Stephen Sondheim to Try Gay Twist on ‘Company’

STEPHEN SONDHEIM GAY, NET WORTH, FAY
SONDHEIM FOUND JT THE RIGHT WORDS TO ILLTRATE MY LIFE AS A GAY MAN
STEPHEN SONDHEIM REWORKG SEMAL 'COMPANY' TO MAKE LEAD GAY
HOW STEPHEN SONDHEIM HELPED ME FD MY GAY JEWISH SENSIBILY
STEPHEN SONDHEIM LOVED HOW GAY BROADWAY’S ‘COMPANY’ REVIVAL IS, SAYS STAR MATT DOYLE
LEGENDARY GAY COMPOSER AND BROADWAY GENI STEPHEN SONDHEIM PASS AT 91
STEPHEN SONDHEIM TO TRY GAY TWIST ON ‘COMPANY’
STEPHEN SONDHEIM, MIL THEATER GIANT, DI AT 91THE POSER AND LYRICIST BEHD SUNDAY THE PARK WH GEE, INTO THE WOODS, AND SWEENEY TODD DIED FRIDAY.BY ESTHER ZUCKERMANNOVEMBER 26, 2021TED THAI/GETTY IMAG.SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVESTEPHEN SONDHEIM, THE XTRO POSER AND LYRICIST OF MILS CLUDG SUNDAY THE PARK WH GEE, INTO THE WOODS, AND SWEENEY TODD DIED FRIDAY AT THE AGE OF 91, THE NEW YORK TIM REPORTS. HIS ATH WAS NFIRMED BY F. RICHARD PAPPAS, SONDHEIM’S LAWYER AND IEND, WHO SAID THAT SONDHEIM DIED SUDNLY.SONDHEIM WAS THE ELR STATMAN OF AMERIN THEATER, BUT HE ALWAYS STOOD OUTSI OF S TRENDS. AN INOCLAST WHOSE VAL MIC TTED PRENCEIVED NOTNS ABOUT WHAT BELONGED ON STAGE, HE CREATED SONGS FOR A MURRO BARBER, A NROTIC NEO-IMPRSNIST, AND A VENGEFUL WCH. HIS WORK ALWAYS TEEMED WH MORAL AMBIGUY, NEVER PROVIDG THE EASY ANSWERS SOME LOOKED FOR MILS.BUT AS MUCH AS SONDHEIM ME TO RVE AN UNPRECENTED PATH, HE OWED HIS REER TO THE GREATS THAT ME BEFORE HIM—ONE PARTICULAR. HE WAS BORN 1930 NEW YORK TO A SIGNER AND A DRS MANUFACTURER. SONDHEIM’S PARENTS DIVORCED WHEN HE WAS 10, AND HIS ARTISTIC LIFE TLY BEGAN WHEN HE BEME ACQUATED WH OSR HAMMERSTE, WHO LIVED NEARBY DOYLTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA. SONDHEIM SOON BEME A SATELLE MEMBER OF THE HAMMERSTE FAY, WH S PATRIARCH, THE LYRICIST OF SHOWS LIKE LIKE OKLAHOMA! AND SOUTH PACIFIC, ACTG AS A “SURROGATE FATHER” TO HIM, SONDHEIM’S OWN WORDS.IN TERVIEWS, SONDHEIM OFTEN RELAYED THE STORY OF WHEN HE ASKED HAMMERSTE FOR FEEDBACK ON A MIL HE HAD WRTEN FOR SCHOOL WHEN HE WAS 15. SONDHEIM ASKED HIS MENTOR TO TREAT HIM AS HE WOULD ANYONE ELSE—AND HAMMERSTE’S ASSSMENT WAS BTAL. “HE STARTED RIGHT OM THE FIRST STAGE DIRECTN—AND I’VE OFTEN SAID, AT THE RISK OF HYPERBOLE, THAT I PROBABLY LEARNED MORE ABOUT WRG SONGS THAT AFTERNOON THAN I LEARNED THE RT OF MY LIFE,” SONDHEIM TOLD THE PARIS REVIEW 1997.SONDHEIM IALLY HAD SIGNS TO BE A MATHEMATICIAN, BUT HE STEAD STUDIED MIC AT WILLIAMS COLLEGE, GRADUATG 1950. ONE OF HIS EARLY JOBS WAS TELEVISN, WRG FOR THE GHOST EDY TOPPER. THOUGH HE YEARNED TO WRE MILS, WHEN THE OPPORTUNY TO LLABORATE WH LEONARD BERNSTE ON WT SI STORY ME ALONG, SONDHEIM WAS IALLY RELUCTANT; BERNSTE WAS WRG THE MIC, AND SONDHEIM DIDN’T WANT TO BE SADDLED WH THE LABEL OF LYRICIST. IT WAS HAMMERSTE WHO NVCED HIM NOT TO PASS UP THE GIG.SONDHEIM WAS SIARLY DISAPPOTED WHEN HIS WT SI TRIUMPH WAS FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER TEAM-UP, THIS TIME WH POSER JULE STYNE FOR GYPSY, THE STORY OF STRIPPER GYPSY ROSE LEE AND HER OVERBEARG MOTHER. (STAR ETHEL MERMAN WAS WORRIED ABOUT AN UNTTED WRER LEADG HER TO A FLOP.) WHILE WORKG ON THE SHOW, HE AND STYNE PREVIEWED SOME OF S WORK--PROGRS SONGS FOR COLE PORTER. THE BROADWAY LEGEND WAS PRSED AT THE TIME; MERMAN, A CLOSE IEND OF PORTER’S, BELIEVED THE NEW MATERIAL MIGHT