Perfectionist. Genius. Icon. That was Stephen Sondheim

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FILE - President Barack Obama, right, presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to composer Stephen Sondheim during a ceremonial successful the East Room of the White House, on, Nov. 24, 2015, successful Washington. Sondheim, the songwriter who reshaped the American philharmonic theatre successful the 2nd fractional of the 20th century, has died astatine property 91. Sondheim's decease was announced by his Texas-based attorney, Rick Pappas, who told The New York Times the composer died Friday, Nov. 26, 2021, astatine his location successful Roxbury, Conn. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

NEW YORK – In 2010, the twelvemonth helium turned 80, Stephen Sondheim had to endure a nationalist fuss erstwhile a Broadway theatre was being renamed successful his honor.

At a ceremonial extracurricular the 1,055-seat auditorium connected West 43rd Street, the composer looked sheepish by the clip helium got to the podium pursuing gushing words from admirers that included Patti LuPone and Nathan Lane. He besides offered up a model into his psyche.

“I’m thrilled, but profoundly embarrassed,” helium said, tearing up arsenic a mid-September prima fell implicit the Stephen Sondheim Theatre. “I’ve ever hated my past name. It conscionable doesn’t sing.”

The remark revealed however Sondheim’s superb musicality and his perfectionism went hand-in-hand. The theatrical giant, who died Friday astatine 91, was arsenic analyzable arsenic his lyrics, dogmatic successful his rules and not generous with praise astir his work.

A driven, obsessive purist, helium was besides a magician, creating lyrics and euphony to specified towering shows arsenic “A Little Night Music,” “Into the Woods,” “Company,” “Follies” and “Sunday successful the Park with George.”

But helium was besides his worst critic. Take, for example, his feeling astir the iconic opus “America” from “West Side Story,” for which helium supplied the lyrics to Leonard Bernstein’s music.

“Some lines of this lyric are respectably crisp and crisp, but immoderate melt successful the rima arsenic gracelessly arsenic peanut food and are intolerable to comprehend, specified arsenic ‘For a tiny interest successful America,’ which smashes the l’s and the f’s together, making it dependable similar ‘For a smafee,’” helium wrote successful his autobiographical self-critique, which took 2 volumes.

To the remainder of us, Sondheim was genius, whether with the elemental lament, “The prima comes up/I deliberation astir you/The java cup/I deliberation astir you,” oregon the somewhat paranoid, “Be cautious the things you say/Children volition listen,” oregon the sublime “Marry maine a little/Do it with a will/Make a fewer demands/I’m capable to fulfill.”

Six of Sondheim’s musicals won Tony Awards for champion score, and helium besides received a Pulitzer Prize (“Sunday successful the Park”), an Academy Award (for the opus “Sooner oregon Later” from the movie “Dick Tracy”), 5 Olivier Awards and the Presidential Medal of Honor. In 2008, helium received a Tony Award for beingness achievement.

He had been moving connected a caller philharmonic with “Venus successful Fur” playwright David Ives, who called his collaborator a genius. “Not lone are his musicals brilliant, but I can’t deliberation of different theatre idiosyncratic who has truthful chronicled a full property truthful eloquently,” Ives said successful 2013. “He is the tone of the property successful a definite way.”

Early successful his career, Sondheim wrote the lyrics for 2 shows considered to beryllium classics of the American stage, “West Side Story” (1957) and “Gypsy” (1959). “West Side Story” transplanted Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” to the streets and gangs of modern-day New York. “Gypsy,” with euphony by Jule Styne, told the backstage communicative of the eventual signifier parent and the girl who grew up to beryllium Gypsy Rose Lee.

It was not until 1962 that Sondheim wrote some euphony and lyrics for a Broadway show, and it turned retired to beryllium a smash — the bawdy “A Funny Thing Happened connected the Way to the Forum,” starring Zero Mostel arsenic a wily enslaved successful past Rome yearning to beryllium free.

Yet his adjacent show, “Anyone Can Whistle” (1964), flopped, moving lone 9 performances but achieving cult presumption aft its formed signaling was released. Sondheim’s 1965 lyric collaboration with composer Richard Rodgers — “Do I Hear a Waltz?” — besides turned retired to beryllium problematic. The musical, based connected the play “The Time of the Cuckoo,” ran for six months but was an unhappy acquisition for some men, who did not get along.

It was “Company,” which opened connected Broadway successful April 1970, that cemented Sondheim’s reputation. The episodic adventures of a bachelor (played by Dean Jones) with an inability to perpetrate to a narration was hailed arsenic capturing the obsessive quality of striving, self-centered New Yorkers. The show, produced and directed by Hal Prince, won Sondheim his archetypal Tony for champion score. “The Ladies Who Lunch” became a modular for Elaine Stritch.

The pursuing year, Sondheim wrote the people for “Follies,” a look astatine the shattered hopes and disappointed dreams of women who had appeared successful lavish Ziegfeld-style revues. The euphony and lyrics paid homage to large composers of the past specified arsenic Jerome Kern, Cole Porter and the Gershwins.

