Sondheim Blog

MERRILY: IT’S A HIT … ON NETFLIX

If you missed seeing the 2023-2024 Tony Award-winning, record-breaking Broadway revival of Merrily We Roll Along during its sold-out run — or you couldn’t afford a ticket — you can get a sense of it via Sony Pictures Classics’ live stage recording (formally called a “ProShot”) now available for streaming on Netflix in the United States. While it doesn’t deliver quite the electrical jolt of the show’s live performance staged by Maria Friedman, it’s a chance to see Jonathan Groff as Franklin Shepard and Daniel Radcliffe as Charlie Kringas in their Tony-winning performances (Photo above by Matthew Murray). Partnering with Lindsay Mendez as Mary Flynn, they proved that the disdained show, long dismissed as a flop, could be a hit — in fact, “a palpable hit.” The New York production was captured live in June 2024 near the end of its run at Broadway’s Hudson Theatre.

LEARNING MORE ABOUT SONDHEIM

Stephen Sondheim: Art Isn’t Easy, the recently published revelatory study by Daniel Okrent (above), is providing many devotees with a fuller picture of the brilliant composer and lyricist, especially of his complicated emotional life. The award-winning journalist digs deeply into Sondheim’s self-admitted proclivity: “At least half my songs deal with ambivalence,” he once said. Okrent demonstrates how Sondheim’s life itself was afflicted by it for many years. Check out his enlightening 37-minute conversation with Terry Gross on a recent Fresh Air program on National Public Radio.

Further insights into Sondheim’s life and works are now available via the dozen-episode podcast Loving You: The Untold Sondheim. (It’s being released one episode weekly on numerous platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music.) Each highly-produced 60-minute installment is filled with interviews, recollections, music, reenactments and heartfelt anecdotes, hosted by singer, actor and writer Martin Milnes and Sondheim’s longtime friend and archivist Peter E. Jones. Guests include Christine Baranski, Jamie Bernstein, Len Cariou, Dame Judi Dench, Adam Guettel, John Kander, Patti LuPone and British performers Millicent Martin and Julia McKenzie. Family memories are recalled by Sondheim’s half-brother Walter E. Sondheim. Each hour-long episode has a theme (designated by a pertinent Sondheim song lyric). I especially appreciated Episode 5, “Anything You Do, Let It Come From You” (from Sunday in the Park with George), featuring members of the master class Sondheim conducted at Oxford University in 1990, as well as Episode 7, “Me and You Pal” (from Merrily We Roll Along), about Sondheim’s collaborators and interpreters. It includes an especially illuminating conversation between book writers James Lapine and John Weidman.

SUMMER RERUNS

Back in 2021 SiriusXM host Bill Rudman and I recorded four episodes of his On the Aisle show in which we marked the publication of The Stephen Sondheim Encyclopedia. Those will be re-aired this summer on the streaming platform’s “On Broadway” channel (77) at 3 p.m. on Saturdays, June 27, July 4, August 1 and 8. (Encores air the following Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on June 30, July 7, August 4 and 11.) If you’re not a SiriusXM subscriber, you might check to see if these are on your local public radio station as Footlight Parade at various dates and times. You can also listen online at your convenience by going to the Public Radio Exchange [www.prx.org] and searching for “Footlight Parade.” Admirers of Sondheim’s creative output continue to purchase the encyclopedia, available in hardcover and paperback formats. Here’s a link to purchase from Bloomsbury, my publisher.

EVERYBODY’S GOT THE RIGHT …

n an era of political divisiveness and frightening gunplay, it seems that Sondheim and Weidman’s Assassins is eerily relevant. In the Bay Area, Oakland Theater Project presented a one-man performance of the show (March 21-April 19, 2026). Starring Adam KuveNiemann (above, photo by Krantz Studio) playing each of the show’s off-kilter characters, the production earned encomiums from an array of local media. Joshua Kosman, writing for “On a Pacific Aisle” on Substack, called it a “galvanizing production,” and added, “The breathtakingly virtuosic Adam KuveNiemann, working with director Weston Scott, incarnates every figure, switching back and forth among them with a degree of manic energy that constantly threatens to boil over … offers deep insights not only into the work itself, but also into its subject matter.”…  In Sarasota, critic Jay Handelman reviewed a local staging of Assassins (April 29-May 10, 2026) for the artsbeat.org website. He wrote: “Opening just days after a California man was charged with attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump, the Sarasota Players’ captivating production … could not be more topical, no matter how coincidental the timing.” He continued, “The proximity to another violent attack helps everything in this show about presidential assassins come alive a little more, though the impact would still be strong without the coincidence, because it is performed with such commitment and understanding of the material and the people depicted.”