CHEER HIM UP. IT DID.IN HIS BOOK FISHG THE HAT, SONDHEIM RELLED A MOMENT OF TRIUMPH: WHILE PERFORMG “TOGETHER, WHEREVER WE GO,” HE HEARD A “GASP OF LIGHT” OM PORTER. WHAT HAD DONE ? THE QUADPLE RHYME THE PHRASE, “NO FS NO FIGHTS NO FDS AND NO EGOS—AMIGOS! TOGETHER.” THAT’S HOW SHAR SONDHEIM WAS: HE ULD IMPRS EVEN THE MAN WHO WROTE, “GO DO THAT VOODOO THAT YOU DO SO WELL.”IT WASN’T UNTIL 1962 THAT SONDHEIM WAS CREDED FOR WRG BOTH MIC AND LYRICS A MAJOR MIL—FOR A FUNNY THG HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FOM, A ZERO MOSTEL VEHICLE THAT DRAWS OM PLT TO TELL THE STORY OF THE SLAVE PSDOL. AS SONDHEIM LATER TOLD THE TELEGRAPH, THOUGH, HE WOULD NOT REALLY “HEAR [HIS] OWN VOICE LOUD AND CLEAR” HIS WORK UNTIL 1970’S COMPANY. THE GROUNDBREAKG SHOW, WH A BOOK BY GEE FURTH, BUCKED STORYTELLG NVENTNS TO PRENT THE ANXIETI OF BOBBY, AN UNMARRIED THIRTYSOMETHG LIVG NEW YORK, AS A REVUE-LIKE SERI OF OF TERACTNS WH HIS UPLED-UP IENDS. BY SONDHEIM’S OWN TELLG, COMPANY “WAS THE FIRST BROADWAY MIL WHOSE FG QUALY WAS NEHER SATIRE NOR SENTIMENT, BUT IRONY.”MOST POPULARWH MATRO, LEONARD BERNSTE’S LEGACY AND LOV FALLY H THE BIG SCREENBY REBEC FORD25 PERFECT TV EPISOS FROM THE LAST 25 YEARSBY HILLARY BISTHE BOOK OF CLARENCE IS A BOMBASTIC JOURNEY BACK TO THE BIBLIL ERABY REBEC FORDTHOUGH NEARLY ALL OF SONDHEIM’S SHOWS ARE NOW NSIRED CLASSICS, HE WAS NOT ALWAYS A HMAKER OR A CRIL FAVORE. 1964’S ANYONE CAN WHISTLE, A POLIL FABLE, AND 1981’S MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, TOLD REVERSE WH A ST OF YOUNGSTERS, BOTH CLOSED QUICKLY. BY THE TIME OF MERRILY, THOUGH, SONDHEIM HAD ARGUABLY REACHED HIS CREATIVE PEAK: THE SURROUNDG SAW THREE OF HIS MOST ENDURG WORKS PREMIERE ON THE BROADWAY STAGE, BEGNG 1979 WH SWEENEY TODD.SWEENEY TODD WAS A GORY PRODUCTN ON AN OPERATIC SLE THAT RANG WH MORBID HUMOR. “I THOUGHT WOULD BE FUN TO SEE IF YOU ULD SRE A NTEMPORARY DIENCE THE WAY MOVI N SRE YOU,” SONDHEIM RELLED PBS’S DOCUMENTARY BROADWAY: THE AMERIN MIL. LEN CARU FIRST PLAYED THE TULAR CHARACTER, A WRONGLY NVICTED MAN WHO RETURNS TO LONDON TO FD HIS DGHTER AND SEEK REVENGE ON HIS ENEMI. HE MEETS UP WH ANGELA LANSBURY’S MRS. LOVETT, THE LOVICK BAKER WHO ENARS HERSELF TO THE BARBER BY TRANSFORMG HIS VICTIMS TO MEAT PI. WRG FOR THE NEW YORK TIM UPON S BUT, RICHARD ER APPLD SONDHEIM FOR HIS “ENDLSLY VENTIVE, HIGHLY EXPRSIVE SRE THAT WORKS DIVISIBLY OM HIS BRILLIANT AND ABRASIVE LYRICS.”AS MUCH AS SONDHEIM’S WORK WAS THE MA DRAW FOR ANY OF HIS SHOWS, HE THRIVED ON WORKG WH OTHERS. “I’M A LLABORATIVE ANIMAL,” HE TOLD L-MANUEL MIRANDA A 2017 TERVIEW. HE CREDED THE LIK OF HAROLD PRCE, JOHN WEIDMANN, AND JAM LAPE, ALL EQUENT SONDHEIM PARTNERS, FOR G UP WH IAL IAS FOR SOME OF HIS MOST MEMORABLE PRODUCTNS AND ELICG THE BT HIS OWN ABILI.IN THE DOCUMENTARY SIX BY SONDHEIM, DIRECTED BY LAPE, SONDHEIM SISTS THE ONLY TOBGRAPHIL SONG HE HAS EVER WRTEN IS “OPENG DOORS” OM MERRILY. HIS IEND, THE WRER FRANK RICH, DISPUTED THIS NOTN AN ARTICLE FOR NEW YORK MAGAZE, AND ED ’S HARD NOT TO SEE MORE THAN A B OF HIM THE PULZER PRIZE-WNG SUNDAY THE PARK WH GEE, WHICH BUTED 1984. BY MILIZG THE AGONI OF BOTH GEE SRAT AND THE PATER’S FICTNAL GREAT GRANDSON, SONDHEIM CREATED WHAT IS PERHAPS THE ULTIMATE TREATISE ON THE STRS OF PURSUG A REER THE ARTS. THE PIECE HOLD SUCH SIGNIFINCE TO SONDHEIM THAT HE TLED HIS TWO VOLUM OF LYRICS—FISHG THE HAT AND LOOK, I MA A HAT—AFTER THE CENTRAL METAPHOR ONE OF S SONGS.HE AND LAPE THEN TURNED TO THE NER LIV OF FAIRYTALE CHARACTERS INTO THE WOODS, WHICH WRTLED WH TOPICS CLUDG FERTILY AND FILY. AS SONDHEIM GREW OLR, HE MOVED EVEN FURTHER TO EXPERIMENTAL TERRORY. HE GAVE VOIC TO THE DISTURBED MEN AND WOMEN WHO ATTEMPTED TO TAKE THE LIV OF AMERIN PRINTS ASSASSS, AND THE 2010S, HE WORKED ON TRANSPORTG TWO OF THE FILMS OF SURREALIST LUIS BUñUEL ONTO THE STAGE.MOST POPULARWH MATRO, LEONARD BERNSTE’S LEGACY AND LOV FALLY H THE BIG SCREENBY REBEC FORD25 PERFECT TV EPISOS FROM THE LAST 25 YEARSBY HILLARY BISTHE BOOK OF CLARENCE IS A BOMBASTIC JOURNEY BACK TO THE BIBLIL ERABY REBEC FORDTHOUGH SOME OF HIS THEATRIL WORKS WERE ADAPTED TO FILMS—CLUDG DISNEY’S TAKE ON INTO THE WOODS AND TIM BURTON’S SWEENEY—SONDHEIM ONLY DABBLED CROSSG OVER TO HOLLYWOOD. HE TWICE JOED FORC WH WARREN BEATTY, WNG A BT ORIGAL SONG OSR FOR ONE OF HIS NTRIBUTNS TO DICK TRACY AND POSG THE SRE FOR REDS. IN ADDN TO THAT AMY AWARD AND HIS PULZER, SONDHEIM RECEIVED MOST OF THE HIGHT HONORS AVAILABLE TO SOMEONE HIS LE OF WORK—CLUDG A PRINTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM, SEVEN GRAMMYS, AND SEVEN TONY AWARDS, AS WELL AS A SPECIAL LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT PRIZE OM THE AMERIN THEATRE WG. HE HAS ALSO APPEARED ONSCREEN—PLAYG HIMSELF THE 2003 DIE FILM CAMP, AND AS A CHARACTER THE 2021 MIL TICK… TICK… BOOM!, PLAYED BY BRADLEY WHFORD.AS A PUBLIC FIGURE, SONDHEIM DIDN’T EXIST MUCH OUTSI OF HIS SONGS. HE WAS GAY, BUT RARELY SPOKE ABOUT HIS SEXUALY OR EXPLICLY REFERENCED QUEER THEM HIS WORK. (HE RISTED ANY SUATN THAT COMPANY’S BOBBY WAS GAY HIMSELF UNTIL HE SIGNED UP TO WORK ON A REVISED VERSN OF THE SHOW 2013.) RICH WROTE THAT SONDHEIM WAS SOMEONE “WHO N EXPLA EVERY NOTE AND WORD EVERY SONG HE WROTE WH METICULO THORY, AND YET WHOSE OWN FEELGS WERE SO SUCCSFULLY BARRID THAT BY HIS OWN ACUNT HE DIDN’T GIVE HIMSELF UP TO A SER ROMANTIC RELATNSHIP UNTIL HE TURNED 60.”BUT EVEN IF HE WAS RETICENT TO SHARE ANYTHG ABOUT HIS OWN LIFE, SONDHEIM NSTANTLY EXAMED THE NUANC AND PLITNS OF BEG HUMAN HIS WORK. HE PROVED THAT BREAKG OUT TO SONG DIDN’T NEED TO BE TRE OR SIMPLISTIC, BUT ULD NTA TRATN AND NFN. JT THK OF THIS LYRIC OM INTO THE WOODS’ “MOMENTS THE WOODS,” WHICH THE BAKER’S WIFE, HAVG JT HAD AN AFFAIR WH A HANDSOME PRCE, NSIRS HER OPTNS. SHE ASKS: “MT ALL BE EHER LS OR MORE?/ EHER PLA OR GRAND?/ IS ALWAYS OR?/ IS NEVER AND?” SONDHEIM’S EXISTENCE MAY HAVE SEEMED GRAND, BUT HE ASKED HIS DIENC TO NSIR THE BETWEENS.MORE GREAT STORI FROM VANY FAIR— JENNIFER LAWRENCE EXCLIVE: “I DIDN’T HAVE A LIFE. I THOUGHT I SHOULD GO GET ONE”— WHAT’S THE DEAL WH SEFELD?— “IT WAS AS IF HER BREAST EXPOSED ITSELF”: THE PEOPLE V. JA JACKSON— SUCCSN STARS SARAH SNOOK AND MATTHEW MACFADYEN ON EPISO FIVE— AFTER THE MORNG SHOW, JULIANNA MARGULI CAN’T GO BACK TO NETWORK TV— LADY GAGA SH THE CURLY DRAB HOE OF GUCCI— THE DAY BILL MURRAY, DAN AYKROYD, AND ERNIE HUDSON BEME GHOSTBTERS AGA— IN SEASON FOUR, SELLG SUNSET GETS REAL— UNRSTANDG THE REAL RICHARD WILLIAMS, FATHER AND COACH TO VEN AND SERENA— FROM THE ARCHIVE: THE COMEBACK KID— SIGN UP FOR THE “HWD DAILY” NEWSLETTER FOR MT-READ DTRY AND AWARDS VERAGE—PL A SPECIAL WEEKLY EDN OF “AWARDS INSIR.”ESTHER ZUCKERMAN

