Was stephen sondheim gay
The news on November 26 that Stephen Sondheim had died was sudden and surprising. Although he was 91, Sondheim was not reported to be in ill health and had just spent Thanksgiving with friends.
The breadth of Sondheim’s musical oeuvre and concomitant genius will be written about extensively in the coming days and weeks — and for years to come — by music critics, musicologists and academics. I shall leave it to them to deconstruct his genius in those contexts, noting his many awards from Tonys to the Pulitzer Prize to Grammys.
But for some of us mere lovers of his music and often dark vision, Sondheim’s singular voice touched us personally. His death is mourned with all the keening depth we would bestow upon a close friend.
All over America piano bars are becoming impromptu tearful wakes for Sondheim. And as the pandemic rages on around us, so too are a myriad of American living rooms like my own, where Sondheim has been playing on loop since his passing.
I fell in love with Sondheim early. Ours was a musical household, one layered between the protest songs of my pa
As I’ve said about others before him, no blog about the History of Musical Theatre would be complete without talking about one of the greatest and most successful composers of all time, Stephen Sondheim. Starting out as a protege of Oscar Hammerstein II, Sondheim went on to write lyrics and eventually also music for 16 alternative Broadway musicals. There are too many to name, but some of the musicals he’s collaborated on include West Side Story () (along with legendary composer Leonard Bernstein), Gypsy (), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (), A Little Night Music (), Sweeney Todd (), Into The Woods () (one of my personal favorites), and many more. His songwriting style was similar to his mentors, stating that he learned that, “a tune should be like a small one-act play, with an exposition, a development, and a conclusion; at the end of the song the character should include moved to a different position from where he was emotionally at the beginning.” (Kenrick quoting Sondheim).
Stephen Sondheim, like others in the musical theatre industry, is gay.
I never met Stephen Sondheim or had an endearing correspondence with him.
Apparently, there are a lot of people who have framed letters from him, or a tantalizing story about a chance encounter. Neither of these scenarios apply to me. (I did have a close call once, but I'll get to that later.)
Shortly after his death, I saw a meme that said, "Stephen Sondheim always began with the assumption that we were all adults and there was no sense in bullshitting each other about what life actually was."
Life wasn't glitz and glamour. It wasn't Jerry Herman. Life was awful, and beautiful, and fragile, and bountiful. It was so many other contradictions, too.
He was a gentle maverick who refused to become "commercial." His sound was distinct, but varied. This was a man who could write the plaintive confessional "Send in the Clowns"and the grab-life-by-the-balls call-to-arms "The Miller's Son"(and these were both from the same show). He also gave us the heartbreakingly beautiful "Sunday," which always, always makes me cry.
My first Sondheim encounter was as a senior in elevated school. For so
Update: Mr. Sondheim died suddenly on November 26, ,
at his dwelling in Roxbury, Connecticut.
He was 91 years old.
Photo: Fred R. Conrad/NY Times
Original post from - I have not changed the verbs from present to past tense:
On September 15, , eighty-year-old Stephen Sondheim, one of the greatest theater composers of our time, joined other legendary theatre artists who have had Broadway theatres named after them Ethel Barrymore, David Belasco, Edwin Booth, George Broadhurst, George Gershwin, Alfred Lunt & Lynn Fontanne, Richard Rodgers, Helen Hayes, Eugene O'Neill, Neil Simon and August Wilson.
Sondheim (born March 22, ) gave a speech during the unveiling ceremony of the new marquee on the former Henry Millers Theatre at W. 43rd Street. The signage on the marquee is Sondheims signature. The restored neo-Georgian brick façade, which dates back to , fronts an entirely fresh 1, seat theatre placed below street level. The restoration retained the Henry Millers Theatre letters, still visible e