GROBAN SINGS

Three years ago acclaimed vocalist Josh Groban played Sweeney Todd on Broadway, receiving a 2023 Tony Award nomination for his performance. His love of Sondheim’s songs led him to a pairing of “Children Will Listen” and “Nothing’s Gonna Harm You” that he included in a recent concert. In October 2025 he brought together 14 songs he loves, reimagining and performing them in a solo recital in London’s historic Union Chapel. Other numbers included songs popularized by Joni Mitchell, Phil Collins, Simon & Garfunkel, as well as Harold Arlen’s “Over the Rainbow.” The event was recorded and distributed by PBS in early May 2026 as Great Performances – Josh Groban: An Intimate Evening at The Union Chapel. Here’s a link to Groban’s moving four-minute performance of the linked Sondheim songs. There is no tinge of the irony to be heard in the onstage rendition of “Nothing’s Gonna Harm You” — when Toby’s proclamation of love for Mrs. Lovett is tainted by her realization that the boy knows too much.

TONY AWARD RECOGNITION

James Lapine, director, playwright and frequent Sondheim collaborator (Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods and Passion)will be one of three recipients of the 2026 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. Joining him for this year’s recognition this year are Andre Bishop, artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater from 1992 to 2025, and pioneering Broadway lighting designer Jules Fisher. Over the years, the award has honored George Abbott, Ethel Merman, Barbra Streisand, Paul Gemignani, Hal Prince, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Carol Channing, John Kander, Joel Grey, Angela Lansbury, Marin Mazzie, Terrence McNally and Sondheim himself in 2008. … Mary-Mitchell Campbell will receive the 2026 Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award for her “unwavering dedication to advocacy work through the arts.” Campbell is a founding member of Musicians United for Social Equity, is on the advisory board of Maestra, has music directed and/or supervised numerous events for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the Serious Fun Children’s Network and Kristin Chenoweth’s Broadway Bootcamp. She made her Broadway debut in 2007 as the orchestrator and musical supervisor for John Doyle’s actor/musician revival of Company; she was recognized with that season’s Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations.

RECORD-SETTING RECORD

On May 5, 1962, the original motion picture soundtrack for West Side Story achieved the Number One standing on the Billboard 200 chart. It remained there for 54 weeks, a record that still stands. Sondheim doubted that Leonard Bernstein’s score and his own lyrics translated well to film. Nevertheless, he expressed his gratitude that the film introduced the show to a much broader audience. Speaking to Billboard he once recalled that “When the show opened in New York City, they said it’s all very exciting, but you can’t hum anything. Then the movie came out four years later and suddenly everyone could hum everything.” (A personal memory: My very first LP — I was 13 — was this recording!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STEVE!

March 21, 2026, would have been Sondheim’s 96th birthday. To mark the event, Alex Marsden, creator of the excellent Sondheim Hub, invited 96 people to provide personal tributes — 96 Gifts for Sondheim’s 96th Birthday each one reflecting a gift Sondheim’s work brought to their lives. He had in mind Dot’s words from Sunday in the Park with George: “Look at all the things you’ve done for me.” Evocative statements were submitted by performers, musicians, authors and others, including items from singer Melissa Errico and Ted Chapin (author of Everything was Possible: The Birth of the Musical Follies). The Sondheim Hub is supported solely by readers,who contribute a few dollars each month. A premium subscription enables full access to an exclusive essay, crossword, extended interview and more each week, plus a paywall-free library of 250+ essays, features and interviews

SPEAKING OF GIFTS

The inaugural round of grants from the Stephen Sondheim Foundation have been announced. The foundation, using funds generated from the royalty income earned by his works posthumously, is dedicated to supporting playwrights, composers and lyricists, particularly those in early career stages. In honor of Sondheim’s psychoanalyst Dr. Milton Horowitz, the Horowitz-Sondheim Clinic has been established at the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. Thanks to this gift, the clinic can offer affordable mental health support programs to playwrights, composers and lyricists for the theater. Additional recipients include the Playwrights’ Center of Minneapolis for core writer fellowships; Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company to relaunch its new play development program; Millay Arts of Austerlitz, New York, for its new artist-in-residency program; and the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat for musical writing teams in its summer residency program in the Hudson Valley.

If you have Sondheim news to share or suggestions about this blog, please email me: pender.rick@gmail.com

Following the publication last October of my recent book, Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: Behind the Bloody Musical Masterpiece, I was recruited by Vincent DeGeorge, Patricia A. Corbett Distinguished Chair of Musical Theatre and the Joseph Weinberger Chair of Acting for the Lyric Stage, to serve as dramaturg in support of his April 2026 staging of Sweeney Todd at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). A dramaturg is a literary and historical consultant who works with a production’s creative team to support the artistic realization of a show. For several months I have attended rehearsals, met with performers and DeGeorge’s creative team to offer insights and answer questions about Sondheim’s greatest work.