STEPHEN SONDHEIM GAY, NET WORTH, FAY

The qutn of whether the lead character Stephen Sondheim's semal 1970 mil <em>Company</em> is gay has been hoverg over the show for years. Now, Sondheim, along wh director John Tiffany, is reworkg the show to make explicly clear.  * is stephen sondheim gay *

Stephen Sondheim Gay?

Stephen is an openly gay person who revealed his sexualy at the age of 40. His first partner (after he publicly went gay) was Peter Jon, a dramatist by profsn. As gay people, pecially the ’80s and’ 90s, ath was all around .

Once I disvered Stephen Sondheim was a gay man, my love grew exponentially.

SONDHEIM FOUND JT THE RIGHT WORDS TO ILLTRATE MY LIFE AS A GAY MAN

* is stephen sondheim gay *

Of urse he was gay. Only a gay man uld have wrten that brilliance at that time. Every gay bone my body was screamg.

STEPHEN SONDHEIM REWORKG SEMAL 'COMPANY' TO MAKE LEAD GAY

Stephen me out as gay when he was 40-years-old, and at the time of his ath, was married to his hband Jeff Romley. Sondheim had not had a long-term relatnship of any sort when wrg his mil edy, and relled that he asked a married female iend to expla what relatnships were all me out as gay later the 1970s, but did not live wh a partner until the 90s.

The qutn of whether the lead character Stephen Sondheim's semal 1970 mil Company is gay has been hoverg over the show for years.

HOW STEPHEN SONDHEIM HELPED ME FD MY GAY JEWISH SENSIBILY

This article is om the archive of our partner qutn of whether the lead character Stephen Sondheim's semal 1970 mil Company is gay has been hoverg over the show for years. Patrick Healy of the New York Tim wr that Tiffany, who directed the Tony Award-wng Once and the betiful revival of The Glass Menagerie currently nng, reworked the show so that Bobby is now "a gay man wh mment issu and multiple boyiends.

