"Live, Laugh, Love" - A Tribute to Stephen Sondheim

I’ve been sitting in front of my computer screen for the past hour looking at the blank screen. I’m trying to form words to pay tribute to a man who was a master of them. And I’m failing at it.

But trying to put sentences together to describe the impact of someone like Stephen Sondheim, who we lost today at the age of 91, is incredibly difficult. First of all, because I never thought this day would come. I mean, of course, we all knew it would come but in the back of my mind, it felt like he was going outlive us all.

The other is that when you start to think about his influence on theatre history, the very scope of it is almost incalculable. And to be honest, there are theatre historians and music theorists who can break down his brilliance in ways I cannot, so I’m just going to talk about when he meant to me.

I was a late bloomer when it came to love of the theatrical arts. I really only started performing in shows in middle school(to impress girls), and my knowledge of musical theatre seemed to be strictly some Rodgers & Hammerstein pieces and Disney movies.

One day, during my Intro the Theatre class in 9th grade, our teacher put in the VHS tape of Sweeney Todd with George Hearn and Angela Lansbury.

It haunted me. It disturbed me. It awoke something within me. And my entire idea of what a musical was changed completely.

After that, I couldn’t get enough of his work. I rented the VHS tapes of Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George which were amazing. I watched the movie adaptation of A Little Night Music which was okay. In college, I checked the DVD copy of Passion in and out of the library so often, the librarian gifted it to me for graduation.

I’ve performed in over 20 musicals in my life and not a single one of them was a Sondheim piece, I consider this my biggest theatrical regret.

And when I pass from this mortal coil, I want to be greeted at the pearly gates with ‘Sunday’.

I’ll never call myself a Sondheim expert or scholar. I am a Sondheim fan. I’m sure I’m far from the only person who has had this type of history with Mr. Sondheim. I’m sure many of you reading this have had similar pasts with his work.

His work is more than just a collection of songs. It’s art. It’s a puzzle. It’s a playground. It’s revered text.

You can listen to Follies or Assassins or Company a million times and think you know everything about them. Then you listen to them one more time and discover something new entirely.

Stephen Sondheim reshaped an entire artform in a way that only a few who have walked this earth have. He will be dearly missed. His work will survive the ages.

I’m going to start listening to Anyone Can Whistle right now.