The final curtain has fallen on Stephen Sondheim, maestro of American musical theater, who died at 91 on Friday.
The brilliant mind behind “Into The Woods,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Company,” “Sunday in The Park With George,” and many, many more was a titan of Broadway, and the last living connection to the golden age of musicals.
As a film critic, my early cinematic experiences began with musical movies, including filmed stage versions of “Into The Woods,” “Gypsy,” and of course, “West Side Story,” for which a very young Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics (same for “Gypsy.”)It set me up for a lifetime of appreciating high drama, grand spectacle — and the unlikely comedic potential of cannibalism.As last year’s Zoom-ified 90th birthday celebration for Sondheim proved, performing his songs is no small task.
Numbers like “Send in The Clowns,” “Ladies Who Lunch,” and “Being Alive” are five-act plays in and of themselves,
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