I have said many times that living at the same time as Stephen Sondheim is a blessing akin to living at the same time as Mozart or Da Vinci. Starting today, we can no longer say that: Stephen Sondheim died today at 91.
It’s a profound loss, but look at all he gave us.
I can’t possibly begin to pick my favorite Sondheim show. Every time I do, something else asserts itself.
Well, it’s got to be Assassins. But Into the Woods! And of course Sunday in the Park With George! Not to mention West Side Story! Gypsy! Company!
I have so many amazing memories experiencing his art for the first time, followed immediately by the bingeing of the cast albums.
Like any artist, Sondheim challenged me, forced me to listen better, forced me to think harder. And then he doubled down when he wrote his amazing lyric collections, “Finishing the Hat” and “Look, I Made a Hat.” You could learn to be a world-class Broadway lyricist just by internalizing the lessons he gives in those books.
At the moment, I can barely think about one of his musicals without tearing up. But as soon as possible, I’ll be revisiting the amazing work, and rejoicing again that I got to be alive at the same time that Sondheim was making art.
I’ll leave this appreciation with a song that isn’t from any of his musicals. It’s a song he wrote, tongue firmly in cheek, for the revue Sondheim on Sondheim. It’s as if he took the job of writing a parody of a Sondheim song, and then did it better than anyone else could hope to. Of course, he was as close to a “God” as any songwriter ever could be, and his legacy will be profound and lasting.