Stephen Sondheim
I am a very young person who enjoys typically older art, so when I make a RIP post it’s usually years after the fact. The only fandom person that I ever loved and mourned in real time was Stan Lee, but checking my Instagram feed I saw that Katherine McNamara had a new post. One in memory of Stephen Sondheim.
I am a musical theater girl at heart. Andrew Lloyd Webber, Johnathan Larson, Stephen Sondheim, and Rodgers and Hammerstein were all names I heard before I turned ten. My first Sondheim experience was watching the West Side Story movie which he wrote the lyrics of, but I would go on to be exposed to and fall in love with Sweeny Todd and the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Into the Woods, Assassins, and more.
What theater fan hasn’t heard of Sondheim’s legendary work? Who hasn’t listened to Rose’s Turn or Finishing the Hat? And it seems like there is never not a revival of A Little Night Music playing on Broadway or the West End.
Stephen Sondheim passed away today, November 26, 2021, at age 91. Both a composer and lyricist, he defined Broadway bringing in wit, warmth, and wisdom. Bringing to life original stories as well as reviving and putting a brilliant spin on age old classics, and Sweeny Todd, we will never be able to sing enough praise of Sondheim for all he brought to the stage.
Everyone knows that music has power in itself and in the way it affects us, and musicals have a way of taking that even further. Taking a full story and cast and advancing it in the span of two hours through music. Sondheim’s compositions fill souls with this surge of emotion and effervescence while his lyrics enchant us with choruses filled with symbolism in a gorgeous poetic fashion.
He was a true artist who’s work and memory will last at least three-fold his span. A writer, a musician, and all around genius whose work spanned genres and artforms. As an aspiring author and lover of both generalized music and musical theater, Sondheim meant a lot to me and he meant a lot to the world. Best wishes and deepest regrets to his partner, Jeff Romley. Rest in peace Stephen Sondheim. We love you.
“Sometimes people leave you halfway through the wood
Do not let it grieve you,
No one leaves for good”
-Stephen Sondheim
