Stephen Sondheim, composer and lyricist and a towering figure in theater, passed away on November 26. Born on March 22, 1930, he was 91 years old.
Sondheim composed musicals “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Evening Primrose,” “Saturday Night,” “The Frogs,” “Anyone Can Whistle,” “Company,” “Follies,” “A Little Night Music,” “Pacific Overtures,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Sunday in the Park with George,” “Merrily We Roll Along,” “Into the Woods,” “Passion,” and “Assassins,” and wrote the lyrics for Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story” and Jule Styne’s “Gypsy.” His works of great sophistication found a place in the opera houses and concert halls in addition to Broadway.
He is noted for such songs as “Comedy Tonight,” “Ladies Who Lunch,” “Being Alive,” “Losing My Mind,” “I’m Still Here,” “Beautiful Girls,” “Broadway Baby,” “Sorry/Grateful,” “Send in the Clowns,” “Liaisons,” “Green Finch and Linnet Bird,” “Ballad of Sweeney Todd,” “Worst Pies in London,” “Not a Day Goes By” which made the top 40 “Hey Old Friend,” “Chrysanthemum Tea,” “Nobody Can Harm You,” and “The Boy From …,” this last written for “The Mad Show” and considered one of the first gay songs in theater. From the musicals for which he wrote the words, but not the music, he is noted for “Tonight,” “I Feel Pretty,” “Somewhere,” “America,” “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” and “Let Me Entertain You.”
Bernadette Peters, Mandy Patinkin, Elaine Stritch, Alexis Smith, Mary McCarty, Ethel Merman, Barbara Sreisand, Larry Kert, Carol Lawrence, Sarah Rice, Liza Minelli, Angela Lansbury, Len Cariou, Glynis Johns, Zero Mostel, Linda Lavin, George Hearn, and Hermione Gingold are among those who sang his songs. “Sweeney Todd,” “Into the Woods,” and “A Little Night Music” are Sondheim musicals that have been made into films. “West Side Story” and “Gypsy” were also made into movies.