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 Admirers of his musicals have created a quarterly magazine dedicated to his work called THE SONDHEIM REVIEW.
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    Active in major Broadway productions of American musical theater beginning in 1957, composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim (born 1930) redefined the Broadway musical form with his innovative and award winning productions. He continued to be a major force in the shaping of this genre into the 1980s.
American composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim is mainly known for his stage works, which included "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" (1962); "Anyone Can Whistle" (1964); "Company" (1970); "Follies" (1971); and "A Little Night Music" (1973). He is known for his collaborations with Leonard Bernstein as lyricist for "West Side Story" (1957) and "Candide" (1974), and with Richard Rogers on "Do I Hear a Waltz" (1965). Sondheim's partnership with the director/producer Hal Prince resulted in Tony Awards for Best Musical Scores for three consecutive years (1971-1973), and "Pacific Overtures" (1976) was hailed as a landmark in American musical theater because of its masterful use of traditional Japanese theater elements. In 1984, Sondheim paired himself with James Lapine to put together "Sunday in the Park with George," a musical inspired by a Georges Seurat painting. Sondheim was born into a prosperous business family on March 22, 1930. He studied piano for two years while very young and continued his interest in the musical stage throughout his education. Sondheim's parents divorced in 1942 and his mother took up residence in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, close to the summertime residence of Oscar Hammerstein II. As a friend of Hammerstein's son, Sondheim was able to ask the famous librettist for an evaluation of his first stage work, a high school production produced at the age of 15. Hammerstein's critical evaluation of "By George" initiated a four-year relationship that was decisive in formulating the young artist's style. As Hammerstein's personal assistant, Sondheim gained entry into the world of professional theater. While attending Williams College he performed duties in the preparation and rehearsals of the Rogers and Hammerstein productions of "South Pacific" and "The King and I." Upon graduation he won the Hutchinson Prize, which enabled him to study composition at Princeton University with Milton Babbitt. Photo credit: Stephen Sondheim. (Photo by Jerry Jackson, © 2000) continue to page 2
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