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SONDHEIM WEEK: Sondheim Trivia
By: Charlie Piane Apr. 19, 2010
Stephen Sondheim is widely acknowledged as the most innovative, most influential, and most important composer and lyricist in modern Broadway history. He is the winner of an Academy Award, numerous Tony Awards, multiple Grammy Awards and a Pulitzer Prize. Some of his other accolades include a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center Honors (1993), the National Medal of Arts (1996), the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Gold Medal for Music (2006) and a special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre (2008).
His extensive body of work has revolutionized the musical theatre canon and has made him perhaps the greatest stage composer of the last 100 years. Sondheim's musical sophistication, which combines intricate vocal lines and inventive harmonies with intelligent lyrics and subject matter, is an ability that is unmatched by many of his musical theatre peers. Simply put, he is a legend.
Stephen Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics for Road Show (2008), Passion (1994), Assassins (1991), Into the Woods (1987), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Sweeney Todd (1979), Pacific Overtures (1976), The Frogs (1974), A Little Night Music (1973), Follies (1971; revised in London, 1987), Company (1970), Anyone Can Whistle (1964) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), as well as the lyrics for West Side Story (1957), Gypsy (1959), Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965) and additional lyrics for Candide (1997). Side by Side by Sondheim (1976), Marry Me a Little (1981), You're Gonna Love Tomorrow (1983) and Putting It Together (1993/99) are anthologies of his work, as is the new musical Sondheim on Sondheim. He composed the film scores of Stavisky (1974) and Reds (1981) and songs for Dick Tracy (Academy Award, 1990). He also wrote songs for the television production "Evening Primrose" (1966), co-authored, with Anthony Perkins, the film The Last of Sheila (1973) and, with George Furth, the play Getting Away with Murder (1996), and provided incidental music for the plays The Girls of Summer (1956), Invitation to a March (1961) and Twigs (1971). He won Tony Awards for Best Score for a Musical for Passion, Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, Follies and Company. All of these shows won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, as did Pacific Overtures and Sunday in the Park with George, the latter also receiving the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Saturday Night (1954), his first professional musical, finally had its New York premiere in 1999 at Second Stage Theatre.
BroadwayWorld is proud to present a look at the extensive work
of Stephen Sondheim on Broadway!
Click here to see Sondheim's Broadway Credits, 1984-Current
| Broadway's Most Frequent Sondheim Performers | ||
| Angela Lansbury | 6 | "Cora Hoover Hooper" in Anyone Can Whistle - Original Broadway Production (1964) |
| "Performer" in Sondheim: A Musical Tribute - Concert [Broadway] (1973) | ||
| "Rose" in Gypsy - Broadway Production (1974) | ||
| "Mrs. Lovett" in Sweeney Todd - Original Broadway Production (1979) | ||
| "Performer" in Short Talks on the Universe - Special Benefit Production (2002) | ||
| "Madame Armfeldt" in A Little Night Music - Broadway Revival (2009) | ||
| Merle Louise | 6 | "Thelma" & "June" in Gypsy - Original Broadway Production (1959) |
| "Susan" in Company - Original Broadway Production (1970) | ||
| "Beggar Woman" in Sweeney Todd - Original Broadway Production (1979) | ||
| "Cinderella's Mother/Giant/Grandmother" in Into The Woods - Original Broadway Production (1987) | ||
| "Susan" in Company - Reunion Concert (1993) | ||
| "Cinderella's Mother/Giant/Grandmother" in Into The Woods - Reunion Concert (1997) | ||
| Barbara Cook | 5 | "Performer" in Barbara Cook: A Concert for the Theatre - Concert [Broadway] (1987) |
| "Performer" in Mostly Sondheim - Original Broadway Production (2001) | ||
| "Performer" in Barbara Cook's Broadway! - Concert [Broadway] (2004) | ||
| "Performer" in Children And Art - Stephen Sondheim Tribute Benefit (2005) | ||
| "Performer" in Sondheim on Sondheim - Roundabout Production (2010) | ||
| Alexander Gemignani | 5 | "John Hinckley" in Assassins - Roundabout Revival (2004) |
| "Private Augenti" in Passion - 10th Anniversary Concert (2004) | ||
| "Performer" in Children and Art - Stephen Sondheim Tribute Benefit (2005) | ||
| "The Beadle" in Sweeney Todd - Broadway Revival (2005) | ||
| "Boatman/Dennis" in Sunday in the Park with George - Roundabout Revival (2008) | ||
| Larry Kert | 5 | "Tony" in West Side Story - Original Broadway Production (1957) |
| "Tony" in West Side Story - Return Engagement [Broadway] (1960) | ||
