Stephen Sondheim was born on
March 22, 1930, the son of a wealthy
New York dress manufacturer. When his
parents divorced, his mother moved to
Bucks County,
Pennsylvania and young Stephen found himself in the
right place at the right time. A
neighbor of his mother's,
Oscar Hammerstein II, was working on a new musical called
Oklahoma! and it didn't take long for the
adolescent boy to realize that he, too, was intrigued by
musical theatre. Although he subsequently studied
composition with
Milton Babbitt, he chose to apply what he learned in the all-or-nothing commercial
hothouse of
Broadway. Like
Hammerstein, he has written the occasional
pop song (with
Jule Styne for
Tony Bennett) and dabbled in films (
Stavisky,
Reds,
Dick Tracy), but, like Hammerstein, he has always come back to the
theatre.
His shows include:
Or, for those who prefer chronological listings: