STEPHEN SONDHEIM:
the man, his works and his world
NEW: Everything Was Possible: The Birth of the Musical "Follies", Ted Chapin. A behind the scenes look at the making of an incredible show. Published in September, 2003.
Dance With Demons : The Life of Jerome Robbins, Greg Lawrence"Lawrence's conscientious biography is at its best in taking us step by step through Robbins' career." NYT Book Review. A look at the man behind the dance of shows like West Side Story
Saturday Night: Piano and Vocal Score His first musical.
Sunday in the Park with George (DVD) Commentary by by composer Stephen Sondheim, writer James Lapine, and actors Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters
Sunday in the Park with George (VHS) Commentary by by composer Stephen Sondheim, writer James Lapine, and actors Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters
Finally back in circulation:
Sondheim References:
Stephen Sondheim: A Life, Meryle Secrest (hardcover) Sondheim's authorized biography. 448 pages!!!! Look for my name in the acknowledgements. It was a pleasant surprise as she used my interview with Sondheim as a source.
REVISED! Sondheim, Martin Gottfried, Martha Swope (hardback). Chock full of photos and information and a number of errors. But still beautiful to look at.
Stephen Sondheim : A Casebook (Casebooks on Modern Dramatists Vol 23), (hardcover) Joanne Gordon (Editor) hardcover. A collection of essays on the man and his musicals.
Art Isn't Easy: The Theater of Stephen Sondheim, Joanne Gordon (paperback). One of the four current texts on Sondheim. Filled with pictures and text. Good as an overall introduction to his work.
Sondheim & Company, Craig Zadan (paperback). Another one for the collection. Along with the Gottfried text this is chock full of photos from the shows.
Sondheim's Broadway Musicals, Stephen Banfield (paperback). The same text in paperback for those on a fiscally challenged budget.
The Making of West Side Story, Keith Garebian (paperback). A small book with some good background into how this show came together.
The Making of Gypsy, Keith Garebian (paperback). In a similar vein but this one examines how Gypsy came about.
West Side Story : The Making of the Great Broadway Musical Mega-Hits, Keith Garebian (paperback) A new book looking back on WSS. 0889626529
From Assassins to West Side Story: The Director's Guide to Musical Theatre, Scott Miller. A director's spin on working with some of the more popular musicals of modern times.
Enchanted Evenings: The Broadway Musical from Show Boatto Sondheim, Geoffrey Holden. An overview of some of the most significant musicals of our century.
The Legendary Mizners, Alva Johnston. The book which got Sondheim interested in his next project, tentatively called Wise Guys. He read this book ages ago and has wanted to do something with the subject since. Their lives overlapped the age of vaudeville and this show is to be done in that style.
Passion, I. U. Tarchetti, (paperback) The book basis for the movie which led to the musical.
Getting to Know Him: A Biography of Oscar Hammerstein, Hugh Fordin. Introduction by Stephen Sondheim. A life story of Sondheim's mentor and inspiration. Sondheim has often said if Hammerstein had been a geologist he would have gone into geology.
Scripts:
Merrily We Roll Along A favorite of many fans. One of my favorite scores.
Follies (Playwrights Canada Press), Stephen Sondheim, James Goldman ( Paperback)
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,(hardcover), The script of Sondheim's early Musical Comedy. This is the paperback script with the HIRSCHFELD artwork included.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, (paperback) same as above, but in paperback.
A Little Night Music, (hardcover) Need I say more? A Sondheim Classic, again in the Applause edition. Includes the classic "Send in the Clowns".
A Little Night Music, (paperback) The same script in a paperback format.
ASSASSINS, (hardcover) somewhat hard to find, but still worth it for the avid enthusiast. A very powerful play about the men and women who attempted (often successfully) to assassinate our presidents. (also available in paperback)
ASSASSINS, (paperback) see above.
Company: A Musical Comedy, Stephen Sondheim, George Furth (paperback) Sondheim's revolutionary musical about a single guy and his "crazy married friends"
Company, The Video - actually the making of the original cast album in a documentary. Shows how much effort goes into these intense, all-night recording sessions.
Getting Away With Murder, Stephen Sondheim, George Furth (paperback) The recently-released script of Sondheim's non-musical murder adventure. Though the show closed in a hurry, I know many people who enjoyed it. It shows hints of Sondheim's great passion for puzzles. Gives both endings to the show!
Gypsy: A Musical, Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim (paperback). Ya gotta have a gimmick! Sondheim's tribute to early showbiz. You can practically still hear Merman singing" Let Me Entertain You".
Into the Woods, Stephen Sondheim, James Lapine (paperback) Sondheim's Fairy Tale Musical, but someone's been fooling with these tales! Served as a part of my course in morality for 5 years at SHP. I actually had students singing songs from it in other classes.
Pacific Overtures, Stephen Sondheim, John Weidman (paperback) The story of East meets West. Quite a show!
Passion: A Musical, Stephen Sondheim, James Lapine (hardcover). Sondheim's most recent musical, based on an Italian movie and book about obsessive love.
Passion: A Musical (paperback). For those whose budgets are not as great.
Sunday in the Park with George, Stephen Sondheim, James Lapine (hardcover). Georges Seurat and his famous painting come alive. This one got a Pulitzer Prize, and I've seen the award! Ask me about the time I met James Lapine.
Sunday in the Park with George (paperback) see above.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Stephen Sondheim et al. (hardcover) More hot pies! Leave it to Sondheim, to make a musical about cannibalism.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Stephen Sondheim et al (paperback). For those of you with limited budgets but ravenous appetites.
Romeo and Juliet & West Side Story, William Shakespeare, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim (paperback). WSS was based on R & J so they published them together as one book
Vocal Scores/Selections
A Little Night Music (Vocal Score)
A Little Night Music (Vocal Selections)
Pacific Overtures (Vocal Score)
Sunday in the Park with George (Vocal Score)
Sunday in the Park with George (Vocal Selections)
Sweeney Todd (The Demon Barber of Fleet Street) (Vocal Score)
Stephen Sondheim : Film and Television Songs (harcover)
Other:
Stephen Sondheim's Crossword Puzzles, Stephen Sondheim. Hard to find and harder to do!
The Complete Rhyming Dictionary 0440212057 (Revised Edition) paperback. Clement Wood
Movies, Musicals and Documentaries
Company (VHS) A behind the scenes look at the recording session of this classic score.
Company (Laser disc). If I had a laser player this would be in my library.
Follies in Concert (video) Features excepts from the FOLLIES concert with an all-star cast.
The Last of Sheila (video) Sondheim's early who-dunnit puzzle of a murder mystery. A fun movie.
West Side Story, Bernstein, Sondheim (CD) Broadway Cast Recording. Where it all began.
West Side Story, Bernstein, Sondheim (CD) Movie Soundtrack.
West Side Story, (VHS) A rarity: a successful movie version of a Broadway musical.
West
Side Story / Widescreen Edition, for those with widescreen
televisions and those who want the whole picture.