Research Guides: Music Library Thematic Displays: Stephen Sondheim

Books on Sondheim in our collection

The Oxford Handbook of Sondheim Studies by Robert Gordon (Editor) The Oxford Handbook of Sondheim Studies offers a series of cutting-edge essays on the most important and compelling topics in the growing field of Sondheim Studies. Focusing on broad groups of issues relating to the music and the production of Sondheim works, rather than on biographicalquestions about the composer himself, the handbook represents a cross-disciplinary introduction to comprehending Sondheim in musicological, theatrical, and socio-cultural terms.This collection of never-before published essays addresses issues of artistic method and musico-dramaturgical form, while at the same time offering close readings of individual shows from a variety of analytical perspectives. The handbook is arranged into six broad sections: issues ofintertextuality and authorship; Sondheim's pioneering work in developing the non-linear form of the concept musical; the production history of Sondheim's work; his writing for film and television; his exploitation and deployment of a wide range of musical genres; and how interpretation through keycritical lenses (including sociology, history, and feminist and queer theory) establishes his position in a broader cultural context.
Call Number: ML410.S6872 O94 2014
Sondheim and Lapine's into the Woods by Olaf Jubin 'The Woods are just Trees. The Trees are just Wood.' - All together 　 In 1987, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine combined several classic fairy tales including Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and Jack and the Beanstalk to create Into the Woods. Funny and heartfelt, this musical explores what it might mean to act responsibly in society, both as a parent and as a child. Situating the work within Sondheim's oeuvre and the Broadway canon, Olaf Jubin first offers a detailed reading of the show itself, before discussing key productions in New York and London, and 2014's Oscar-nominated screen adaptation. The radically different approaches to staging Into the Woods are testament to how open the musical is to re-interpretation for new audiences. A combination of critical explication with performance and film analysis, as well as an overview of popular and critical reception, this book is meant for anyone who has enjoyed Into the Woods, be it as a musical theatre fan, an enchanted audience member, a student or a dedicated theatre professional.
Call Number: E-Book
Sweeney Todd by Aaron C. Thomas Sweeney Todd, the gruesome tale of a murderous barber and his pastry chef accomplice, is unquestionably strange subject matter for the musical theatre - but eight Tony awards and enormous successes on Broadway and the West End testify to its enduring popularity with audiences. Written by Hugh Wheeler, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, the musical premiered in 1979 and has seen numerous revivals, including Tim Burton's 2007 film version. Aaron C. Thomas addresses this darkly funny piece with fitting humour, taking on Sweeney Todd's chequered history and genre, its treatment of violence and cannibalism, and its sexual politics.
Call Number: E-Book
Putting It Together by James Lapine A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A behind-the-scenes look at the making of the iconic musical Sunday in the Park with George Putting It Together chronicles the two-year odyssey of creating the iconic Broadway musical Sunday in the Park with George. In 1982, James Lapine, at the beginning of his career as a playwright and director, met Stephen Sondheim, nineteen years his senior and already a legendary Broadway composer and lyricist. Shortly thereafter, the two decided to write a musical inspired by Georges Seurat's nineteenth-century painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Through conversations between Lapine and Sondheim, as well as most of the production team, and with a treasure trove of personal photographs, sketches, script notes, and sheet music, the two Broadway icons lift the curtain on their beloved musical. Putting It Together is a deeply personal remembrance of their collaboration and friend - ship and the highs and lows of that journey, one that resulted in the beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning classic.
Call Number: ML410.S6872 L36 2021
Reading Stephen Sondheim by Sandor Goodhart (Editor) First Published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Call Number: E-Book
Sondheim on Music by Mark Eden Horowitz This is primarily a transcript of a series of interviews with Stephen Sondheim, focusing on his work as a composer. During the interviews, he and the author look through Sondheim's manuscripts and sketches and discuss the creative process. The discussions focus on six shows: Passion, Assassins, Into the Wood, Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd and Pacific Overtures but every Sondheim score comes up in conversation. Among the topics discussed are how Sondheim approaches characters and dramatic moments, how motif s and thematic material are created and used, how harmony, melody and rhythm reflect character, the structuring of a score, the use of pastiche and the practical aspects of collaboration. Wish I'd Written, his reasons behind some of those choices and the messages he received from composers and lyricists whose songs were included on the list. An extensive song listing and a discography follow which attempt to list every commercial recording of a Sondheim song and provide publishing information with vocal ranges.
