Remembering Stephen Sondheim | NYT News

In a never-before-seen interview, Stephen Sondheim sat down with The New York Times in June 2008 to talk about his life, career and accomplishments.
Read the story here: nyti.ms/3cUFrRn
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[@9455paul]

"Sometimes people leave you halfway through the wood. Do not let it grieve you, no one leaves for good." May his memory be a blessing

[@Kristine_202]

Sutton Foster wrote, "There are giants...In the sky." Stephen certainly was a giant. I'd love to think that he's up in heaven right now writing another musical, and someday we'll join him and get to hear it.

[@DMaggieMagee]

I walked out of the Broadway matinee of Company on Friday, basking in the glow of Sondheim's brilliance and the stunning cast who'd realized his vision and turned on my phone to learn that Sondheim had passed...a stunning feeling of loss. You can rest easy, Stephen, knowing you've made many things that count.😌

[@rollothecat2010]

I am grateful we had Stephen Sondheim for as long as we did. I have always loved "Send in the Clowns", it is bittersweet like life itself.

[@ThePlutarch44]

I remember the original cast production. I was living in Montreal and decided to go to New York (by bus!) with a friend -- an overnight bus. I had received the tickets by mail, so we ventured down to see the show. I will always remember Glynis Johns who couldn't "sing" but could put across a song like "Send in the Clowns with great feeling. Sondheim wrote the song for her. The song and the show were (are still) great.

[@kindnessfirst9670]

Pretty good for a song he wrote in one night.

[@annienoelle4964]

“Thanks for everything we did, everything that's past, everything's that's over too fast. None of it was wasted, All of it will last.” Thank you Steve. You changed my life. You changed the world. We lost a true genius with a heart of gold. Nobody will ever compare. The world will miss you forever.

[@NevermoreMadGirl]

I was devastated by the loss of this brilliant artist. Stephen Sondheim was and always will be an inspiration to me and countless others. This certainly was a hard pill to swallow, but may this creative genius forever rip and never be forgotten.

[@joshuakohlmann9731]

I personally believe that familiarity with, and appreciation of, Sondheim's work will grow rather than diminish in the years to come. I remember discovering Into The Woods at a time when no-one else here in England had ever heard of Sondheim and I have never looked back.

[@johnkling6657]

SWEENEY TODD is a masterpiece. When I first saw it, the last weekend of the original cast, I kept thinking "How could anything this gruesome be so funny?" It was fabulous! Thank you, Mr. Sondheim.

[@JulienNeel]

Thank you Mr Sondheim for your work. You've been a major inspiration in my life. Rest in peace.

[@jackbarbey]

He considered "Somewhere" to be deeply embarrassing?? I think that's probably the best song in one of my favorite musicals.

[@virghammer1]

I know; right ?! 😏😟🤨❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@MacDinoland]

He had taken us on quite a ride, to places in musical theater we had not known were possible before. It was simply time for him to get off the ride. But for us, we will be riding on his musical journeys till the end of time. For me, his works will always be encouraging creativity, always be thought-provoking, and will always be pulling on our heart-strings. He makes us utilize all our senses. His creative mind seemed to have no boundaries. I think the very last line spoken in Sunday In The Park With George not only summed up what Georges Seurat believed, but was also Stephen's mantra as well... "White. A blank page or canvas. So many possibilities."

[@willec7105]

One of those rare, special, one-of-a-kind people from whom the human community can't get enough so every minute with him or his music is deliciously savored and valued like gold. People like Stephen are "sent" to us from another place to channel what we need to hear, see, feel and learn and that's called "talent" or a "gift." Thank you, Stephen for accepting your mission and agreeing to act as the human conduit for all that flowed from and through you.

[@jauipop]

I have lived and grown up with Sondheim's work. There are songs that have dotted different parts of my life... Will be forever grateful to him. Rest in Power... What a legacy.

[@muffinamy83]

Pacific Overtures has the most glorious songs. Just gorgeous writing. If you're unfamiliar with it, do check it out.

[@mervyngreene6687]

I agree 100%!

[@SRLovesPandas1]

"Somewhere in a Tree" is an underrated song of all his works

[@katherinehughes7234]

One of my favorites. Underrated!

