Stephen Sondheim

1930 - 2021

Stephen Joshua Sondheim (March 22, 1930 – November 26, 2021) was an American composer, songwriter and lyricist. One of the most important figures in twentieth-century musical theater, Sondheim was credited for having "reinvented the American musical"[1] with shows that tackled "unexpected themes that range far beyond the [genre's] traditional subjects"[2] with "music and lyrics of unprecedented complexity and sophistication".[3] His shows addressed "darker, more harrowing elements of the human experience",[4] with songs often tinged with "ambivalence" about various aspects of life.[5]

Sondheim began his career by writing the lyrics for West Side Story (1957) and Gypsy (1959), before eventually devoting himself to writing both music and lyrics. His best-known works include 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).

Sondheim's numerous accolades include eight Tony Awards (including a Lifetime Achievement Tony in 2008), an Academy Award, eight Grammy Awards, a Laurence Olivier Award, a Pulitzer Prize, a Kennedy Center Honor, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom.[6] He has a theater named for him both on Broadway and in the West End of London. Film adaptations of Sondheim's work include West Side Story (1961), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), Into the Woods (2014), and West Side Story (2021).