| "Robert" in Company - Original Broadway Production (1970) | ||
| "Performer" in Sondheim: A Musical Tribute - Concert [Broadway] (1973) | ||
| "Performer" in Side by Side by Sondheim - Broadway Production (1977) | ||
| Patti LuPone | 5 | "Host" in Company - Reunion Concert (1993) |
| "Performer" in Patti LuPone: Matters of the Heart - Original Broadway Production (2000) | ||
| "Performer" in Children and Art - Stephen Sondheim Tribute Benefit (2005) | ||
| "Mrs. Lovett" in Sweeney Todd - Broadway Revival (2005) | ||
| "Rose" in Gypsy - Broadway Revival (2008) | ||
| Most Frequently Used Theatres |
| Winter Garden Theatre Previously Named: Cadillac Winter Garden Theatre, Winter Garden Theatre Address: 1634 Broadway, New York, NYSondheim show runs: 6West Side Story - Original Broadway Production: 9/26/1957 - 2/28/1959 West Side Story - Original Broadway Production: 5/11/1959 - 6/27/1959 West Side Story - Return Engagement [Broadway]: 4/27/1960 - 10/22/1960 Follies - Original Broadway Production: 3/24/1971 - 7/1/1972 Gypsy - Broadway Production: 9/19/1974 - 1/4/1975 Pacific Overtures - Original Broadway Production: 12/31/1975 - 6/27/1976 |
| Neil Simon Theatre Previously Named: Alvin Theatre Address: 250 W. 52nd St., New York, NYSondheim show runs: 5West Side Story - Return Engagement [Broadway]: 10/24/1960 - 12/10/1960 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - Original Broadway Production: 5/1/1962 - 3/7/1964 Company - Original Broadway Production: 4/26/1970 - 1/1/1972 Merrily We Roll Along - Original Broadway Production: 10/1/1981 - 11/28/1981 Elaine Stritch At Liberty - Broadway Transfer: 2/6/2002 - 5/27/2002 |
| Vivian Beaumont Theatre Address: 150 W. 65th St., New York, NYSondheim show runs: 5 Company - Reunion Concert: 4/11/1993 - 4/12/1993 Patti LuPone: Matters of the Heart - Original Broadway Production: 10/15/2000 - 12/17/2000 Mostly Sondheim - Original Broadway Production: 12/30/2001 - 8/25/2002 Barbara Cook's Broadway! - Concert [Broadway]: 3/19/2004 - 4/18/2004 The Frogs - Original Broadway Production: 6/22/2004 - 10/10/2004 |
| ST. James Theatre Previously Named: Erlanger's Theatre Address: 246 W. 44th St., New York, NYSondheim show runs: 4Gypsy - Broadway Revival: 10/27/1989 - 1/6/1991 Sunday in the Park with George - Reunion Concert: 5/15/1994 - 5/15/1994 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - Broadway Revival: 3/18/1996 - 1/4/1998 Gypsy - Broadway Revival: 3/3/2008 - 1/11/2009 |
| Studio 54 Previously Named: Studio 54 (Nightclub), CBS Studio No. 52, CBS Radio Playhouse No. 4, New Yorker Theatre, Federal Music Theatre, Palladium Theatre, Casino de Paris, New Yorker Theatre, Gallo Opera House Address: 254 W. 54th St., New York, NYSondheim show runs: 4Assassins - Roundabout Revival: 3/31/2004 - 7/18/2004 Pacific Overtures - Roundabout Revival: 11/12/2004 - 1/30/2005 Sunday in the Park with George - Roundabout Revival: 1/25/2008 - 6/29/2008 Sondheim on Sondheim - Roundabout Production: 3/19/2010 - Currently Running |
| Broadhurst Theatre Address: 235 W. 44th St., New York, NY Sondheim show runs: 3Twigs - Original Broadway Production: 11/9/1971 - 1/3/1972 Getting Away With Murder - Original Broadway Production: 2/20/1996 - 3/31/1996 Into the Woods - Broadway Revival: 4/13/2002 - 12/29/2002 |
| Majestic Theatre Address: 247 W. 44th St., New York, NYSondheim show runs: 3A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - Original Broadway Production: 5/11/1964 - 8/29/1964 Anyone Can Whistle - Original Broadway Production: 3/24/1964 - 4/11/1964 A Little Night Music - Original Broadway Production: 9/17/1973 - 8/3/1974 |
| Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre Previously Named: Plymouth Theatre Address: 236 W. 45th St., New York, NYSondheim show runs: 3Twigs - Original Broadway Production: 1/5/1972 - 7/23/1972 Passion - Original Broadway Production: 3/24/1994 - 1/7/1995 Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life - Original Broadway Production: 11/23/2005 - 2/19/2006 |
| Shubert Theatre Address: 225 W. 44th St., New York, NYSondheim show runs: 3A Little Night Music - Original Broadway Production: 2/15/1973 - 9/15/1973 Sondheim: A Musical Tribute - Concert [Broadway]: 3/11/1973 - 3/11/1973 Gypsy - Broadway Revival: 3/31/2003 - 5/30/2004 |
| Broadway Theatre Previously Named: Broadway Theatre, Cine Roma, B.S. Moss's Broadway Theatre, Broadway Theatre, Earl Carroll's Broadway Theatre, B.S. Moss's Broadway Theatre, Universal's Colony Theatre, B.S. Moss's Colony Theatre Address: 1681 Broadway, New York, NY Sondheim show runs: 3West Side Story - Original Broadway Production: 3/2/1959 - 5/10/1959 Gypsy - Original Broadway Production: 5/19/1959 - 7/9/1960 Into the Woods - Reunion Concert: 11/9/1997 - 11/9/1997 |
| Click here to see Sondheim's Broadway Credits, 1956-1981 Click here to see Sondheim's Broadway Credits, 1984-Current |
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