth, based on the 1934 play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart
1984 Sunday in the Park with George Stephen Sondheim James Lapine, inspired by Georges Seurat's painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte .
1987 Into the Woods Stephen SondheimJames Lapine
1990 Assassins Stephen SondheimJohn Weidman
1994 Passion Stephen SondheimJames Lapine, based on the film Passione d'Amore by Ettore Scola.
2008 Road Show Stephen SondheimJohn Weidman, inspired by the lives of brothers Addison Mizner and Wilson Mizner.
2023 Here We Are Stephen Sondheim David Ives, based on the films The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and The Exterminating Angel by Luis Buñuel.

Revues and anthologies

The following are revues of Sondheim's work as composer and lyricist, with songs performed in or cut from productions.

YearTitleMusicLyricsBookNotes
1976 Side by Side by Sondheim Stephen Sondheim (with selections by Jule Styne, Leonard Bernstein, Richard Rodgers, and Mary Rodgers)Stephen Sondheim Ned Sherrin
1980 Marry Me a Little Stephen Sondheim Craig Lucas, Norman René Setting of songs cut from Sondheim's better-known musicals, as well as Saturday Night
1993 Putting It Together Stephen SondheimStephen Sondheim, Julia McKenzie
2010 Sondheim on Sondheim Stephen Sondheim (with selections by Jule Styne, Leonard Bernstein, Richard Rodgers)Stephen SondheimJames Lapine
2022 Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends Stephen Sondheim Cameron Mackintosh

Jerome Robbins' Broadway features "You Gotta Have a Gimmick" from Gypsy , "Suite of Dances" from West Side Story and "Comedy Tonight" from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum . The 2010 revue Classic Moments, Hidden Treasures was conceived and directed by Tim McArthur, first produced at the Jermyn Street Theatre. [1] [2] Sondheim's "Pretty Women" and "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid" are featured in The Madwoman of Central Park West . [3]

Film and TV adaptations

YearTitleDirectorNotes
1961 West Side Story Robert Wise
Jerome Robbins
Film adaptation
1962 Gypsy Mervyn LeRoy
1966 A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum Richard Lester
1966 Evening Primrose Paul Bogart Television musical
1977 A Little Night Music Harold Prince Film adaptation
1993 Gypsy Emile Ardolino Television adaptation
2007 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Tim Burton Film adaptation
2014 Into the Woods Rob Marshall
2021 West Side Story Steven Spielberg
TBA Merrily We Roll Along Richard Linklater

Other works

Theatre

YearTitleRoleNotes
1946By GeorgeFirst complete musicalWritten while a student at the George School in Newtown, PA.
1951I Know My LoveChristmas carol arrangement
1955A Mighty Man is He"Rag Me That Mendelssohn March"
1956Girls of SummerIncidental music
1957Take FiveRevue
1960Invitation to a MarchIncidental music
1962The World of Jules FeifferIncidental music
1966 The Mad Show "The Boy From…" (lyrics)
1967 Illya Darling "I Think She Needs Me" (lyrics; unused)
1971 Twigs "Hollywood and Vine" (music)
1973The EnclaveIncidental music
1974 Candide New lyrics
1975By BernsteinAdditional lyrics [4]
1996 Getting Away with Murder Co-writer with George Furth [5]
2007 King Lear Incidental music for Public Theater production

Film and television

YearTitleNotes
1953 Topper Co-writer of eleven episodes
1973 The Last of Sheila Co-writer with Anthony Perkins
1974 June Moon Plays the role of Maxie Schwartz on PBS television version
Stavisky Score (Alain Resnais film)
1976 The Seven-Per-Cent Solution Wrote "The Madam's Song", also known as "I Never Do Anything Twice"
1981 Reds Music for and includes "Goodbye For Now"
1990 Dick Tracy Wrote five songs
1996 The Birdcage Two songs for the film: "It Takes All Kinds" (unused) and "Little Dream"
2003 Camp Cameo as himself
2007 The Simpsons Guest appearance as himself, Episode: "Yokel Chords"
2013 Six by Sondheim HBO documentary by James Lapine [6] [7]
2016 Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened Documentary about original Merrily We Roll Along production [8]
2021 Tick, Tick... Boom! Vocal cameo as himself [9]
2022 Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Cameo as himself (Posthumous release)

