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 He did his pre college training at George School, Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, then was in a class of 50 at Williams College majoring in music as an undergraduate distinguishing himself by writing a book, lyrics and music for two college shows based on the adaption of 'Beggar on Horseback'. He won the Hutchinson prize to study music composition for 2 years. His first professional writing was in 1953 when he co authored the script for the television series'Topper'. A year later he wrote all the music and lyrics for'Saturday night' . In 1955 he started work on 'West Side Story' and also found time to writ scripts for 'The Last Word' for Columbia Broadcasting and the background music for' The Party Girls of Summer' For the film of 'West Side Story' he created new and powerful lyrics for the 'America' sequence, which is the only major alteration from the Broadway production.
Bio:
He did his pre college training at George School, Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, then was in a class of 50 at Williams College majoring in music as an undergraduate distinguishing himself by writing a book, lyrics and music for two college shows based on the adaption of 'Beggar on Horseback'. He won the Hutchinson prize to study music composition for 2 years. His first professional writing was in 1953 when he co authored the script for the television series'Topper'. A year later he wrote all the music and lyrics for'Saturday night' . In 1955 he started work on 'West Side Story' and also found time to writ scripts for 'The Last Word' for Columbia Broadcasting and the background music for' The Party Girls of Summer' For the film of 'West Side Story' he created new and powerful lyrics for the 'America' sequence, which is the only major alteration from the Broadway production.
Tivia:
He stated that his original ambition was to become a mathematician and that he became a composer largely by chance. A big influence was the fact that famed lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II (of Rodgers & Hammerstein) was a neighbor of his when Sondheim was a boy. When he wrote a musical for a school production, he showed it to Hammerstein who told him it was the worst musical he had ever read. However, Hammerstein also told him that nonetheless it showed a lot of latent talent and proceeded to tell him everything that was wrong with it and how to fix it, for which Sondheim was always grateful.Shares birthday with fellow musical composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.Was mentor to the late Jonathan Larson, creator of Rent and Tick, Tick . . . BOOM!.Was taught by broadway legend, Oscar Hammerstein II.Provides the voice of Rose's father on the original cast album to Gypsy (1962) in the song, Some People. He practically snarls the line "You ain't getting eighty-eight cents from me, Rose!" Sondheim claims this is because he was incredibly frustrated with Ethel Merman, who refused to read the line "...and you can go to hell!".Katharine Hepburn was his neighbor in New York City for many years.As a hobby, collected antique board games. This habit began when he first started living on his own and could not afford prints or paintings. Instead a friend had a board game framed for him.Wrote only with Blackwing pencils, for the reason that they have soft lead, requiring him to procrastinate by resharpening them.The vast majority of Desperate Housewives (2004) episodes are named after after Sondheim shows, songs, or lyrics ("Desperate Housewives" creator Marc Cherry is a Sondheim fan). The cast of the show also participated in a video tribute to Sondheim shown at his 75th birthday concert on July 8, 2005, at the Hollywood Bowl. In the video, the cast (in their "Housewives" characters) listed their favorite Sondheim songs for comedic effect.His two favorites among his own songs are Someone in a Tree (Pacific Overtures) and The Miller's Son (A Little Night Music).Stephen Sondheim won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the musical 1985 "Sunday in the Park with George" collaborating with James Lapine.Lyricist Dorothy Fields, who wrote 'A Fine Romance,' 'I Can't Give You Anything But Love,' and 'Big Spender,' among other songs, was a family friend and early mentor of his, having met her husband through his father. As a teenager Sondheim knew her as 'Aunt Dorothy'.Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama 24 November 2014.Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1975.Won a 2008 Special Tony Award (New York City) lifetime achievement award.The Broadway composers he most admired were Jerome Kern and Harold Arlen. His most admired lyricists were Frank Loesser, Cole Porter and E.Y. Harburg.His very first job when he graduated Williams College was to head to Hollywood and work as an assistant writer on the hit early sitcom, Topper (1953). He donated the scripts to the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research in Madison.Was an aficionado of puzzles, according to The New York Times. Between 1968 and 1969 he wrote crosswords for New York magazine. His original screenplay The Last of Sheila (1973) reflects his love both of whodunits and of word puzzles.Stephen Sondheim was the Turner Classic Movies programmer for March 22, 2005, the cable network's way of honoring him on his 75th birthday. The six films he picked for his birthday tribute were The Mind Reader (1933), starring the under-appreciated Warren William as a con-man posing as a clairvoyant; The Clock (1945), Vincente Minnelli's classic film of war-time love, starring Judy Garland & Robert Walker; Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), the Ingmar Bergman classic on which he based his A Little Night Music; Out of the Fog (1941), starring the great John Garfield, plus the always intriguing Ida Lupino; Night Must Fall (1937) , the classic thriller in which Robert Montgomery first played against type, as a serial killer who carries around a head in a hat-box; and Torchy Blane in Chinatown (1939), starring Glenda Farrell as a brassy female reporter who never goes near Chinatown.A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (basis for the 1966 movie of the same name) was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 2000 (1999 season) for Outstanding Musical Production.Has won seven Tony Awards: in 1971, as best score (musical) and best