by Sandi Durell . . .
Born Stephen Joshua Sondheim, the great songwriter – composer died unexpectedly on Friday November 26 at his home in Roxbury, Ct. at the age of 91 as announced by publicist Rick Miramontez and Aaron Meier of O&M/DKC, thru his Texas based attorney and friend Rick Pappas. Sondheim was mentored by the great Oscar Hammerstein II.
Sondheim was a musical legend whose unique landmark musicals influenced an entire world of theater devotees. He was considered one of Broadway’s best composers and the man who reinvented musical theater . . . a brilliant genius. He wrote with an originality; songs that are unusual and haunting bringing a dark edge. . . songs that are unmatched and intricately challenge many a performer.
His landmark musicals such as Company (soon to open on Broadway), Sweeney Todd and Follies are celebrated. “Send in the Clowns” (A Little Night Music) is considered to be his most famous ballad recorded by Judy Collins and Frank Sinatra among many many more. Currently at Classic Stage Company in Greenwich Village you can find a production of Assassins.
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 collaborated with Wynton Marsalis on A Bed and a Chair: A New York Love Affair, an Encores! concert on November 13–17, 2013 at New York City Center. Directed by John Doyle with choreography by Parker Esse, consisting of “more than two dozen Sondheim compositions, each piece newly re-imagined by Marsalis
The outpouring of love and sadness from the theater community and more is, of course, stunning as it continues.
Below is a list of musicals written by Stephen Sondheim:
