Stephen Sondheim: Maestro of Broadway

What It Takes®

Academy of Achievement

Film, Politics, Arts, Self-help, Sports, Society & Culture, Success, Literature, Humanitarian, Military, Social Justice, Technology, Podcast, Achievement, Music, Science

4.6 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 17 December 2018

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

He grew up next door to Oscar Hammerstein and became his greatest protege. In 1957, Sondheim wrote the lyrics for "West Side Story," and for the next 60 years dominated the world of musical theater. His shows include "Gypsy", "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," "Company," "A Little Night Music," "Sweeney Todd," "Sunday in the Park with George," "Into the Woods," and "Assassins." He pulls back the curtain in this interview, giving fascinating insights into some of the greatest Broadway collaborations of all time, and into the process of writing a song for the stage. (c ) American Academy of Achievement 2018

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Finishing the hat how you have to finish the hat how you have to finish the hat how you
0:09.3	watch the rest of the world from a window while you finish the hat.
0:17.0	Finishing the hat is a song about the exhilarating consuming process of creating a piece of art and the personal
0:26.2	toll it can take. It's from Stephen Sonheim's Broadway musical, Sunday in the Park with
0:32.2	George, inspired by a painting by George Surratt. back too late from the grass or the stick or the dog or the light how the kind of
0:45.8	woman willing to wait's not the kind that you want a fine waiting to return you
0:51.6	to the night, to see from the
0:55.0	heart coming from the heart.
0:58.0	Coming from the head.
1:00.0	Stephen Sondheim is himself a colossal force of creativity.
1:05.0	Lin Manuel Miranda calls him musical theater's greatest lyricist, full stop.
1:12.0	When Miranda had the idea for Hamilton, it was Sondheim he turned to for
1:16.8	support and counsel. On this episode, Sondheim talks about how he learned to create, lyrics, and music, and some of the most enduring
1:26.2	shows in the history of musical theater.
1:29.2	The first lesson came from his dad.
1:32.0	My father played piano by ear and I used to my father would play
1:36.7	he would he'd love Broadway shows and he would come home and approximate the songs on
1:41.8	the piano and he put his hands on the keys and he put my hand when I was tiny on the melody because he always played the melody with it with its little finger in the top.
1:51.0	This is what it takes a podcast about passion, vision, and
1:55.2	perseverance from the Academy of Achievement. I'm Alice Winkler.
2:00.8	Adam made, this child is gifted and I heard that enough that I started to believe it.
2:06.8	If you have the opportunity, not a perfect opportunity and you don't take it, you may never have
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Academy of Achievement, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Academy of Achievement and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.