lyrics (musical) for Company; in 1972, as best score (composer and lyricist) for Follies; in 1973, as best score (musical-music and lyrics) for A Little Night Music; in 1979, as best score (music and lyrics) for Sweeney Todd; in 1988, as best score (musical-music and lyrics) for Into the Woods; and in 1994, as best score (music and lyrics) for Passion. He was also Tony-nominated six other times: in 1958, his lyrics as part of a best musical nomination for West Side Story; in 1960, his lyrics as part of a best musical nomination for Gypsy; in 1965, as best composer and lyricist with collaborator Richard Rodgers for Do I Hear a Waltz?; in 1976, as best score (music and lyrics) for Pacific Overtures; in 1982, as best score (music and lyrics) for Merrily We Roll Along; and in 1984, as best score (music and lyrics) for Sunday in the Park with George. Although A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum won the Tony for best musical in 1963, this is a producer's award.His musical, "A Little Night Music" at the Writers' Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for a 2012 Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Musical (Large).His musical, "Follies" at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in Chicago, Illinois was awarded the 2012 Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Musical Production (Large).His musical, "Sunday In the Park With George," at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in Chicago, Illinois was awarded the 2013 Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Large Musical Production.He was awarded the 1996 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Musical with James Lapine for Passion (1996).He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1996 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington D.C.His musical, "Sweeney Todd" at the Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for a 2018 Non-Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Musical Production.He was awarded the 2004 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Outstanding Musical Production of 2003 for Pacific Overtures performed at the Donmar Warehouse.He was awarded the 1989 London Evening Standard Theatre Award's Special Award for Lifetime Achievement to Theatre.Alumni of George School in Newtown, Pennsylvania. His first musical was named By George about life at the Bucks Country Boarding School. It was written and performed when he was a student."The Ballad Of Buzz Cola" (from Yokel Chords (2007)) is the only Stephen Sondheim song in which he isn't credited for the lyrics; the credit goes to Michael Price.He was the son of Etta Janet "Foxy" (Fox) and Herbert S. Sondheim. His father manufactured dresses designed by his mother. Stephen's father was born in New York, to German Jewish immigrants. Stephen's mother was born in Massachusetts, to a German Jewish father and a Lithuanian Jewish mother.His musical, "Sweeney Todd," at the Marriott Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was awarded the 1993 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for Musical Production.Member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity at Williams College.His musical, "Sweeney Todd" at the Apple Tree Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was awarded the 1987 Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Musical Production.His musical revue, "Sondheim on Sondheim" at the Porchlight Music Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was awarded the 2015 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for Revue Production.His musical, "Assassins" at the Kokandy Productions Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for a 2015 Joseph Jefferson Non-Equity Award for Musical Production.His musical, "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," at the Paramount Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was awarded the 2017 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for Large Musical Production.His musical, "Sweeney Todd" at the Drury Lane Oakbrook Theatre in Oakbrook, Illinois was nominated for a 2012 Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Musical Production (Large).His musical, "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" at the Porchlight Music Theatre was nominated for a 2015 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for Midsize Musical Production.His mother told him for years that he was born at 3:30am-EST. It was only years later that his father told him he was born at 9:00pm-EST.His musical, Merrily We Roll Along, was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 2001 (2000 season) for Best New Musical.His play, "Company," was awarded the 1977 Joseph Jefferson Citation for Play-Production at the Summer Comedy Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.His musical, "Merrily We Roll Along," at the Music Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for the 2011 Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Musical (Midsize).His musical revue, "Stephen Sondheim's Putting It Together," at the Porchlight Music Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for a 2012 Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Musical Production (Midsize).Arthur Laurents and his musical, "Gypsy" at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for a 2014 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for Large Musical Production.James Lapine and his musical, "Passion" at the Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was awarded the 2014 Joseph Jefferson Non-Equity Award for Musical Production.His musical, "Into the Woods" at the Marriott Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for a 2007 Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Musical Production and Ensemble.His musical, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," at the Porchlight Music Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for the 2015 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for Midsize Musical Production.His musical, "Into the Woods" at the Marriott Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was awarded the 1990 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for Musical Production. |
| Name: |
Stephen Sondheim |
Type: |
Music Department,Writer,Actor (IMDB) |
| Area: |
All World |
Platform: |
IMDB |
| Category: |
|
Business scope: |
Music Department,Writer,Actor |
