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It is impossible to deny the influence and impact of Stephen Sondheim on contemporary musical theatre. He is widely acknowledged as the most innovative and most influential composer and lyricist in modern Broadway history. His work bridged the gap between the Golden Age musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein and postmodernism. This guide explores the development and style of his work, from his breakthrough in 1957 to the final years leading up to his death in 2021.

Terminology

• Angular melody: a melody which moves by bigger leaps, often of dissonant intervals (e.g. a 7th) and in different directions.
• Concept musical: a musical where a theme, metaphor or concept is just as important as the overarching plot and the featured songs.
• Golden Age musical: a Broadway musical written and produced between 1943 and 1965.
• Harmony: the sound of two or more notes heard simultaneously.
• Polyphony: the simultaneous combination of two or more tones or melodic lines.
• Postmodernism: a late twentieth-century style and concept in the arts, which represents a departure from modernism. It is characterized by the self-conscious use of earlier styles and conventions, mixing different artistic styles and media.

Key Dates & Events

• March 22 1930 - Birth of Stephen Sondheim
• 1957 - West Side Story premieres
• 1959 - Gypsy premieres
• 1962 - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum premieres
• 1970 - Company premieres
• 1971 - Follies premieres
• 1973 - A Little Night Music premieres
• 1979 - Sweeney Todd premieres
• 1984 - Sunday in the Park with George premieres
• 1987 - Into the Woods premieres
• 1990 - Assassins premieres
• 1994 - Passion premieres
• 2008 - Stephen Sondheim received the Tony Award for the Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre
• 2021 - Stephen Sondheim died at home in Roxbury, Connecticut aged 91.