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Stephen Sondheim, Composer of 'Follies,' 'Sweeney Todd,' Dies at 91
https://variety.com/2021/legit/news/stephen-sondheim-dead-sweeney-todd-1235120388/Stephen Sondheim, the dominant voice in American musical theater in the second half of the 20th century and the composer with the most Tony Awards, has died. He was 91. The Broadway icon died Friday, November 26th at his home in Roxbury, Conn. He was 91.
His shows, from the comedic “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” to the ground-breaking “Company” to the operatic “Sweeney Todd” to the experimental “Pacific Overtures,” transformed the Broadway musical stage, influencing and advancing the medium. Sondheim, a protege of Oscar Hammerstein II, slowly moved away from that melodic tradition to incorporate complex and dissonant themes and structures of 20th century classical music into his works.
Though he never achieved popular success on the order of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sondheim altered and broadened the boundaries of American musical theater with great daring and aplomb, basing his tuners on such disparate sources as the ancient Roman playwright Plautus (“A Funny Thing”), a film by Ingmar Bergman (“A Little Night Music”) and American political assassinations (“Assassins”). And while his critics claimed his songs lacked the whistle-ability factor of Richard Rodgers or even Lloyd Webber, his musicals continued to be revived, reappreciated and reappraised over the decades...
His shows, from the comedic “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” to the ground-breaking “Company” to the operatic “Sweeney Todd” to the experimental “Pacific Overtures,” transformed the Broadway musical stage, influencing and advancing the medium. Sondheim, a protege of Oscar Hammerstein II, slowly moved away from that melodic tradition to incorporate complex and dissonant themes and structures of 20th century classical music into his works.
Though he never achieved popular success on the order of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sondheim altered and broadened the boundaries of American musical theater with great daring and aplomb, basing his tuners on such disparate sources as the ancient Roman playwright Plautus (“A Funny Thing”), a film by Ingmar Bergman (“A Little Night Music”) and American political assassinations (“Assassins”). And while his critics claimed his songs lacked the whistle-ability factor of Richard Rodgers or even Lloyd Webber, his musicals continued to be revived, reappreciated and reappraised over the decades...
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