| Products for sale: |
Music Department,Writer,Actor |
| Last update: |
2024-07-01 04:11:31 |
| Height: |
5' 8' (1.73 m) |
| Biography: |
He did his pre college training at George School, Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, then was in a class of 50 at Williams College majoring in music as an undergraduate distinguishing himself by writing a book, lyrics and music for two college show |
| Trivia: |
He stated that his original ambition was to become a mathematician and that he became a composer largely by chance. A big influence was the fact that famed lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II (of Rodgers & Hammerstein) was a neighbor of his when Sondheim was a boy. When he wrote a musical for a school production, he showed it to Hammerstein who told him it was the worst musical he had ever read. However, Hammerstein also told him that nonetheless it showed a lot of latent talent and proceeded to tell him everything that was wrong with it and how to fix it, for which Sondheim was always grateful.Shares birthday with fellow musical composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.Was mentor to the late Jonathan Larson, creator of Rent and Tick, Tick . . . BOOM!.Was taught by broadway legend, Oscar Hammerstein II.Provides the voice of Rose's father on the original cast album to Gypsy (1962) in the song, Some People. He practically snarls the line "You ain't getting eighty-eight cents from me, Rose!" Sondheim claims this is because he was incredibly frustrated with Ethel Merman, who refused to read the line "...and you can go to hell!".Katharine Hepburn was his neighbor in New York City for many years.As a hobby, collected antique board games. This habit began when he first started living on his own and could not afford prints or paintings. Instead a friend had a board game framed for him.Wrote only with Blackwing pencils, for the reason that they have soft lead, requiring him to procrastinate by resharpening them.The vast majority of Desperate Housewives (2004) episodes are named after after Sondheim shows, songs, or lyrics ("Desperate Housewives" creator Marc Cherry is a Sondheim fan). The cast of the show also participated in a video tribute to Sondheim shown at his 75th birthday concert on July 8, 2005, at the Hollywood Bowl. In the video, the cast (in their "Housewives" characters) listed their favorite Sondheim songs for comedic effect.His two favorites among his own songs are Someone in a Tree (Pacific Overtures) and The Miller's Son (A Little Night Music).Stephen Sondheim won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the musical 1985 "Sunday in the Park with George" collaborating with James Lapine.Lyricist Dorothy Fields, who wrote 'A Fine Romance,' 'I Can't Give You Anything But Love,' and 'Big Spender,' among other songs, was a family friend and early mentor of his, having met her husband through his father. As a teenager Sondheim knew her as 'Aunt Dorothy'.Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama 24 November 2014.Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1975.Won a 2008 Special Tony Award (New York City) lifetime achievement award.The Broadway composers he most admired were Jerome Kern and Harold Arlen. His most admired lyricists were Frank Loesser, Cole Porter and E.Y. Harburg.His very first job when he graduated Williams College was to head to Hollywood and work as an assistant writer on the hit early sitcom, Topper (1953). He donated the scripts to the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research in Madison.Was an aficionado of puzzles, according to The New York Times. Between 1968 and 1969 he wrote crosswords for New York magazine. His original screenplay The Last of Sheila (1973) reflects his love both of whodunits and of word puzzles.Stephen Sondheim was the Turner Classic Movies programmer for March 22, 2005, the cable network's way of honoring him on his 75th birthday. The six films he picked for his birthday tribute were The Mind Reader (1933), starring the under-appreciated Warren William as a con-man posing as a clairvoyant; The Clock (1945), Vincente Minnelli's classic film of war-time love, starring Judy Garland & Robert Walker; Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), the Ingmar Bergman classic on which he based his A Little Night Music; Out of the Fog (1941), starring the great John Garfield, plus the always intriguing Ida Lupino; Night Must Fall (1937) , the classic thriller in which Robert Montgomery first played against type, as a serial killer who carries around a head in a hat-box; and Torchy Blane in Chinatown (1939), starring Glenda Farrell as a brassy female reporter who never goes near Chinatown.A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (basis for the 1966 movie of the same name) was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 2000 (1999 season) for Outstanding Musical Production.Has won seven Tony Awards: in 1971, as best score (musical) and best lyrics (musical) for Company; in 1972, as best score (composer and lyricist) for Follies; in 1973, as best score (musical-music and lyrics) for A Little Night Music; in 1979, as best score (music and lyrics) for Sweeney Todd; in 1988, as best score (musical-music and lyrics) for Into the Woods; and in 1994, as best score (music and lyrics) for Passion. He was also Tony-nominated six other times: in 1958, his lyrics as part of a best musical nomination for West Side Story; in 1960, his lyrics as part of a best musical nomination for Gypsy; in 1965, as best composer and lyricist with collaborator Richard Rodgers for Do I Hear a Waltz?; in 1976, as best score (music and lyrics) for Pacific Overtures; in 1982, as best score (music and lyrics) for Merrily We Roll Along; and in 1984, as best score (music and lyrics) for Sunday in the Park with George. Although A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum won the Tony for best musical in 1963, this is a producer's award.His musical, "A Little Night Music" at the Writers' Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for a 2012 Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Musical (Large).His musical, "Follies" at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in Chicago, Illinois was awarded the 2012 Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Musical Production (Large).His musical, "Sunday In the Park With George," at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in