Stephen Sondheim

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Stephen Sondheim Dead at 91
Stephen
Sondheim
Dead at 91
OBITUARY

Stephen Sondheim Dead at 91

Master behind 'Sweeney Todd,' 'West Side Story' had just celebrated Thanksgiving with friends

(Newser) - CNN calls him a creator "perhaps without par" in American musical theater. The New York Times praises him as "one of Broadway history's songwriting titans." Composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, the musical force behind Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park With George, and Into the ...

Sondheim: West Side Story Lyrics 'Embarrassing'
Sondheim: West Side Story
Lyrics 'Embarrassing'
INTERVIEW

Sondheim: West Side Story Lyrics 'Embarrassing'

He should know ... he wrote them

(Newser) - When Stephen Sondheim thinks about the lyrics he wrote for West Side Story—for example, “It’s alarming how charming I feel”—he likes to “put my head under my wing and pretend I’m not there,” he tells Nightline . The universally beloved musical “embarrasses...

The Best Books of 2010
 The Best Books of 2010 
Year in Review

The Best Books of 2010

The New York Times Book Review picks out its favorites

(Newser) - The year's coming to a close and you know what that means: Best-of lists! The New York Times Book Review kicks things off with a list of the year's top books. Including: Fiction
  • Freedom, Jonathan Franzen—“Even richer and deeper” than The Corrections, this Bush-era Midwestern family saga perfectly
...

Zeta-Jones' Broadway Debut 'Luminous'
Zeta-Jones' Broadway Debut 'Luminous'
REVIEW ROUNDUP

Zeta-Jones' Broadway Debut 'Luminous'

But performance in A Little Night Music earns mixed reviews

(Newser) - Catherine Zeta-Jones returns to the stage—and makes her Broadway debut—in Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, which opened last night to mixed reviews:
  • The musical, which centers around “the complexly amorous adventures of a group of upper-class characters” in turn-of-the-century Sweden, was long overdue for a
...

New Bilingual West Side Story Tender, Uneven

 New Bilingual 
 West Side Story 
 Tender, Uneven  
Theater review

New Bilingual West Side Story Tender, Uneven

Production can be uneven, but still enjoyable

(Newser) - The highly anticipated revival of West Side Story on Broadway opened last night to solid reviews, with critics applauding an unusually tender interpretation in which the women rule. Highlights:
  • “Even when they’re flashing switchblades and kicking people in the ribs, the teenage hoodlums who maraud through Arthur Laurents’
...

Money Woes Ground Spidey, Other Musicals

Stephen Sondheim revue stumbles before opening

(Newser) - Financial woes are forcing more musicals to face the music: Spider-Man’s Broadway appearance has been delayed until next January, while Stephen Sondheim’s latest couldn’t raise the cash for tryout performances, Bloomberg reports. Spidey’s show, with tunes by U2’s Bono and the Edge, costs a record...

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