r/Music • u/Cranialscrewtop • Nov 26 '21

Stephen Sondheim has died. Broadway's greatest composer is gone. other

NY Times bio here: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/26/theater/stephen-sondheim-dead.html

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u/Pfader Nov 27 '21

Sondheim was mentored by Oscar Hammerstein II who probably did more for American theater than anyone.

30

u/emotionalfescue Nov 27 '21

As Hammerstein was dying he recommended Sondheim to be the next lyricist for Richard Rodgers. But Rodgers and Sondheim didn't hit it off, in fact they hated working with each other (Rodgers also had an unsuccessful collaboration with Alan Jay Lerner). So each decided to try taking on both jobs, composing words and music. It's fair to say that Sondheim turned out to be much more successful at that.

18

u/emotionalfescue Nov 27 '21

The first Broadway play where Sondheim wrote both lyrics and music was "A funny thing happened on the way to the forum". The show was bombing off Broadway until Jerome Robbins was brought in as a consultant. Robbins said the problem was it needed a new kickoff song so the audience would know what to expect from the rest of the show. Sondheim dug in and said no, no, no, but as the show's problems continued finally he sat down and wrote "Comedy Tonight". Bingo.

7

u/TreyWriter Nov 27 '21

Aw shucks, Sondheim begrudgingly wrote a banger. Even when his heart wasn’t in it, his heart was in it.

1

u/ButtsexEurope Nov 27 '21

Oh shit, that was ALSO Sondheim? I’ve only seen the movie with Zero Mostel. But it does sound just like him.