Chicago, Illinois was awarded the 2013 Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Large Musical Production.He was awarded the 1996 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Musical with James Lapine for Passion (1996).He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1996 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington D.C.His musical, "Sweeney Todd" at the Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for a 2018 Non-Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Musical Production.He was awarded the 2004 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Outstanding Musical Production of 2003 for Pacific Overtures performed at the Donmar Warehouse.He was awarded the 1989 London Evening Standard Theatre Award's Special Award for Lifetime Achievement to Theatre.Alumni of George School in Newtown, Pennsylvania. His first musical was named By George about life at the Bucks Country Boarding School. It was written and performed when he was a student."The Ballad Of Buzz Cola" (from Yokel Chords (2007)) is the only Stephen Sondheim song in which he isn't credited for the lyrics; the credit goes to Michael Price.He was the son of Etta Janet "Foxy" (Fox) and Herbert S. Sondheim. His father manufactured dresses designed by his mother. Stephen's father was born in New York, to German Jewish immigrants. Stephen's mother was born in Massachusetts, to a German Jewish father and a Lithuanian Jewish mother.His musical, "Sweeney Todd," at the Marriott Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was awarded the 1993 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for Musical Production.Member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity at Williams College.His musical, "Sweeney Todd" at the Apple Tree Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was awarded the 1987 Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Musical Production.His musical revue, "Sondheim on Sondheim" at the Porchlight Music Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was awarded the 2015 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for Revue Production.His musical, "Assassins" at the Kokandy Productions Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for a 2015 Joseph Jefferson Non-Equity Award for Musical Production.His musical, "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," at the Paramount Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was awarded the 2017 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for Large Musical Production.His musical, "Sweeney Todd" at the Drury Lane Oakbrook Theatre in Oakbrook, Illinois was nominated for a 2012 Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Musical Production (Large).His musical, "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" at the Porchlight Music Theatre was nominated for a 2015 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for Midsize Musical Production.His mother told him for years that he was born at 3:30am-EST. It was only years later that his father told him he was born at 9:00pm-EST.His musical, Merrily We Roll Along, was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 2001 (2000 season) for Best New Musical.His play, "Company," was awarded the 1977 Joseph Jefferson Citation for Play-Production at the Summer Comedy Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.His musical, "Merrily We Roll Along," at the Music Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for the 2011 Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Musical (Midsize).His musical revue, "Stephen Sondheim's Putting It Together," at the Porchlight Music Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for a 2012 Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Musical Production (Midsize).Arthur Laurents and his musical, "Gypsy" at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for a 2014 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for Large Musical Production.James Lapine and his musical, "Passion" at the Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was awarded the 2014 Joseph Jefferson Non-Equity Award for Musical Production.His musical, "Into the Woods" at the Marriott Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for a 2007 Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Musical Production and Ensemble.His musical, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," at the Porchlight Music Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for the 2015 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for Midsize Musical Production.His musical, "Into the Woods" at the Marriott Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was awarded the 1990 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for Musical Production. |
| Quotes: |
My idea of heaven is not writing.
<br />
<hr>
On stage, generally speaking, the story is stopped or held back by songs, because that's the convention. Audiences enjoy the song and the singer, that's the point. Static action - if that's not an oxymoron - is accepted. It's what writer Burt Shevelove used to call "savouring the moment". That's a very tricky business on film. It's fine if the songs are presentational, as in a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers-style movie where you watch them for the fun of it, but not with storytelling songs. When the song is part of the action and working as dialogue, even two minutes is way too long.
<br />
<hr>
My mother had a lot of pretensions. One of them that she picked up from some of her tonier friends was 'luncheon' which always struck me as a screamingly funny word. 'I'm having a luncheon at 21' she would say. I think 'lunch' is one of the funniest words in the world. That's one of the reasons I used it.
<br />
<hr>
For those of you who have not had the pleasure of hearing my voice before, I tend to sing very loud, often off-pitch, and always write in keys that are just out of my range.
<br />
<hr>
Oscar Hammerstein really believed that there was 'A bright golden haze in the meadow'. I never have. |
| Job title: |
Music Department,Writer,Actor |
| Others works: |
(1957) Lyrics for the musical "West Side Story"
(1959) Lyrics for the musical "Gypsy"
(1964) Music and lyrics for the musical "Anyone Can Whistle"
(1965) Lyrics for the musical "Do I Hear a Waltz?"
(1962) Music |
| Spouse: |
Jeffrey Romley (2017 - November 26, 2021) (his death) |
|
