Stephen Sondheim: There are Giants in the Sky… And Here on Earth

There are Giants in the Sky and here on earth.  Stephen Sondheim is one of them.  Stephen is embarrassed by all the accolades and awards that have been presented to him. Consider that he has received the Academy Award, eight Tony Awards, including a special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theater, eight Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, several Laurence Olivier Awards and the 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom.

He has been called the greatest composer and lyricist of all time. Some of his greatest plays include: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; Company; Follies; A Little Night Music; Pacific Overtures; Sweeney Todd; Merrily We Roll Along; Sunday in the Park with George; Into the Woods; Assassins; and Passion. I have seen all of his plays except Assassins, although one of my favorite Sondheim songs is from that show. Consider also that he wrote both the words and the music to all of the above shows.

Before writing both the words and music for all of those wonderful shows, it is important to remember that he first wrote the lyrics for masterpieces like West Side Story and Gypsy.

Stephen Sondheim has had an extraordinary career and an extraordinary life, yet in all lives there resides some darkness.  Stephen never felt loved by his parents and this affected him deeply.  I’ve read one of the terrible things that his mother told him and I was absolutely horrified. As a lover of Broadway and Stephen Sondheim’s music, and as a 70 year-old woman, I can honestly say I wish he were my son.  Who could not love this person.

As a very young musician and a hopeful artist, Stephen was mentored by the one and only, Oscar Hammerstein. Hammerstein never made it easy for Stephen and he really had to produce great work to come up to Hammerstein’s standards, and today I can just imagine how proud Oscar Hammerstein would be to know the heights to which his student reached.

I’ve read that Stephen Sondheim was not happy with the words to West Side Story but that he gave composer Leonard Bernstein what was needed for West Side Story.  It was a Romeo and Juliet story and Bernstein wanted it to be easy for the audience to relate to a subject matter which was so dark. Although Stephen never appreciated his own work in West Side Story, the audience loved it.  My best friend’s name was Maria and all I heard in those days was Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria! Keep in mind the song, Sherry, was a number one hit for The Four Seasons at that time and I so wanted a song with my name to be as pretty as . . . . Maria, Maria, Maria.

In truth, Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics are far different from the many lyricists that came before him. All of these lyricists like Oscar Hammerstein, Alan Jay Lerner and Lorenz Hart were absolute geniuses.

Yet, Stephen Sondheim did something completely different. Consider that he could write the lyrics for the murderous Sweeney Todd. We knew Sweeney was a murderer, yet we understood his motivation and could actually sympathize with him.  In Assassins, he wrote the lyrics for John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Abraham Lincoln. The lyrics in this song are brutal and yet he managed to cut the brutality at the end of the song with a few well placed words that summed up the story.

In Into the Woods, he tells the tale of the two feckless princes and their frustration with life. It’s hilarious and the music that goes with it is wonderful. The Road You Didn’t Take from Follies is a very introspective song whose lyrics have probably crossed everyone’s mind during their lifetime.

I’ve read that one of Stephen’s favorite songs is Someone in a Tree from Pacific Overtures. It is one of my favorites too because there is always someone who sees and hears what is happening and will remember it.

I have mentioned that I have seen most of Stephen’s plays and some of them I have seen multiple times.  I always play his music on Movies Broadway Singers and Beyond.

I have many listeners who only like movie soundtracks, some only like Broadway songs or singers like Manilow, Mathis and Sinatra, but Stephen Sondheim cannot be pigeonholed into any category.  He covers the Broadway category, the movie category and the pop singers.  His songs have been sung by Sinatra, Judy Collins, Barbra Streisand, Johnny Mathis and others.

On Wednesday, April 4th, at 1:00 pm Eastern / 10:00 am Pacific time, Movies Broadway Singers and Beyond will pay tribute to this extraordinary talent. When I first put together the tribute, it came out to be four hours. I have cut it down to two hours, so we will consider this part one.

There are Giants in the Sky and here on earth. Stephen Sondheim is one of them. With So Little to Be Sure Of (from Anyone Can Whistle) I am glad there is Stephen.

With a song in my heart.

Sherry