Unproduced works for theatre

YearTitleMusicLyricsBookNotes
1949All That GlittersStephen SondheimBased on the 1924 play Beggar on Horseback by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly. Wrote five songs "When I See You", "I Love You, Etc.", "Let's Not Fall in Love", "I Need Love", and "I Must Be Dreaming".
1953Climb HighStephen Sondheim
1953The Legendary MiznersStephen SondheimBased on the 1953 biography of the same name by Alva Johnston. The basis for what would eventually become Road Show .
1956The Last ResortsStephen Sondheim Jean Kerr Based upon the social study of the same name written by Cleveland Amory. Wrote three songs, "High Life", Pour le Sport", and "I Wouldn't Change a Thing".
1957Ring Around the MoonStephen SondheimArthur Laurents (unwritten)Based on the play Invitation to the Castle by Jean Anouilh
1962Passionella segment of The World of Jules FeifferStephen Sondheim Jules Feiffer
1968 A Pray by Blecht Leonard Bernstein Stephen Sondheim John Guare Based on the play The Exception and the Rule by Bertolt Brecht
1994MuscleStephen SondheimJames LapineBased on the memoir Muscle: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder by Samuel Fussell

Unproduced works for television

YearTitleNotes
1953The Man with the Squeaky ShoesNon-musical teleplay
1954The Lady, or the Tiger?Music and lyrics co-written with Mary Rodgers. Based on the eponymous 1882 short story by Frank R. Stockton.
1956I Believe in YouIncidental music. Wrote one song, "They Ask Me Why I Believe in You".
1958The Jet-Propelled CouchMusical adaptation of the story by Robert Lindner
1960Do You Hear a Waltz?Musical adaptation of Arthur Laurent's play The Time of the Cuckoo , later redeveloped as Do I Hear a Waltz? in 1965

Unproduced works for film

YearTitleNotes
1969The Thing of It Is...Unproduced screenplay by William Goldman based on his novel. Wrote one song, "No, Mary Ann".
1992Singing Out LoudUnproduced film musical with a screenplay by William Goldman. Wrote six songs, "Dawn", "Looks", "Lunch", "Sand", "Singing Out Loud", and "Water Under the Bridge".
1995Into the WoodsUnproduced screen adaptation of the original stage musical in collaboration with The Jim Henson Company. Wrote two new songs, "I Wish" and "Rainbows".

Books

Sondheim's 2010 Finishing the Hat annotates his lyrics "from productions dating 1954–1981. In addition to published and unpublished lyrics from West Side Story, Follies and Company, the tome finds Sondheim discussing his relationship with Oscar Hammerstein II and his collaborations with composers, actors and directors throughout his lengthy career". [10] [11] The book, first of a two-part series, is named after a song from Sunday in the Park With George. Sondheim said, "It's going to be long. I'm not, by nature, a prose writer, but I'm literate, and I have a couple of people who are vetting it for me, whom I trust, who are excellent prose writers". [12] [13] Finishing the Hat was published in October 2010. According to a New York Times review, "The lyrics under consideration here, written during a 27-year period, aren't presented as fixed and sacred paradigms, carefully removed from tissue paper for our reverent inspection. They're living, evolving, flawed organisms, still being shaped and poked and talked to by the man who created them". [14] The book was 11th on the New York Times' Hardcover Nonfiction list for November 5, 2010. [15]

The sequel, Look, I Made a Hat: Collected Lyrics (1981–2011) with Attendant Comments, Amplifications, Dogmas, Harangues, Digressions, Anecdotes and Miscellany, was published on November 22, 2011. Continuing from Sunday in the Park With George, the book includes sections on Sondheim's work in film and television. [16]

Musicologist and Library of Congress curator Mark Eden Horowitz conducted a series of in-depth interviews with Sondheim, published in 2003 as Sondheim on Music: Minor Details and Major Decisions.