" He add: "We don’t al wh gay marriage as such, but this versn lets explore the issu of mment a h way.

As John Podhoretz wrote on Twter: "so all those years sayg Bobby wasn't gay were what?

STEPHEN SONDHEIM LOVED HOW GAY BROADWAY’S ‘COMPANY’ REVIVAL IS, SAYS STAR MATT DOYLE

When Harris was st the role, Adam Feldman at Time Out New York wrote a piece about Bobby's sexualy and "whether Bobby n be effectively embodied by an actor who isn't gay.

" Jorn not that when anyone tried to put the ia that Bobby is gay "explicly" a productn, the ia was quashed by Sondheim and the tate of Gee Furth, who wrote the book of the show. "Robert’s 'problem' is not that he’s gay, " Jorn nclus, after explorg chang Sondheim and Furth had ma to qutns of Bobby's sexualy. "Rather, ’s that he’s gay a society where beg gay means not havg a fair chance at timacy, if for no other reason that he himself don’t unrstand his sexualy.

LEGENDARY GAY COMPOSER AND BROADWAY GENI STEPHEN SONDHEIM PASS AT 91

"If Bobby were wrten today he might be a gay man, but the lgerg qutn that hangs over the reworked versn is what the show be whout that plited ambiguy. If I had to intify my first self-actualizg gay experience, would be back high school the mid-1970s. There’s somethg clearly gay — or 20th-century gay — this vantage pot of beg an observer of the actn, wantg to participate, but not knowg how to take that risky first step.

That sense of but not of is not jt a gay thg, but a Jewish thg.

This Jewish prediment, this gay prediment, is reflected and reacted throughout Sondheim’s work. (Sondheim himself was both Jewish and gay. The song is a prayer for all of gay or Jewish or overthkg people imprisoned the safe refuge of our heads.

He admted to “blhg” over rare imperfect rhym early shows, and latterly would only accept “perfect” (or te) rhym, which the sounds of the fal syllabl match (home / roam, nvey / dismay), rather than near or false diststful of love first by his parents’ failed marriage and then by beg gay a long historil perd of homophobia, Sondheim was often nsired shy and solary. But the genr of one other character has also been swapped, makg a formerly straight uple now gay. You have to live up to , ” Matt Doyle, who plays one of the gay men, told TODAY via Zoom.

The biggt thg I learned is that as long as I ntue to play my tth and play as a man and as a gay man, the further away I get om that. He was emotnal, not only when rememberg men like Furth who helped create “Company” back 1970, but also around the gay them of the piece that were created for this revival.

