Lagatar24 Desk
New York, Nov.27: Stephen Sondheim, the legendary Broadway songwriter generally recognised with transforming American musical theatre, passed away on Friday at the age of 91.
Sondheim, a lyricist and composer best known for works such as West Side Story and Sweeney Todd, died unexpectedly in his Connecticut home the day after Thanksgiving with friends, according to his attorney F. Richard Pappas. Rick Miramontez, the publicist for Sondheim’s musical Company, which is currently on Broadway at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, confirmed the news to AFP.
“We have lost the Shakespeare of musical theatre,” said Marianne Elliott, the director of “Company,” in a statement shared on the production’s Twitter handle.
Sondheim, who was born in New York City on March 22, 1930, was immersed in musical theatre from an early age, despite the fact that both of his parents worked in the fashion industry. He began playing the piano at the age of seven and knew Oscar Hammerstein II, half of the famous musical theatre writing duo Rodgers and Hammerstein.
In the 1950s, Sondheim’s first professional writing work was for the television comedy “Topper.” From 1968 to 1969, he also wrote crossword puzzles for New York Magazine, which influenced his writing style and sense of theatrical deception. In 1957, he made his Broadway debut with West Side Story, which was promptly followed two years later by Gypsy.
The first film adaptation of West Side Story, starring Rita Moreno, was released in 1961. The second, starring Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler, will be released in early December.
Sondheim won eight Grammy Awards, eight Tony Awards (including the special Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre), one Academy Award, and a Pulitzer Prize throughout his more than five-decade career. He received numerous Grammy and Tony nominations, as well as two Golden Globe nominations. His play Assassins, as well as Company, has been revived on Broadway this fall.
For his life’s effort, then-US President Barack Obama awarded Sondheim the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honour, in 2015. A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum and Into The Woods are two of Sondheim’s best-known works.
