Happy Birthday Stephen Sondheim!

American composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim turns 89 years old today! As everyone at Lyric is poised to start rehearsal for West Side Story (onstage May 3 - June 2), today offers the perfect chance to reflect upon the career and contributions of one of the artists who created this ground-breaking work.

With an Academy Award, eight Tony Awards — including a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater — seven Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, a Laurence Olivier Award, a 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom, and a Broadway theatre named after him, it’s easy to see why Stephen Sondheim is hailed as a Broadway legend. Born on March 22, 1930, Sondheim’s career as a composer and lyricist has spanned more than a half-century. Known for his acerbic wit as much as the conversational style of his lyrics, Sondheim broke new ground for musical theatre on Broadway. By turning away from the traditional musical theater format, a new lyrical style was created which prioritized plot and character development over sentimental musicality.

Stephen Sondheim was the only child of an affluent New York couple. After his parents’ divorce in 1942, he moved to Doylestown Pennsylvania with his mother. His neighbor was none other than Oscar Hammerstein II. Sondheim soon became close friends with Hammerstein’s son and due to a strained relationship with his own parents, began to look at the famous librettist as a surrogate figure. Sondheim wrote his first stage work at age 15—a high school production titled “By George.” When he asked his famous neighbor to take a look at the work, it kicked off a four-year mentorship that would ultimately lead to Sondheim becoming Oscar Hammerstein II’s personal assistant. It was through this connection that he gained entry into the world of professional theater, assisting with the productions of South Pacific, and The King and I. They remained close until Hammerstein’s death in 1960.