Stephen Sondheim: The Story So Far...

摘要

At the beginning of his illustrious musical theatre career in the mid-1950s, StephennSondheim (b.l930) found Broadway audiences and critics slow to comprehend and ap-npreciate his achievements, particularly when he morphed from a lyricist to a composerlyricist. With his astringent and occasionally romantic lyrics for two classics. West SidenStory (1957) and Gypsy (1959), Sondheim was praised as the logical successor to LorenznHart, Ira Gershwin, and other celebrated wordsmiths. But, in the 1960s, the complex-nity of his music made it difficult for critics to locate him within the context of such rarencomposer/lyricists as Irving Berlin and Cole Porter. What they failed to comprehend isnthat Sondheim's music, which many carped was "cold" and inaccessible, would challengenand expand the musical theatre lexicon of Broadway - and keep American musicals onnlife support during its decline in the last decades of the twentieth century. Despite thenshaky state of the musical form in that era, Sondheim never made it easy on himself ornhis audience. He consistently broke new ground with each new work - and critics andnaudiences were often unprepared to fully appreciate the originality of each innovation.nFrom his first show as composerA3TÍcist for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to thenForum (1962) to his most recent. Road Show (2008), Sondheim typically confounds mid-ntwentieth century expectations hased in Broadway tradition with his experimentation innform and content.