Stephen Sondheim has been awarded the prestigious Edward MacDowell Medal for lifetime achievement. Four Hypable writers share their personal favorite Stephen Sondheim shows.
Stephen Sondheim is undoubtedly the greatest living musical theatre writer/composer, and possibly the greatest ever. No, he didn’t write Wicked or Spring Awakening, but the musicals of Stephen Sondheim are much more than twisted fairytales or German dramas.
They are musically and lyrically clever – some say, too clever. They inspire both love and hatred in an audience – and often in the performer who has to learn the notoriously difficult music.
Who else could spin the stories of attempted assassinations on different Presidents of the United States into a successful show, or write an entire musical about a guy (well, Seurat) painting a picture (well, masterpiece).
You might be a casual fan, who knows Sondheim for his West Side Story lyrics, and his popular shows like Into the Woods, or Sweeney Todd. Or maybe you’re obsessed with memorising every clever line and intelligent phrase in his huge catalogue of work. Regardless, there is often something deeply personal about a person’s appreciate for a Sondheim musical.
Sondheim has won more Tony Awards than any composer, along with countless Grammy Awards, Drama Desk Awards and Laurence Olivier Awards. He won the 1985 Pulitzer Prize in Drama for Sunday in the Park with George, and the 1990 Academy Award for Best Song for his composition of “Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)” from Dick Tracy.
The Edward MacDowell medal has never been awarded for achievements in musical theatre prior to Sondheim, but it is only the latest in a long list of awards recognising his lifetime achievement and contribution. Every time a Sondheim themed concert is staged, the biggest stars of the stage and screen come running and begging to participate.
Listing off all of the awards Sondheim has recieved eventually becomes redundant because there are so many, and they occur so often. But they are merely attempts by a grateful and adoring public to both quantify and qualify the fantastic work that Sondheim has given us.
How else can we try to say thank you for such musical genius, but through award ceremonies, and special concerts?
The truth is that no matter what kind of Sondheim fan you are, an appreciation (or love) of his music is a deeply personal thing. Every fan will love a different Sondheim show or song for a slightly different reason. His music and lyrics capture life in a way that is inescapable. You might go to the theatre to escape your problems, but Sondheim will bring them right back to you.
And there is no sign of the Sondheim train slowing down. He was involved in the filmmaking process for Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street starring (who else?) Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Now Into the Woods is heading for the big screen, with Meryl Streep playing the Witch, and Anna Kendrick, Johnny Depp and Emily Blunt filling out the all-star cast.
There is no stopping this genius of musical theatre. To celebrate this new achievement, we are sharing our own personal Sondheim favourites. They might not be his most popular shows, or even his best (and that depends how you are measuring), but for us they epitomise why we love Stephen Sondheim.
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