[@virghammer1]

“Someone in a Tree” he always, apparently - You can go to KZbin and watch him saying that - said was his favorite song he wrote, also. 🙏🏼❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@tremainejotham297]

Absolutely devastated that he's no longer here. Company and A Little Night Music were just two of my favourites from him. To be honest, always had a deep fondness for anything he did.

[@Aitvo]

You'll always be crowded with love and you'll always be there! Tears for you comes easy, R.I.P. Stephen Sondheim

[@Dengee]

Watching this made me cry and realize his music has been a wonderful part of my life for so long. Thank you Stephen. ✨💕🙏🏽💌❤️

[@LC-le9ew]

This man can inspire anyone anywhere to try just a little bit harder everyday. And to know that he did a lot of work from his bed is somehow inspiring to me as well.

[@virghammer1]

YES! Perfectly said. ❤️❤️❤️❤️. Thank you FOREVERMORE for your GENEROUS, POWERFUL, ULTRA-TRANSCENDING WORK ETHIC, rapturously wonderful Stephen Sondheim!

[@kpire6066]

Thanks for putting this together. Very well done. Great to see this so well put together. My friend Ricky Castillo introduced me to Sondheim's work. Such rich work but it's rare to be able to catch a Sondheim production in person. Catch one if and when you ever have a chance! So fun, so moving. Bye Steve! 😢

[@13blackcatzzz]

Not a day goes by..........thank you S.

[@m.c.master4622]

Not a single day.

[@crustyfroonchfroo8542]

But he’ll always be part of our lives.

[@cabrown308]

He was brilliant! Saw Follies in NYC in early ‘70s and was transformed forever!!

[@Anna.Lippert]

Infinite gratitude for so many wonderful creations...

[@matthewschwartz6607]

He was so talented . Rest In Peace.

[@menassies3224]

I hope his family is holding up okay

[@thejoanamendes]

His work has inspired so many generations and it will continue to do it so 🍀 Sondheim will always be missed 🍀

[@MissMiffed]

I miss him already 😞

[@kindnessfirst9670]

In 1986 Sondheim helped me get my first apartment in NYC. I was a young visual artist with little money and I was competing with several other people to sublet a rent controlled place. It came with a baby grand steinway piano in it so I asked the lease holder about it and he said he was a composer of musicals. Then he asked if I was a fan of musical theatre. I told him I wasn't much of a musicals fan in general but I just LOVED Sweeney Todd after discovering it two years earlier and was making my way through Sondheim's other work. He said I had EXCELLENT taste for one who didn't know much about musicals and that got me the apartment.

[@Kristine_202]

"Songs like 'Somewhere,' that's deeply embarrassing." The world didn't deserve this man.

[@mensabs]

A genuinely talented composer and lyricist!

[@kpire6066]

I loved that interview. Thank you for putting that together. At this point, it's legacy. Well done. I'll have to check out Allegro and Saturday Night. He walked on the shoulders of giants and did well by them. I agree with his closing remarks. Gosh, if I have any chance of seeing a pro or local production, I will be there, pure joy. ❤

[@briankatona]

Thank you for sharing this! He will be greatly missed!

[@XevLexa]

I remember watching the musical comedy AbFunny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in New York City starring Nathan Lane & Whoopi Goldberg. Had such a wonderful time!

[@jessicaross7288]

You should research your lies better before you tell them. Whoopi Goldberg took over the role of Pseudolus from Nathan Lane, so you wouldn't ever have seen them on stage together in Forum. Nice try though!

[@XevLexa]

@@jessicaross7288 Do my research? I was there watching the show you silly

[@bdub1863]

I saw Ethel Merman and Bernadette Peters in Gypsy. Great show too! 🤥

[@yellolab09]

I'm struck with the impact that profound surrogate father relationship had on Sondheim.

[@Chrisyt272]

Me too. It was truly a gift.

[@john.premose]

I always did think Oscar Hammerstein must have been a really good and wholesome guy because his lyrics show it.

[@kevinhogan7814]

I'd be curious to understand how this became "never-before-seen" for 13 years.

[@Theresawesome42]

The Last Word series was to act as a sort of video obituary. The Times has interviewed numerous prominent people on the condition the footage would not be released until after their passing.