Call Number: ML410.S6872 A5 2003
Stephen Sondheim: a casebook by Joanne Gordon (Editor) First Published in 1997. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Call Number: ML410.S6872 S74 1997
How Sondheim Found His Sound by Steve Swayne "The research is voluminous, as is the artistry and perceptiveness. Swayne has lived richly within the world of Sondheim's music." ---Richard Crawford, author of America's Musical Life: A History "Sondheim's career and music have never been so skillfully dissected, examined, and put in context. With its focus on his work as composer, this book is surprising and welcome." ---Theodore S. Chapin, President and Executive Director, The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization "What a fascinating book, full of insights large and small. An impressive analysis and summary of Sondheim's many sources of inspiration. All fans of the composer and lovers of Broadway in general will treasure and frequently refer to Swayne's work." ---Tom Riis, Joseph Negler Professor of Musicology and Director of the American Music Research Center, University of Colorado Stephen Sondheim has made it clear that he considers himself a "playwright in song." How he arrived at this unique appellation is the subject of How Sondheim Found His Sound---an absorbing study of the multitudinous influences on Sondheim's work. Taking Sondheim's own comments and music as a starting point, author Steve Swayne offers a biography of the artist's style, pulling aside the curtain on Sondheim's creative universe to reveal the many influences---from classical music to theater to film---that have established Sondheim as one of the greatest dramatic composers of the twentieth century. Sondheim has spoken often and freely about the music, theater, and films he likes, and on occasion has made explicit references to how past works crop up in his own work. He has also freely acknowledged his eclecticism, seeing in it neither a curse nor a blessing but a fact of his creative life. Among the many forces influencing his work, Sondheim has readily pointed to a wide field: classical music from 1850 to 1950; the songs of Tin Pan Alley, Broadway, and Hollywood; the theatrical innovations of Oscar Hammerstein II and his collaborators; the cinematic elements found in certain film schools; and the melodramatic style of particular plays and films. Ultimately, Sondheim found his sound by amalgamating these seemingly disparate components into his unique patois. How Sondheim Found His Sound is the first book to provide an overview of his style and one of only a few to account for these various components, how they appear in Sondheim's work, and how they affect his musical and dramatic choices.
Call Number: ML410.S6872 S93 2005
On Sondheim: an opinionated guide by Ethan Mordden In On Sondheim, renowned author Ethan Mordden takes the reader on a tour of Stephen Sondheim's work, arguing for the importance and appeal of the composer-lyricist in American theater and, even more, in American culture. Over the course of eighteen shows, Mordden demonstrates that Sondheim is a classical composer who happens to write musicals. Sondheim has intellectualized the musical by tackling serious content usually reserved for the spoken stage: nonconformism (in Anyone Can Whistle, 1964), history (in Pacific Overtures, 1976), and cannibalism as a metaphor for class warfare (Sweeney Todd, 1979). Yet his work combines complex music and intellectual plots with a masterly skill for the fabric of theatre. His shows are all intensely theatrical, produced with flair and brilliance, whether in the lush operetta of A Little Night Music (1973) or the quixotic fairy-tale magic of Into the Woods (1987). Mordden provides fresh insights and analyses of every Sondheim show, from his first hit (West Side Story, 1957) to his most recent title (Road Show, 2008). Each musical has a dedicated chapter, including articles on Sondheim's life and his major influences, and comprehensive bibliographical and discographical essays place the Sondheim literature and recordings in perspective. Writing with his usual blend of the scholarly and the popular - with a wicked sense of humor - Ethan Mordden reveals why Stephen Sondheim has become Broadway's most significant voice in the last fifty years.
Call Number: ML410.S6872 M67 2016