Related Research Articles

<i>A Little Night Music</i> 1973 musical

A Little Night Music is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. Inspired by the 1955 Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, it involves the romantic lives of several couples. Its title is a literal English translation of the German name for Mozart's Serenade No. 13, K. 525, Eine kleine Nachtmusik. The musical includes the popular song "Send In the Clowns", written for Glynis Johns.

<i>Follies</i> 1971 musical by Stephen Sondheim

Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman.

<i>Into the Woods</i> 1987 musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine

Into the Woods is a 1987 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Sondheim</span> American composer and lyricist (1930–2021)

Stephen Joshua Sondheim was an American composer and lyricist. Regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theater, he is credited with reinventing the American musical. With his frequent collaborations with Harold Prince and James Lapine, Sondheim's Broadway musicals tackled unexpected themes that ranged beyond the genre's traditional subjects, while addressing darker elements of the human experience. His music and lyrics were tinged with complexity, sophistication, and ambivalence about various aspects of life.

<i>Company</i> (musical) 1970 musical comedy

Company is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth. The original 1970 production was nominated for a record-setting 14 Tony Awards, winning six. Company was among the first book musicals to deal with contemporary dating, marriage, and divorce, and is a notable example of a concept musical lacking a linear plot. In a series of vignettes, Company follows bachelor Bobby interacting with his married friends, who throw a party for his 35th birthday.

<i>Saturday Night</i> (musical)

Saturday Night is a 1955 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Julius J. Epstein, based on the play, Front Porch in Flatbush, written by Epstein and his brother Philip.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernadette Peters</span> American actress and singer (born 1948)

Bernadette Peters is an American actress, singer, and children's book author. Over a career spanning more than six decades, she has starred in musical theatre, television and film, performed in solo concerts and released recordings. She is a critically acclaimed Broadway performer, having received seven nominations for Tony Awards, winning two, and nine Drama Desk Award nominations, winning three. Four of the Broadway cast albums on which she has starred have won Grammy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cameron Mackintosh</span> British theatre and musical producer (born 1946)

Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh is a British theatrical producer and theatre owner notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York Times. He is the producer of shows including Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Miss Saigon, Mary Poppins, Oliver!, and Hamilton.

<i>Do I Hear a Waltz?</i> Musical

Do I Hear a Waltz? is a musical with a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Richard Rodgers, and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. It was adapted from Laurents' 1952 play The Time of the Cuckoo, which was the basis for the 1955 film Summertime starring Katharine Hepburn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Lapine</span> American stage director and librettist

James Elliot Lapine is an American stage director, playwright, screenwriter, and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for Into the Woods, Falsettos, and Passion. He has frequently collaborated with Stephen Sondheim and William Finn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Cerveris</span> American actor

Michael Cerveris is an American actor, singer, and guitarist. He has performed in many stage musicals and plays, including several Stephen Sondheim musicals: Assassins, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Sunday in the Park with George, Road Show, and Passion. In 2004, Cerveris won the Tony Award as Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Assassins as John Wilkes Booth. In 2015, he won his second Tony Award as Best Actor in a Musical for Fun Home as Bruce Bechdel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenna Russell</span> British actress

Jenna Russell is an English actress and singer. She has appeared on the stage in London in both musicals and dramas, as well as appearing with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She performed the role of Dot in Sunday in the Park with George in the West End and on Broadway, receiving the Tony Award nomination and the 2006 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role. She has also appeared in several television series, including Born and Bred and EastEnders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia McKenzie</span> English actress, presenter, director, writer

Julia Kathleen Nancy McKenzie is an English actress, singer, presenter, and theatre director. She has premièred leading roles written by both Alan Ayckbourn and Stephen Sondheim. On television, she is known for her BAFTA Award nominated role as Hester Fields in the sitcom Fresh Fields (1984–1986) and its sequel French Fields (1989–1991), and as Miss Marple in Agatha Christie's Marple (2009–2013).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John McMartin</span> American actor

John Francis McMartin was an American actor of stage, film and television.