[@mister_vegas]

It's important to remember that the phrase "everything's coming up roses" was Sondheim's creation. It wasn't like he took a popular phrase from the American lexicon and wrote a song around it. He made up that phrase, and NOW it's part of the lexicon.

[@erichondzinski7120]

Anyone else intrigued by what an amazing "radio voice" Sondheim possessed? Imagine if the technological revolution began a few decades earlier. Just think of the amazing podcasts that would have resulted from this great conversationalist (among other things obviously!).

[@john.premose]

Yes and he is still remarkably handsome for 78 years old. He looks better in this interview than he did at 25 in my opinion.

[@johncrawfordpiano]

Oscar Hammerstein's: "My advice would be to take the job" when Sondheim wasn't sure whether to get involved in the West Side Story project.... I suppose that this is advice that changed the course of music history, and of course assured Sondheim immortality, no matter what he did next.

[@nicolewrytr]

Brillant talent!

[@deerheart87]

He was a great x

[@rosiequartzie2230]

Te adoro, Anton...

[@jgrab1]

The description says this was recorded in 2008 but in the piece itself they mention an award he got in 2010.

[@virghammer1]

Thank you for creating and posting this! I learned a few fascinating things. 💗 We will miss you forever. until the end of human creation, brilliant and ASTOUNDINGLY GENEROUS Stephen Sondheim! ⭐️ 🎵 ❤️💙💚 ♥️ THANK YOU for showing us the way and helping us feel -- SO MUCH - & Learn about Ourselves and Life. 🦅 🌲 - .. and Death. Beauty! & Truth. Ahhhhhhhh … Your Irreplaceably ravishing Music ! ❤️❤️❤️🙏🏼 ⭐️ Xo, VCH & Midlantic Theatre Co., Newark, NJ, USA

[@javirios3107]

I want to look exactly like him when I’m 80

[@PhimbleG-d]

People thought SWEENEY TODD was serious? I don’t belong on this planet.

[@katherinehughes7234]

Our Shakespeare has died.

[@alcat2000c]

A genius and a great American.

[@dustinthepatriotjolley3332]

RIP.

[@SuperRegency]

Sondheim had a hit with Small World from Gypsy. Sung by Johnny Mathis, it rose to second place in the 1960 hit parade.

[@jacobbeck5384]

Sharp as a tack

[@madeleinemcgregor2855]

What Hogwarts house would Stephen Soundheim be put in? I think it’s RavenClaw.

[@RickMartinYouTube]

national treasure - great life

[@sushicourier]

Why are there all these interviews that are never seen publicly?

[@independentfilmchannel1476]

I loved him just as any sensible musical theater enthusiast should. However, I never liked the way he repeatedly dismissed his extraordinary contribution to West Side Story, which I still consider the greatest musical on both stage and screen in theatrical history. (And I'm far from alone.) Unfortunately, Mr Sondheim was too much the perfectionist to recognize the power of this early achievement. In point of fact, its more blistering lyrics prefigured his revolutionary approach to the later innovative work for which he is now revered.

[@m.c.master4622]

"...its more blistering lyrics..." I know Stephen does not agree with you here. I defer to his assessment. How can we revere him and dismiss his judgement??

[@independentfilmchannel1476]

@@m.c.master4622 Two things can be true at the same time and I am certainly not dismissing his judgment. Even Sondheim did not reject the entirety of his work on West Side Story. "Something's Coming" e.g. he counted among his favorites. Listen to "Gee Officer Krupke" and "America" and you will hear early evidence of his intricately witty facility with words. That musical remains a classic; its continual revivals speak for themselves. Nothing anyone says, including the retrospective self-critique of Sondheim himself, can diminish that truth. It's not going to suddenly sound different to me because one of the men who wrote doesn't like it anymore. He was 26 at the time for crying out loud. That he managed to do it at all boggles the mind. I hope you can understand that all this is meant as the sincerest of compliments. What a freakin' genius. No one else will ever come close.

[@j-art1207]

He helped with Allegro?? That's my favorite Roger's and hammerstein musical now I know why 😂😂 4:51

[@happyperformers8736]

HOW Stephen Sondheim CHANGED MUSICAL THEATRE FOREVER kzbin.info/www/bejne/gpuwdIGunbehl5o

[@sushicourier]

"...then it's so easy to write!" Ha!! If you're a genius!!!😇🥰

[@rayfridley6649]

Was Sondheim also involved in West Side Story's film version?

