#BROADWAY LITES SOUNDS CREATED TV#

вЂњIвЂ™m interested in communication with audiences,вЂќ Sondheim told Fresh Air вЂ™s Terry Gross of why he was drawn to the theater. He was mentored as a young man by another musical theater titan, Oscar Hammerstein II, whose son Sondheim had befriended. Sondheim grew up largely on ManhattanвЂ™s Upper West Side and, after his parentsвЂ™ divorce, attended a military academy and a Pennsylvania boarding school before heading off to Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where he majored in theater. Put simply, Stephen reinvented the American musical.вЂќ Yet StephenвЂ™s music is so beautiful, his lyrics so precise, that even as he exposes the imperfections of everyday life, he transcends them. His greatest hits arenвЂ™t tunes you can hum theyвЂ™re reflections on roads we didnвЂ™t take, and wishes gone wrong, relationships so frayed and fractured thereвЂ™s nothing left to do but send in the clowns. Presenting Sondheim with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015, Barack Obama noted the complexities of the songwriterвЂ™s work and his desire to set the bar high for both himself and theatergoers: вЂњAs a composer and a lyricist, and a genre unto himself, Sondheim challenges his audiences. Barbra Streisand covered the song memorably in 1985 - and Sondheim even wrote an extra verse for the occasion. The mournful вЂњSend in the Clowns,вЂќ from 1973вЂ™s A Little Night Music, became his biggest hit after Frank Sinatra recorded it that year (his version runs over the end credits of Todd PhillipsвЂ™ Joker ), and Judy CollinsвЂ™ take charted two years later. Meet the Beatle: A Guide to Ringo Starr's Solo Career in 20 SongsДЄlong the way, several of SondheimвЂ™s songs entered the pop-cultural firmament. No topic was too obscure or offbeat to form the basis for one of his shows: Sweeney Todd followed a homicidal, cannibalistic barber against the backdrop of the early Industrial Revolution Sunday in the Park With George explored the creative inspirations of the pointillist painter Georges Seurat Pacific Overtures dealt with the Westernization of Japan in the late-1800s Assassins was, quite literally, about presidential assassins.

His willingness to experiment and innovate meant he rarely trod the same path twice, moving from farce to romance to historical drama and hitting every note in between. Over his remarkable, seven-decade career, Sondheim won nine Tony Awards, eight Grammys, a Pulitzer Prize, and an Academy Award, among many other honors.

#BROADWAY LITES SOUNDS CREATED TV#

The prolific composer and lyricist was the creative force behind some 20 musicals starting in 1954 - including West Side Story (lyrics), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Follies, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, and more - as well as numerous film and TV projects, from adaptations of his Broadway hits to original songs for movies such as Dick Tracy and The Birdcage. Stephen Sondheim, the legendary Broadway songwriter, has died at his home in Connecticut at the age of 91, according to The New York Times.

Broadway lites sounds created