Course Description
When he died in 2021 at the age of 91, Stephen Sondheim was the nation’s most revered musical theatre composer/lyricist. In this course we will examine his career from his work in the 1950s as the lyricist for West Side Story and Gypsy through the 1970s when his collaborations with Harold Prince yielded ground-breaking classics of the American musical theatre: Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, and Sweeney Todd. We will survey his career by listening to and watching excerpts from his shows, focusing not just on the hits, but also on those shows that were considered failures at the time. In addition to experiencing his memorable music, students will also learn how Sondheim applied his three “necessary principles” for writing lyrics: “Content Dictates Form. Less Is More. God is in the Details.” The course is primarily lecture with video and audio clips, but students will be able to ask questions and make comments during each class.