[@chineseviruszombie773]

Yes

[@alextirrellRI]

He had been an active collaborator in pretty much every major production or film of his work, including revivals, and the just released new movie version of West Side Story. Steven Spielberg said Sondheim was at every recording session for the new movie and they became great friends.

[@ClueSign]

He was just getting started.😓

[@zachhoran]

Stephen Sondheim was a contestant on the November 26, 2021 episode of Celebrity Bucket Kickers.

[@BaronBlackriver]

And that's all, folks.

[@2Uglukraid]

Done and done and done.

[@ltkwok]

Sweeney Todd can live on for a long time…. Maybe even like Shakespeare.

[@LorasTyrell354]

Whose narrating this?

[@GingerSnape46]

I love Sweeney Todd.

[@SolaceEasy]

Doesn't play in Peoria these days.

[@user-si9sb1lf9y]

At USSR, workers have proven that they can live without the rich. But mind you, not a single rich man has proved that he can live without workers...

[@ziziroberts8041]

The clowns are crying 💔

[@johnnyc.3261]

Those eyebrows 🌾

[@robertroberts7958]

Wow this is the times lol

[@robertroberts7958]

m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZnvZi39_j696abc

[@susanalatorre3373]

Kindness of strangets

[@dekelpolak4190]

There Is No Shortage of Energy; There Is Shortage of Normalcy Despite increased production of energy from renewable sources, and despite the slowdown in car manufacturing, oil prices are skyrocketing. Even though fewer power plants still burn coal, coal prices are skyrocketing, as well. Natural gas prices, too, are going through the roof, and energy demand seems to outpace supply in every country and in every form of energy. Have Earth’s energy sources dwindled so drastically in a matter of months? The answer is a resounding “No!” There is no shortage of energy; there is a serious shortage of normalcy in human relations. I hope the current crisis will put some sense into humanity’s insane consumption. The energy crunch indicates that we are over consuming. We are producing too much, throwing the excess production to the trash, polluting the ground, the air, and the water, and then we are complaining that we do not have enough. It is about as sane as killing one’s parents and then pleading for the court’s mercy because I’ve recently been orphaned. It is time we reconsider everything we produce-how we divide production, profits, and goods, which services are necessary and which are redundant, and most importantly, how we treat one another. The goal of this process should be clear to everyone: survival. There is no ulterior motive, no attempt to dominate or deprive anyone of power or wealth. It is simply that reality is forcing us to take all of humanity and the entire planet into consideration. If we don’t, our entire civilization will collapse like a deck of cards. Since we still do not understand it and insist on running things the way we have always been running them-through power games-I anticipate a very cold and gloomy winter for the northern hemisphere. The energy crunch will leave many in dark and cold houses; there will be no gas for cars, and renewable energy will not replace traditional sources since there will be little sun during the winter. I hope that at least, it will make us rethink our values. If it doesn’t, next summer will be even worse than the awful summer that just ended. I know that many people are counting on the promise of renewable energy to solve the energy problems of humanity. I think they are mistaken. There is plenty of energy, far more than we really need. We could cut emissions by at least half tomorrow. But the more we have, the hungrier we become, so our thirst for energy will never be satiated, and we will never stop exploiting the planet or each other until we reeducate ourselves and start being humane toward each other. We have been behaving like spoiled brats whose parents buy them whatever they want. Now, our parents have run out of money and our childhood is over. It is time for us to mature and conduct ourselves like responsible adults, caring for all of humanity the way a mother cares for her entire family. If we think like a family, we will achieve normalcy.

[@robertrostad3930]

No more wisdom from our friend and teacher.

[@nardo218]

you remembered him but not his past partner or current widower? so you remembered a censored version of him. nice.

[@cudad7443]

Jesus Christ called people everywhere to repent, therefore, if you confess with your lips the Lord Jesus and believe with all your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved and inherit the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal life. told other people how good he is, how he saves, heals and liberates and gives eternal life5456

[@dsilverleaf4668]

Who?

[@joshuakohlmann9731]

Why say that? Look him up if you don't know who he is.

[@sarahthompson8098]

This entire video is here to educate you, fortunately.