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Stephen Joshua Sondheim was born in New York City.
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Sondheim moved with his mother to Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Coincidentally, their neighbors were the Hammersteins, including Oscar Hammerstein II, the famous Broadway lyricist. After Sondheim became friends with his son, Hammerstein became a kind of mentor.
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West Side Story, for which Sondheim was the lyricist, opened on this night. This show was what catapulted his career. Choreographer Jerome Robbins and composer Leonard Bernstein needed a lyricist, and chose Sondheim. Though it is considered a classic American musical, Sondheim is actually embarrassed by his work, as he thinks it lacks artistic merit. https://www.movieposter.com/poster/MPW-46991/West_Side_Story.html
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Successful
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Successful
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Unsuccessful
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Unsuccessful
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Successful
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Successful
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Successful
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Successful
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Successful
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Successful outside of the US
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Successful
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Considered his best work by almost everyone, bar himself, Into the Woods is a modern(ish) classic. Not only is it brilliantly composed, but it shows why he was originally hired to write the lyrics for West Side Story. With incredible wit and meaning, his lyrics are not easy to sing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiGRPYmTFV0 (6:19-7:26)
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Sondheim though this show was his best work. In an interview for The Telegraph, Sondheim states, "John Weidman and I knew what we wanted to do, and we did it. I judge pieces that way. How many places are there where you'd say 'If I only knew how to fix that?' I look at Assassins, and with a few exceptions, it fulfills all my expectations."
www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/11265220/Stephen-Sondheim-interview-Im-not-pretentious-Im-a-product-of-Broadway.html www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoLG_fz7FeU -
Successful
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When a theatre composer makes the jump to the silver screen, it does not go unnoticed. Sweeney Todd, starring Johnny Depp as the title character, would be the first, but not the last time he ventured into the world of cinema. It also got rave reviews like this one: "The bloodiest musical in stage history, it now becomes the bloodiest in film history...Here is one scenario that is proof against a happy ending."
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sweeney-todd-the-demon-barber-of-fleet-street-2007 -
Successful, despite its short run.
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Because of its massive success on the stage, this was the next musical to be mounted on a movie screen. This is what put Sondheim on everyone's radar, whether they were theatre people or not, no one could deny good music. With a star-studded cast including "Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp (so memorable as the lead in the big screen incarnation of Sweeney Todd) and James Corden," it was bound to succeed. And succeed it did. It raked in 31 million in its first weekend.
