Stephen Sondheim was an American composer and lyricist whose most acclaimed 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). He is also notable as the lyricist for West Side Story (1957) and Gypsy (1959).
Major works Year Title Music Lyrics Book Notes1954 Saturday Night Stephen Sondheim Julius J. Epstein Based on the play Front Porch in Flatbush by Epstein and his brother Philip1957 West Side Story Leonard Bernstein Stephen Sondheim Arthur Laurents Based on Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare1959 Gypsy Jule Styne Stephen Sondheim Arthur Laurents Based on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee1962 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 Mostellaria1964 Anyone Can Whistle Stephen Sondheim Arthur Laurents 1965 Do I Hear a Waltz? Richard Rodgers Stephen Sondheim Arthur Laurents 1966 Evening Primrose Stephen Sondheim James Goldman Based on a John Collier short story published in the 1951 collection Fancies and Goodnights1970 Company Stephen Sondheim George Furth1971 Follies Stephen Sondheim James Goldman1973 A Little Night Music Stephen Sondheim Hugh Wheeler Inspired by the 1955 Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night1974 The Frogs Stephen Sondheim Burt Shevelove Based on the Ancient Greek comedy The Frogs by Aristophanes; the book was revised in 2004 by Nathan Lane1976 Pacific Overtures Stephen Sondheim John Weidman1979 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Stephen Sondheim Hugh Wheeler Based on the 1970 play Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond1981 Merrily We Roll Along Stephen Sondheim George Furth Based on the 1934 play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart1984 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 Sondheim James Lapine1990 Assassins Stephen Sondheim John Weidman1994 Passion Stephen Sondheim James Lapine Based on the film Passione d'Amore by Ettore Scola2008 Road Show Stephen Sondheim John Weidman Inspired by the lives of brothers Addison Mizner and Wilson Mizner2023 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.
Year Title Music Lyrics Book Notes1976 Side by Side by Sondheim Stephen Sondheim (with selections by Jule Styne, Leonard Bernstein, Richard Rodgers, and Mary Rodgers) Stephen Sondheim Ned Sherrin1980 Marry Me a Little Stephen Sondheim Craig Lucas, Norman René Setting of songs cut from Sondheim's better-known musicals, as well as Saturday Night1993 Putting It Together Stephen Sondheim Stephen Sondheim, Julia McKenzie2010 Sondheim on Sondheim Stephen Sondheim (with selections by Jule Styne, Leonard Bernstein, Richard Rodgers) Stephen Sondheim James Lapine2022 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.Gans, Andrew. "London's Jermyn Street Theatre to Offer Secret Sondheim with Cutko, Armstrong and McArthur" Playbill May 27, 2010. Sondheim's "Pretty Women," "Don't Laugh," and "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid" are featured in The Madwoman of Central Park West.
Film and TV adaptations Year Title Director Notes1961 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 1966Evening PrimrosePaul BogartTelevision musical1977 A Little Night Music Harold Prince Film adaptation 1993 Gypsy Emile Ardolino Television adaptation2007 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Tim Burton Film adaptation2014 Into the Woods Rob Marshall 2021 West Side Story Steven Spielberg TBA Merrily We Roll Along Richard Linklater
Other works Theatre Year Title Role Notes1946 By George First complete musical Written while a student at the George School in Newtown, PA.1951 I Know My Love Christmas carol arrangement 1955 A Mighty Man is He "Rag Me That Mendelssohn March" 1956 Girls of Summer Incidental music 1957 Take Five Revue 1960 Invitation to a March Incidental music 1963 Hot Spot "Don't Laugh" Written for Judy Holliday1966 The Mad Show "The Boy From…" (lyrics) 1967 Illya Darling "I Think She Needs Me" (lyrics; unused) 1971 Twigs "Hollywood and Vine" (music) 1973 The Enclave Incidental music 1974 Candide New lyrics 1975 By Bernstein Additional lyrics 1996 Getting Away with Murder Co-writer with George Furth 2007 King Lear Incidental music for Public Theater production
Film and television Year Title Notes1953 Topper Co-writer of eleven episodes1973 The Last of Sheila Co-writer with Anthony Perkins 1974 June Moon Plays the role of Maxie Schwartz on PBS television versionStavisky Score (Alain Resnais film)1976The 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 songs1996 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 LapineChampion, Lindsay. "HBO to Air Six By Sondheim Documentary, Featuring Jeremy Jordan, Audra McDonald, Darren Criss & More" broadway.com, July 26, 2013McNulty, Charles. Review: HBO's 'Six by Sondheim' is a stylish salute to a Broadway legend" LA Times, December 6, 20132016 Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened Documentary about original Merrily We Roll Along production 2021 Tick, Tick... Boom! Vocal cameo as himself2022 Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Cameo as himself (Posthumous release)
Unproduced works for theatre Year Title Music Lyrics Book Notes1949 All That Glitters Stephen Sondheim Based 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".1953 Climb High Stephen Sondheim1953 The Legendary Mizners Stephen Sondheim Based on the 1953 biography of the same name by Alva Johnston. The basis for what would eventually become Road Show.1956 The Last Resorts Stephen 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".1957 Ring Around the Moon Stephen Sondheim Arthur Laurents (unwritten) Based on the play Invitation to the Castle by Jean Anouilh.1962 Passionella segment of The World of Jules Feiffer Stephen Sondheim Jules Feiffer Sondheim contributed the song "Truly Content" as well as incidental music.1968 A Pray by Blecht Leonard Bernstein Stephen Sondheim John Guare Based on the play The Exception and the Rule by Bertolt Brecht1994 Muscle Stephen Sondheim James Lapine Based on the memoir Muscle: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder by Samuel Fussell
Unproduced works for television Year Title Notes1953 The Man with the Squeaky Shoes Non-musical teleplay1954 The Lady, or the Tiger? Music and lyrics co-written with Mary Rodgers. Based on the eponymous 1882 short story by Frank R. Stockton.1956 I Believe in You Incidental music. Wrote one song, "They Ask Me Why I Believe in You".1958 The Jet-Propelled Couch Musical adaptation of the story by Robert Lindner1960 Do 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 Year Title Notes1969 The Thing of It Is... Unproduced screenplay by William Goldman based on his novel. Wrote one song, "No, Mary Ann".1992 Singing Out Loud Unproduced film musical with a screenplay by William Goldman. Wrote six songs, "Dawn", "Looks", "Lunch", "Sand", "Singing Out Loud", and "Water Under the Bridge".1995 Into the Woods Unproduced 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".Hetrick, Adam."Stephen Sondheim and James Earl Jones Set for TimesTalks This Fall" playbill.com, August 16, 2010 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".Haun, Harry."Exclusive! Sondheim Explains Evolution from Bounce to Road Show" . Playbill.com, August 12, 2008Gardner, Elysa. "Sondheim sounds off about writing songs" . USA Today, October 9, 2008 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". The book was 11th on the New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction list for November 5, 2010.
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.Jones, Kenneth."Stephen Sondheim's "Look, I Made a Hat", Part Two of His Career in Lyrics, in Stores Nov. 22" playbill.com, November 22, 2011
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.
References