What people [3 and hate about Sondheim

As a lyricist Stephen Sondheim is a genius and always has been, starting with his work for WEST SIDE STORY and GYPSY. As a composer, I have loved his early work, starting with A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, and continuing up through COMPANY to A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC. After that, I find his music difficult to listen to. I am probably commiting sacrilege by saying this, especially on this Board with its legions of Sondheim fanatics. It isn't because of its more modern music approach, because I am a lover of classical music and enjoy some 20th century compositions. I would be interested in trying SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, but on my recent trip to NYC I opted for the current GYPSY. Is SUNDAY open ended because if it is I could see it in December which will be the next time I will be in NYC.

---

Oh my, here I go. One can always catch me, at any given moment, preaching & rambling on about my love for Sondheim. It's almost hard to put in words though, because it's something so deep and personal.
Sondheim’s music kills me. I cannot listen to SITPWG without getting choked up at least once. I can’t recall ever hearing a more powerful force of music and lyrics.
His songs are so human. Who hasn’t wanted to connect like George and Bobby, been hurt like Dot, felt Joanne’s bitterness? He even manages to connect us to assassins and a demon barber because his songs make them human; he speaks in basic human emotion that is so relatable. His lyrics have rhyme, wit and truth. I have to laugh now, because this is making me think of a time when I saw a high school production of Into the Woods and most of the audience made to leave at the end of the first act because they believed the happy ending of act one was indeed the ending. Everything goes to s**t in the second act, as Sondheim (along with James Lapine, of course) illustrates that life often goes past happiness into hard times, yet the characters move on and manage to sing ‘No one is Alone’ and the finale to end beautifully.
At the end of the Company airing on PBS, there was a short interview with Sondheim and he spoke about how the ambiguities of life are the stuff of drama, and how he deals more honestly about life’s ambiguities in his work than is expected in a work of musical theatre. While that is one of the reasons why I adore Sondheim’s work, it is exactly one of the main criticisms of his work: that he is too cynical, too real for musical theatre. That is a criticism I do not understand.
Couple beautiful truth with amazing scores and you’ve got something so powerful that I find irresistible.

---

Updated On: 5/21/08 at 01:39 PM

I love his crossword puzzles.

Stephen Sondheim is not only amazingly talented but he is a kind, generous and considerate person. His music touches the soul and provides the soundtrack for a lifetime!

---

I appreciate his extreme talent, but listening to his music gives me a headache, and that's something I try to avoid.

I don't think many hate Sondheim, but some just don't "get" him.

---

As an English teacher, and lover of words, I have to say his lyrics. It has already been stated but I have to say again, his word play and usage is inspiring.

Other than Sweeney, Sunday & his work with Gypsy, I'm not really a fan. I've said it before, he really just goes through mood swings where when things are going good for him he loves musical theatre, and when they're not he bashes it. I think that Tim Rice's lyrics (for the most part) are just as clever, and at some instances roll better, but the book never seems to flow for Rice unlike Sondheim, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's tunes may sound similar, but I like that team better than just Sondheim...maybe because he makes too much work for himself, although he atleast doesn't take as long as Guettle. I will agree though that maybe why I don't fully appreciate the man is because his stuff is very deep, and sometimes I just want a story to be told and sung to me. But the real reason is just that he is not completely proud of his "profession" and would rather be making video/board games. Frank Wildhorn! Whoot!

Sondheim makes it look so easy. I'd say, like a lot of you, the lyrics are really the best. So full of amazing rhyming and wordplay that you just can't believe never occured to someone else before.

A horrible score? What vantage point are you coming from on that, I'm just curious what you consider horrible and if you mean it in technical terms or what. I find it hard to consider either from an audience perspective or a compositional one that it could be horrible.

To me it is just the same thing over and over, very monotonous.

---

I love him because I love some of his music (Gypsy) I hate him because most of his stuff is overrated (Sweeny Todd)