STEPHEN SONDHEIM, MIL THEATER GIANT, DI AT 91THE POSER AND LYRICIST BEHD SUNDAY THE PARK WH GEE, INTO THE WOODS, AND SWEENEY TODD DIED FRIDAY.BY ESTHER ZUCKERMANNOVEMBER 26, 2021TED THAI/GETTY IMAG.SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVESTEPHEN SONDHEIM, THE XTRO POSER AND LYRICIST OF MILS CLUDG SUNDAY THE PARK WH GEE, INTO THE WOODS, AND SWEENEY TODD DIED FRIDAY AT THE AGE OF 91, THE NEW YORK TIM REPORTS. HIS ATH WAS NFIRMED BY F. RICHARD PAPPAS, SONDHEIM’S LAWYER AND IEND, WHO SAID THAT SONDHEIM DIED SUDNLY.SONDHEIM WAS THE ELR STATMAN OF AMERIN THEATER, BUT HE ALWAYS STOOD OUTSI OF S TRENDS. AN INOCLAST WHOSE VAL MIC TTED PRENCEIVED NOTNS ABOUT WHAT BELONGED ON STAGE, HE CREATED SONGS FOR A MURRO BARBER, A NROTIC NEO-IMPRSNIST, AND A VENGEFUL WCH. HIS WORK ALWAYS TEEMED WH MORAL AMBIGUY, NEVER PROVIDG THE EASY ANSWERS SOME LOOKED FOR MILS.BUT AS MUCH AS SONDHEIM ME TO RVE AN UNPRECENTED PATH, HE OWED HIS REER TO THE GREATS THAT ME BEFORE HIM—ONE PARTICULAR. HE WAS BORN 1930 NEW YORK TO A SIGNER AND A DRS MANUFACTURER. SONDHEIM’S PARENTS DIVORCED WHEN HE WAS 10, AND HIS ARTISTIC LIFE TLY BEGAN WHEN HE BEME ACQUATED WH OSR HAMMERSTE, WHO LIVED NEARBY DOYLTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA. SONDHEIM SOON BEME A SATELLE MEMBER OF THE HAMMERSTE FAY, WH S PATRIARCH, THE LYRICIST OF SHOWS LIKE LIKE OKLAHOMA! AND SOUTH PACIFIC, ACTG AS A “SURROGATE FATHER” TO HIM, SONDHEIM’S OWN WORDS.IN TERVIEWS, SONDHEIM OFTEN RELAYED THE STORY OF WHEN HE ASKED HAMMERSTE FOR FEEDBACK ON A MIL HE HAD WRTEN FOR SCHOOL WHEN HE WAS 15. SONDHEIM ASKED HIS MENTOR TO TREAT HIM AS HE WOULD ANYONE ELSE—AND HAMMERSTE’S ASSSMENT WAS BTAL. “HE STARTED RIGHT OM THE FIRST STAGE DIRECTN—AND I’VE OFTEN SAID, AT THE RISK OF HYPERBOLE, THAT I PROBABLY LEARNED MORE ABOUT WRG SONGS THAT AFTERNOON THAN I LEARNED THE RT OF MY LIFE,” SONDHEIM TOLD THE PARIS REVIEW 1997.SONDHEIM IALLY HAD SIGNS TO BE A MATHEMATICIAN, BUT HE STEAD STUDIED MIC AT WILLIAMS COLLEGE, GRADUATG 1950. ONE OF HIS EARLY JOBS WAS TELEVISN, WRG FOR THE GHOST EDY TOPPER. THOUGH HE YEARNED TO WRE MILS, WHEN THE OPPORTUNY TO LLABORATE WH LEONARD BERNSTE ON WT SI STORY ME ALONG, SONDHEIM WAS IALLY RELUCTANT; BERNSTE WAS WRG THE MIC, AND SONDHEIM DIDN’T WANT TO BE SADDLED WH THE LABEL OF LYRICIST. IT WAS HAMMERSTE WHO NVCED HIM NOT TO PASS UP THE GIG.SONDHEIM WAS SIARLY DISAPPOTED WHEN HIS WT SI TRIUMPH WAS FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER TEAM-UP, THIS TIME WH POSER JULE STYNE FOR GYPSY, THE STORY OF STRIPPER GYPSY ROSE LEE AND HER OVERBEARG MOTHER. (STAR ETHEL MERMAN WAS WORRIED ABOUT AN UNTTED WRER LEADG HER TO A FLOP.) WHILE WORKG ON THE SHOW, HE AND STYNE PREVIEWED SOME OF S WORK--PROGRS SONGS FOR COLE PORTER. THE BROADWAY LEGEND WAS PRSED AT THE TIME; MERMAN, A CLOSE IEND OF PORTER’S, BELIEVED THE NEW MATERIAL MIGHT CHEER HIM UP. IT DID.IN HIS BOOK FISHG THE HAT, SONDHEIM RELLED A MOMENT OF TRIUMPH: WHILE PERFORMG “TOGETHER, WHEREVER WE GO,” HE HEARD A “GASP OF LIGHT” OM PORTER. WHAT HAD DONE ? THE QUADPLE RHYME THE PHRASE, “NO FS NO FIGHTS NO FDS AND NO EGOS—AMIGOS! TOGETHER.” THAT’S HOW SHAR SONDHEIM WAS: HE ULD IMPRS EVEN THE MAN WHO WROTE, “GO DO THAT VOODOO THAT YOU DO SO WELL.”IT WASN’T UNTIL 1962 THAT SONDHEIM WAS CREDED FOR WRG BOTH