stephen sondheim

Born in New York on March 22, 1930, Stephen Joshua Sondheim –his full name– moved very early with his parents to a farm in Pennsylvania. At the age of 9, he was excited after attending a performance of the musical “Very Warm for May.” “The curtain rose, revealing a piano. A butler took a rag and wiped it clean, making the keys jingle. It was exciting for me,” he recalled in an interview. After his mother left the family, he struck up a friendship with Jimmy Hammerstein, son of renowned composer  Oscar Hammerstein II ( Oklahoma! ), who would occupy a place close to that of a father to him. 

While attending George School, Stephen Sondheim wrote the musical “By George”, which told the story of the school. He decided to show it to Hammerstein II himself, who confessed that he did not like him at all. But then he explained how he could make her better. “On that afternoon, I learned more about songwriting and musical theater than most people learn in a lifetime,” he recalled. Later he gave her a brief course on this type of show. 

After moving to Hollywood, Stephen Sondheim devoted himself to writing scripts for the Topper series , which was a hit on the small screen. At the same time he was writing musicals like “Saturday Night.” His big break came when Leonard Bernstein recruited him to put the lyrics to his music for West Side Story . It was released in 1957 to unprecedented success, leading to the legendary feature film directed by Robert Wise , later revised by Steven Spielberg .

He specifically composed for cinema the soundtracks of Stavisky and Rojos . His works have been made into movies Of him Golfus de Roma , Sweeney Todd, the devilish barber of Fleet street , and also his songs sound in titles like Story of a marriage . His death occurs the same week that the film Tick, Tick… Boom! , story by another composer, Jonathan Larson , where  Stephen Sondheim  appears as a minor, played by actor Bradley Whitford .