On Sondheim: An Opinionated Guide

Novelist and Broadway musical chronicler (All That Glittered; Sing for Your Supper; Anything Goes) Mordden begins with his premise that Stephen Sondeim (b. 1930) is a "classically trained composer who chose theatre over the concert hall and Broadway over the opera house." After an excellent introductory chapter on Sondheim's life (at 22, he wrote scripts for the TV series Topper) and his art, with a follow-up chapter on his mentors and the concept musical, Mordden begins his play-by-play analysis with the first, and unproduced, Sondheim work, "Saturday Night." This work failed to find a producer (it was later performed in London in 1997) but was followed by the 1957 musical that established his name and his career: West Side Story. Sondheim almost didn't write the lyrics since he didn't want to write for someone else's music. However, Oscar Hammerstein convinced him wisely that working with Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, and Hal Prince would be a valuable experience. Mordden divides Sondheim's work into three periods of art, with Sundays in the Park with George beginning the third, possibly most original, category. Collaborating with James Lapine proved to be inspiring, and writing a musical about artists, creating art, and a painting by Georges Seurat helped produce one of his most enduring and successful plays.