Biography
Stephen Joshua Sondheim was born in New York City on March 22, 1930. He was the only child of Herbert and Janet Sondheim, also known as "Foxy". His family came from a line of German Jewish immigrants who prospered in the garment district in NY. Growing up, Sondheim was surrounded with influential names in the music and theater industry, namely Oscar Hammerstein II. He spent the rest of his childhood in Pennsylvania taking piano lessons from the age of 7 and writing musicals at age 9. He graduated from Williams College in 1950 with a degree in music. He spent the next few years writing television scripts in NY and LA. He began writing lyrics for shows with initial success in West Side Story and Gypsy. In partnership with Richard Rogers, he wrote the lyrics for Do I Hear a Waltz? which was unsuccessful. From then on, he chose to not only write lyrics but also to compose the music for shows. In 1970, Company became a major hit on Broadway and he continued to prolifically create major Broadway shows. Interestingly, he published a set of word puzzles in the New York Times at the same time. From 1973-1981, he was the president of the Dramatist Guild of America. He continues to write songs and work on shows to this very day. He has received almost every theater award possible, but most noticeably, in 2008, he was given the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater. [4,5]