<i>Marry Me a Little</i> (musical)

Marry Me a Little is a musical with lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim, conceived by Craig Lucas and Norman René. The revue sets songs cut from Sondheim's better-known musicals, as well as songs from his then-unproduced musical Saturday Night, to a dialogue-free plot about the relationship between two lonely New York single people, who are in emotional conflict during an evening in their separate one-room apartments. Despite knowing of the other's existence, they never get up the courage to talk to each other, though they imagine what such an encounter might be like.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norm Lewis</span> American actor, singer (born 1963)

Norm Lewis is an American actor and baritone singer. He has appeared on Broadway, in the West End, film, television, recordings and regional theatre. He’s also noted for his wide vocal range. Lewis was the second African-American actor after Robert Guillaume to perform in the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera and the first one to do so in the Broadway production. In 2023, he reprised the role in the show's sequel, Love Never Dies, in London's West End.

Eric D. Schaeffer is an American theater director and producer based in Arlington, Virginia.

Warren Carlyle is a British director and choreographer who was born in Norwich, Norfolk, England. He received Drama Desk Award nominations for Outstanding Choreography and Outstanding Director of a Musical for the 2009 revival of Finian's Rainbow.

<i>Sondheim on Sondheim</i> 2010 musical revue of songs by Stephen Sondheim

Sondheim on Sondheim is a musical revue consisting of music and lyrics written by Stephen Sondheim for his many shows. It is conceived and directed by James Lapine. The revue had a limited run on Broadway in 2010.

Lauren Ward is an American singer and actress. She has appeared in Broadway, Off-Broadway and West End musicals and plays. Ward originated the role of Miss Honey in the original Stratford-Upon-Avon, West End, and Broadway productions of the musical Matilda, and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance.

References

  1. Gans, Andrew. "London's Jermyn Street Theatre to Offer Secret Sondheim with Cutko, Armstrong and McArthur" Playbill May 27, 2010.
  2. "Review: Classic Moments – Hidden Treasures, Jermyn Street Theatre". There Ought To Be Clowns. 2010-07-13. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  3. "'The Madwoman Of Central Park West' cast album list". Castalbumcollector.com. Archived from the original on June 5, 2010. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
  4. "By Bernstein". Sondheimguide.com. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
  5. "'Getting Away With Murder' Listing". Sondheimguide.com. Archived from the original on August 28, 2013. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
  6. Champion, Lindsay. "HBO to Air Six By Sondheim Documentary, Featuring Jeremy Jordan, Audra McDonald, Darren Criss & More" Archived December 13, 2013, at the Wayback Machine broadway.com, July 26, 2013
  7. McNulty, Charles. Review: HBO's 'Six by Sondheim' is a stylish salute to a Broadway legend" Archived December 22, 2013, at the Wayback Machine LA Times, December 6, 2013
  8. "::: A t l a s m e d i a . T v". Archived from the original on September 11, 2018. Retrieved September 11, 2018.
  9. Filsinger, Jack (November 30, 2021). "Tick, Tick…Boom! Where To Spot Stephen Sondheim's Secret Cameo". Screenrant. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
  10. Hetrick, Adam."Stephen Sondheim and James Earl Jones Set for TimesTalks This Fall" Archived October 18, 2012, at the Wayback Machine playbill.com, August 16, 2010
  11. "Table of Contents". Randomhouse.com. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
  12. Haun, Harry."Exclusive! Sondheim Explains Evolution from Bounce to Road Show" Archived December 29, 2008, at the Wayback Machine . Playbill.com, August 12, 2008
  13. Gardner, Elysa. "Sondheim sounds off about writing songs" Archived March 5, 2009, at the Wayback Machine . USA Today, October 9, 2008
  14. Brantley, Ben. (21 October 2010). "Sondheim's Rhymes and Reasons". The New York Times . Archived from the original on September 29, 2015. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
  15. "Hardcover Nonfiction list". The New York Times . Retrieved September 28, 2014.
  16. Jones, Kenneth."Stephen Sondheim's "Look, I Made a Hat", Part Two of His Career in Lyrics, in Stores Nov. 22" Archived August 26, 2013, at the Wayback Machine playbill.com, November 22, 2011