MIC AND LYRICS A MAJOR MIL—FOR A FUNNY THG HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FOM, A ZERO MOSTEL VEHICLE THAT DRAWS OM PLT TO TELL THE STORY OF THE SLAVE PSDOL. AS SONDHEIM LATER TOLD THE TELEGRAPH, THOUGH, HE WOULD NOT REALLY “HEAR [HIS] OWN VOICE LOUD AND CLEAR” HIS WORK UNTIL 1970’S COMPANY. THE GROUNDBREAKG SHOW, WH A BOOK BY GEE FURTH, BUCKED STORYTELLG NVENTNS TO PRENT THE ANXIETI OF BOBBY, AN UNMARRIED THIRTYSOMETHG LIVG NEW YORK, AS A REVUE-LIKE SERI OF OF TERACTNS WH HIS UPLED-UP IENDS. BY SONDHEIM’S OWN TELLG, COMPANY “WAS THE FIRST BROADWAY MIL WHOSE FG QUALY WAS NEHER SATIRE NOR SENTIMENT, BUT IRONY.”MOST POPULARWH MATRO, LEONARD BERNSTE’S LEGACY AND LOV FALLY H THE BIG SCREENBY REBEC FORD25 PERFECT TV EPISOS FROM THE LAST 25 YEARSBY HILLARY BISTHE BOOK OF CLARENCE IS A BOMBASTIC JOURNEY BACK TO THE BIBLIL ERABY REBEC FORDTHOUGH NEARLY ALL OF SONDHEIM’S SHOWS ARE NOW NSIRED CLASSICS, HE WAS NOT ALWAYS A HMAKER OR A CRIL FAVORE. 1964’S ANYONE CAN WHISTLE, A POLIL FABLE, AND 1981’S MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, TOLD REVERSE WH A ST OF YOUNGSTERS, BOTH CLOSED QUICKLY. BY THE TIME OF MERRILY, THOUGH, SONDHEIM HAD ARGUABLY REACHED HIS CREATIVE PEAK: THE SURROUNDG SAW THREE OF HIS MOST ENDURG WORKS PREMIERE ON THE BROADWAY STAGE, BEGNG 1979 WH SWEENEY TODD.SWEENEY TODD WAS A GORY PRODUCTN ON AN OPERATIC SLE THAT RANG WH MORBID HUMOR. “I THOUGHT WOULD BE FUN TO SEE IF YOU ULD SRE A NTEMPORARY DIENCE THE WAY MOVI N SRE YOU,” SONDHEIM RELLED PBS’S DOCUMENTARY BROADWAY: THE AMERIN MIL. LEN CARU FIRST PLAYED THE TULAR CHARACTER, A WRONGLY NVICTED MAN WHO RETURNS TO LONDON TO FD HIS DGHTER AND SEEK REVENGE ON HIS ENEMI. HE MEETS UP WH ANGELA LANSBURY’S MRS. LOVETT, THE LOVICK BAKER WHO ENARS HERSELF TO THE BARBER BY TRANSFORMG HIS VICTIMS TO MEAT PI. WRG FOR THE NEW YORK TIM UPON S BUT, RICHARD ER APPLD SONDHEIM FOR HIS “ENDLSLY VENTIVE, HIGHLY EXPRSIVE SRE THAT WORKS DIVISIBLY OM HIS BRILLIANT AND ABRASIVE LYRICS.”AS MUCH AS SONDHEIM’S WORK WAS THE MA DRAW FOR ANY OF HIS SHOWS, HE THRIVED ON WORKG WH OTHERS. “I’M A LLABORATIVE ANIMAL,” HE TOLD L-MANUEL MIRANDA A 2017 TERVIEW. HE CREDED THE LIK OF HAROLD PRCE, JOHN WEIDMANN, AND JAM LAPE, ALL EQUENT SONDHEIM PARTNERS, FOR G UP WH IAL IAS FOR SOME OF HIS MOST MEMORABLE PRODUCTNS AND ELICG THE BT HIS OWN ABILI.IN THE DOCUMENTARY SIX BY SONDHEIM, DIRECTED BY LAPE, SONDHEIM SISTS THE ONLY TOBGRAPHIL SONG HE HAS EVER WRTEN IS “OPENG DOORS” OM MERRILY. HIS IEND, THE WRER FRANK RICH, DISPUTED THIS NOTN AN ARTICLE FOR NEW YORK MAGAZE, AND ED ’S HARD NOT TO SEE MORE THAN A B OF HIM THE PULZER PRIZE-WNG SUNDAY THE PARK WH GEE, WHICH BUTED 1984. BY MILIZG THE AGONI OF BOTH GEE SRAT AND THE PATER’S FICTNAL GREAT GRANDSON, SONDHEIM CREATED WHAT IS PERHAPS THE ULTIMATE TREATISE ON THE STRS OF PURSUG A REER THE ARTS. THE PIECE HOLD SUCH SIGNIFINCE TO SONDHEIM THAT HE TLED HIS TWO VOLUM OF LYRICS—FISHG THE HAT AND LOOK, I MA A HAT—AFTER THE CENTRAL METAPHOR ONE OF S SONGS.HE AND LAPE THEN TURNED TO THE NER LIV OF FAIRYTALE CHARACTERS INTO THE WOODS, WHICH WRTLED WH TOPICS CLUDG FERTILY AND FILY. AS SONDHEIM GREW OLR, HE MOVED EVEN FURTHER TO EXPERIMENTAL TERRORY. HE GAVE VOIC TO THE DISTURBED MEN AND WOMEN WHO ATTEMPTED TO TAKE THE LIV OF AMERIN PRINTS