In 1973, “A Little Night Music,” starring Glynis Johns and Len Cariou, opened. Based connected Bergman’s “Smiles of a Summer Night,” this rueful romance of middle-age lovers contains the opus “Send successful the Clowns,” which gained popularity extracurricular the show. A revival successful 2009 starred Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones was nominated for a champion revival Tony.

“Pacific Overtures,” with a publication by John Weidman, followed successful 1976. The musical, besides produced and directed by Prince, was not a fiscal success, but it demonstrated Sondheim’s committedness to offbeat material, filtering its communicative of the westernization of Japan done a hybrid American-Kabuki style.

In 1979, Sondheim and Prince collaborated connected what galore judge to beryllium Sondheim’s masterpiece, the bloody yet often darkly comic “Sweeney Todd.” An ambitious work, it starred Cariou successful the rubric relation arsenic a murderous barber whose customers extremity up successful nutrient pies baked by Todd’s consenting accomplice, played by Angela Lansbury.

The Sondheim-Prince concern collapsed 2 years later, aft “Merrily We Roll Along,” a philharmonic that traced a relationship backward from its characters’ compromised mediate property to their idealistic youth. The show, based connected a play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, lone ran 2 weeks connected Broadway. But again, arsenic with “Anyone Can Whistle,” its archetypal formed signaling helped “Merrily We Roll Along” to go a favourite among musical-theater buffs.

“Sunday successful the Park,” written with James Lapine, whitethorn beryllium Sondheim’s astir idiosyncratic show. A communicative of uncompromising creator creation, it told the communicative of creator Georges Seurat, played by Mandy Patinkin. The creator submerges everything successful his life, including his narration with his exemplary (Bernadette Peters), for his art. It was astir precocious revived connected Broadway successful 2017 with Jake Gyllenhaal.)

Three years aft “Sunday” debuted, Sondheim collaborated again with Lapine, this clip connected the fairy-tale philharmonic “Into the Woods.” The amusement starred Peters arsenic a glamorous witch and dealt chiefly with the turbulent relationships betwixt parents and children, utilizing specified celebrated fairy-tale characters arsenic Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel. It was astir precocious revived successful the summertime of 2012 successful Central Park by The Public Theater.

“Assassins” opened off-Broadway successful 1991 and it looked astatine the men and women who wanted to termination presidents, from John Wilkes Booth to John Hinckley. The amusement received mostly antagonistic reviews successful its archetypal incarnation, but galore of those critics reversed themselves 13 years aboriginal erstwhile the amusement was done connected Broadway and won a Tony for champion philharmonic revival.

“Passion” was different terrible look astatine obsession, this clip a hopeless woman, played by Donna Murphy, successful emotion with a handsome soldier. Despite winning the best-musical Tony successful 1994, the amusement hardly managed a six-month run.

A caller mentation of “The Frogs,” with further songs by Sondheim and a revised publication by Nathan Lane (who besides starred successful the production), played Lincoln Center during the summertime of 2004. The show, based connected the Aristophanes comedy, primitively had been done 20 years earlier successful the Yale University swimming pool.

One of his much troubled shows was “Road Show,” which reunited Sondheim and Weidman and spent years being worked on. This communicative of the Mizner brothers, whose get-rich schemes successful the aboriginal portion of the 20th period yet made it to the Public Theater successful 2008 aft going done respective antithetic titles, directors and casts.

Sondheim wrote infrequently for the movies. He collaborated with histrion Anthony Perkins connected the publication for the 1973 execution enigma “The Last of Sheila,” and too his enactment connected “Dick Tracy” (1990), wrote scores for specified movies arsenic Alain Resnais’ “Stavisky” (1974) and Warren Beatty’s “Reds” (1981).

Over the years, determination person been galore Broadway revivals of Sondheim shows, particularly “Gypsy,” which had reincarnations starring Angela Lansbury (1974), Tyne Daly (1989) and Peters (2003). But determination besides were productions of “A Funny Thing,” 1 with Phil Silvers successful 1972 and different starring Nathan Lane successful 1996; “Into the Woods” with Vanessa Williams successful 2002; and adjacent of Sondheim’s little palmy shows specified arsenic “Assassins” and “Pacific Overtures,” some successful 2004. “Sweeney Todd” has been produced successful opera houses astir the world. A reimagined “West Side Story” opened connected Broadway successful 2020 and a scrambled “Company” opened connected Broadway successful 2021 with the genders of the actors switched. A movie mentation of “West Side Story” is to unfastened this December directed by Steven Spielberg.

Sondheim’s songs person been utilized extensively successful revues, the best-known being “Side by Side by Sondheim” (1976) connected Broadway and “Putting It Together,” off-Broadway with Julie Andrews successful 1992 and connected Broadway with Carol Burnett successful 1999. The New York Philharmonic enactment connected a star-studded “Company” successful 2011 with Neil Patrick Harris and Stephen Colbert. Tunes from his musicals person lately popped up everyplace from “Marriage Story” to “The Morning Show.” He himself was astir precocious portrayed connected movie by Bradley Whitford successful “Tick, Tick... BOOM!” directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda. “It’s scary to person that work but Lin was determination to propulsion the humor retired of me,” Whitford told The Hollywood Reporter.

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Mark Kennedy is astatine http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

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