Sondheim: American Musical Theatre

Sondheim is one of the most respected American composers in the history of musical theater because of his vast contribution of over a dozen musicals, some that are staples in the history of American musical theater, to the ever-growing genre. Sondheim composed and wrote lyrics for nine Broadway shows from 1962 to 1984. According to IBDB.com those shows are: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Anyone Can Whistle (1964), Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), Pacific Overtures (1976), Sweeney Todd (1979), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), and Sunday in the Park with George (1984) and he won a total of six Tony Awards from 1963 through 1985, starting with Best Musical for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1985 for Sunday in the Park with George (“Stephen Sondheim”). He worked on more than nine musicals during this time period, but he only wrote one component of shows not listed above, either lyrics or music. Sondheim explained his writing process in an interview with Npr Music:

…At the same time, I’m also jotting down any lyric,’ he says. ‘Then I try to start from the first song, and if I have a lyric line or a phrase, I’ll expand a bit. …I may have a musical idea and expand on it, but I never go far without bringing the other one in, because you can paint yourself into a corner if you write a whole tune or even half a tune with no idea what you’re going to say in it-because you’re then going to be hard-pressed to find words that fit inside the music easily and accomplish exactly what you want them to accomplish’” (“Stephen Sondheim: Examining His Lyrics and