Sondheim's lyrics for such songs as "Something's Coming," "Maria," "Tonight," "America," "Cool" and "I Feel Pretty" were sharp, pungent and – combined with Bernstein's vibrant music – timeless. He'd contributed one song to the 1956 play "Girls of Summer" before he began collaborating with composer Leonard Bernstein on "West Side Story," an updated telling of "Romeo & Juliet" via rival street gangs in Manhattan. Be true to yourself."Ī graduate of Williams College in Massachusetts, Sondheim learned at the knee of Hammerstein, and from avant-garde composer Milton Babbitt, and he brought to his work a playful precision and a love of word games and puzzles that would color his output (including, in 1973, a screenplay for the twisting murder mystery, "The Last of Sheila"). But he also took to heart Hammerstein's advice to his protégé: "Don't copy me.
In 2002 Sondheim told "Sunday Morning" correspondent Martha Teichner that if it hadn't been for Hammerstein, he probably would have become a mathematician. The composer and/or lyricist of some of Broadway's most revolutionary and artistically challenging musicals, Stephen Sondheim (March 22, 1930-November 26, 2021) is credited with helping to reinvent musical theater – a giant of the stage whose distinctive artistic temperament would give life to such shows as "West Side Story," "Gypsy," "Company," "Follies," "A Little Night Music," "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," "Sunday in the Park With George," and "Into the Woods."Īs a youngster, Sondheim and his family were friends with Broadway titan Oscar Hammerstein, who became a father figure and mentor to Stephen. The Associated Press contributed to this gallery. © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/via Getty ImagesĪ look back at the esteemed personalities who left us this year, who'd touched us with their innovation, creativity and humanity.īy senior producer David Morgan.