ASSASSS, AND THE 2010S, HE WORKED ON TRANSPORTG TWO OF THE FILMS OF SURREALIST LUIS BUñUEL ONTO THE STAGE.MOST POPULARWH MATRO, LEONARD BERNSTE’S LEGACY AND LOV FALLY H THE BIG SCREENBY REBEC FORD25 PERFECT TV EPISOS FROM THE LAST 25 YEARSBY HILLARY BISTHE BOOK OF CLARENCE IS A BOMBASTIC JOURNEY BACK TO THE BIBLIL ERABY REBEC FORDTHOUGH SOME OF HIS THEATRIL WORKS WERE ADAPTED TO FILMS—CLUDG DISNEY’S TAKE ON INTO THE WOODS AND TIM BURTON’S SWEENEY—SONDHEIM ONLY DABBLED CROSSG OVER TO HOLLYWOOD. HE TWICE JOED FORC WH WARREN BEATTY, WNG A BT ORIGAL SONG OSR FOR ONE OF HIS NTRIBUTNS TO DICK TRACY AND POSG THE SRE FOR REDS. IN ADDN TO THAT AMY AWARD AND HIS PULZER, SONDHEIM RECEIVED MOST OF THE HIGHT HONORS AVAILABLE TO SOMEONE HIS LE OF WORK—CLUDG A PRINTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM, SEVEN GRAMMYS, AND SEVEN TONY AWARDS, AS WELL AS A SPECIAL LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT PRIZE OM THE AMERIN THEATRE WG. HE HAS ALSO APPEARED ONSCREEN—PLAYG HIMSELF THE 2003 DIE FILM CAMP, AND AS A CHARACTER THE 2021 MIL TICK… TICK… BOOM!, PLAYED BY BRADLEY WHFORD.AS A PUBLIC FIGURE, SONDHEIM DIDN’T EXIST MUCH OUTSI OF HIS SONGS. HE WAS GAY, BUT RARELY SPOKE ABOUT HIS SEXUALY OR EXPLICLY REFERENCED QUEER THEM HIS WORK. (HE RISTED ANY SUATN THAT COMPANY’S BOBBY WAS GAY HIMSELF UNTIL HE SIGNED UP TO WORK ON A REVISED VERSN OF THE SHOW 2013.) RICH WROTE THAT SONDHEIM WAS SOMEONE “WHO N EXPLA EVERY NOTE AND WORD EVERY SONG HE WROTE WH METICULO THORY, AND YET WHOSE OWN FEELGS WERE SO SUCCSFULLY BARRID THAT BY HIS OWN ACUNT HE DIDN’T GIVE HIMSELF UP TO A SER ROMANTIC RELATNSHIP UNTIL HE TURNED 60.”BUT EVEN IF HE WAS RETICENT TO SHARE ANYTHG ABOUT HIS OWN LIFE, SONDHEIM NSTANTLY EXAMED THE NUANC AND PLITNS OF BEG HUMAN HIS WORK. HE PROVED THAT BREAKG OUT TO SONG DIDN’T NEED TO BE TRE OR SIMPLISTIC, BUT ULD NTA TRATN AND NFN. JT THK OF THIS LYRIC OM INTO THE WOODS’ “MOMENTS THE WOODS,” WHICH THE BAKER’S WIFE, HAVG JT HAD AN AFFAIR WH A HANDSOME PRCE, NSIRS HER OPTNS. SHE ASKS: “MT ALL BE EHER LS OR MORE?/ EHER PLA OR GRAND?/ IS ALWAYS OR?/ IS NEVER AND?” SONDHEIM’S EXISTENCE MAY HAVE SEEMED GRAND, BUT HE ASKED HIS DIENC TO NSIR THE BETWEENS.MORE GREAT STORI FROM VANY FAIR— JENNIFER LAWRENCE EXCLIVE: “I DIDN’T HAVE A LIFE. I THOUGHT I SHOULD GO GET ONE”— WHAT’S THE DEAL WH SEFELD?— “IT WAS AS IF HER BREAST EXPOSED ITSELF”: THE PEOPLE V. JA JACKSON— SUCCSN STARS SARAH SNOOK AND MATTHEW MACFADYEN ON EPISO FIVE— AFTER THE MORNG SHOW, JULIANNA MARGULI CAN’T GO BACK TO NETWORK TV— LADY GAGA SH THE CURLY DRAB HOE OF GUCCI— THE DAY BILL MURRAY, DAN AYKROYD, AND ERNIE HUDSON BEME GHOSTBTERS AGA— IN SEASON FOUR, SELLG SUNSET GETS REAL— UNRSTANDG THE REAL RICHARD WILLIAMS, FATHER AND COACH TO VEN AND SERENA— FROM THE ARCHIVE: THE COMEBACK KID— SIGN UP FOR THE “HWD DAILY” NEWSLETTER FOR MT-READ DTRY AND AWARDS VERAGE—PL A SPECIAL WEEKLY EDN OF “AWARDS INSIR.”ESTHER ZUCKERMAN

Sondheim was gay and out for most of his life, but his inty as a gay man was often an afterthought for his work and his place the public eye. ”Sondheim wrote for the tim he was , so much of his work never explicly featured gay characters.

Stephen Sondheim Loved How Gay Broadway’s ‘Company’ Revival Is

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