It was a number written well into rehearsal. He didn't think these street kid characters would be singing about a "morning star." Of course, that poeticism is beautiful in its own occasionally corny way, but Sondheim got more of the specificity he was looking for into "Something's Coming," Tony's first act "I want" song. He wrote in his book Finishing the Hat that he always liked writing music more than lyrics, and being Leonard Bernstein's lyricist on West Side Story branded him in the public eye in a way that initially limited public perception of his work.īernstein wanted the words to the songs to be "poetic" in a way that annoyed Sondheim. Arguably the most famous work he was ever associated with, Sondheim nevertheless has a complicated relationship with the musical. Sondheim was just 27 when West Side Story debuted on Broadway. "Something's Coming" from West Side Story And whether you're a neophyte who wants to get into his work, a casual fan looking to go deeper, or an obsessive reading everything you possibly can about his incredible career, here's a starter kit for you to dig into the work of perhaps the greatest of all time. If you have a musical theater fan in your life, chances are you were privy to some of the mourning that started immediately after the announcement of Sondheim's passing. West Side Story, for which he wrote the lyrics, is once again a major motion picture, this one directed by Steven Spielberg and coming out December 10. Revivals of his shows Assassins, a fantasy that brings successful and would-be presidential killers together in a carnival, and Company, about a single person's anxiety, are playing off and on Broadway. Just in September, he told Stephen Colbert that he was writing a new musical, and his past works are a vital part of the cultural conversation this fall. Many of us assumed that Sondheim would always be with us. Though many fans knew his death was coming at some point-he was, after all, 91-the news still felt like a gut punch. This past Friday, the composer and lyricist, Stephen Sondheim, a god in musical theater, died.
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