It’s the first time I’ve worked so closely on a production of one of Sondheim’s shows. It’s been especially fascinating because this has been an unprecedented collaboration between two of CCM’s nationally renowned programs: DeGeorge chairs the department that trains musical theater performers, while Amy Johnson, professor of voice and a respected opera singer, chairs the opera department. Both are veteran professional performers and director, and both have taught at CCM for more than a decade. They lobbied to undertake Sweeney Todd, and it’s been an extensive two-year process of planning, designing and rehearsing to bring their production to the UC’s Corbett Auditorium stage. The performances will be accompanied by CCM’s top orchestra, the Philharmonia, conducted musical director Ian Axness.

Opera singers and musical theater performers are trained musically, but there are differences in how they are prepared for careers. As result of my engagement with this production, I was invited by Movers & Makers, a monthly Cincinnati magazine that covers arts and culture, community and philanthropy, to write a feature about how the two disciplines could successfully collaborate on a work like Sweeney Todd that, since its 1979 debut, has become a frequent production by theaters and opera companies. It’s been successfully revived on Broadway several times, and it’s often included in the season repertoire of renowned opera companies across the U.S. and around the world. Sondheim’s complex and masterful score has succeeded in both worlds, so I found it especially intriguing to observe performers from both disciplines working together. Here’s a link to my feature in Movers & Makers April issue.

The culmination of this project will be six performances of a spectacular production on April 15-19. Two casts have mixed and matched performers in the leading roles. One cast features pair of opera grad students as Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett are matched with musical theater students as Anthony and Johanna; the other has musical theater performers as Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett, and opera performers as the young lovers. The large cast blends performers from both programs in other roles and mingles an array of them for the production’s busy ensemble, especially performing the fearsome “Ballad of Sweeney Todd.” Each set of leads will be onstage in three of the six performances.

ASL interpreting will be available during the Friday, April 17, performance. For tickets: 513-556-4183 or follow this link.

GETTING TO KNOW SONDHEIM

An important new biography, Daniel Okrent’sStephen Sondheim: Art Isn’t Easy, was published on March 17, 2026, by Yale University Press. He elaborates on Sondheim’s difficult relationship with his mother, who once wrote to him in a letter, “The only guilt I can think of is giving you birth.” For years, Sondheim told interviewers that she had written, “The only regret.” Okrent cites evidence that Sondheim misrepresented or misunderstood her statement, then adds, “There’s a mile of difference between regret and guilt, but it was a distance that Sondheim could not navigate.” There is no doubt that Foxy Sondheim was a painful presence in her son’s life.

Okrent also explores Sondheim’s complicated love life, including a relationship with actress Lee Remick. In 2017, Sondheim married Jeff Romly, 50 years his junior. Sondheim’s creative process, his mathematical mind, and his passion for puzzles are further subjects. Based on tons of research, Okrent portrays Sondheim as sensitive, complicated and sometimes abrasive. Listen to a podcast conversation with the author here [https://tinyurl.com/2cncy7h3]. Two Sondheim collaborators have already praised the book. Director and book writer James Lapine said, “A terrific book, the best that has been written about Steve. It captures him from every angle, and I learned things about him I never knew.” Another collaborator, book writer John Weidman, said, “Packed between the covers of this slim volume is the Stephen Sondheim I knew, evoked with insight, empathy, and elegance. A powerful and compelling read.” Okrent’s book is an important addition to the library shelf of any Sondheim admirer. Okrent  was the first public editor of the New York Times. He is the author of six books including Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition and Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center, a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in history.

MORE INSIGHTS INTO THE LIFE OF SONDHEIM

Earlier this month, a monumental 12-part podcast series, Loving You: The Untold Sondheim by two of the composer’s close friends, Martin Milnes and Peter E. Jones, was released. Milnes, an author producer, director and performer, and Jones, a composer-lyricist as well as Sondheim’s personal archivist, spent two years assembling these hour-long podcasts that explore various aspects of Sondheim’s life, personality and private passions. They include interviews with friends, family and collaborators as well as the first official recordings of two unknown Sondheim songs. Podcast guests include Julie Andrews, Christine Baranski, Len Cariou, Judi Dench, Marianne Elliott, Mia Farrow, Maria Friedman, Adam Guettel, John Kander, James Lapine, Patti LuPone, Donna McKechnie, Millicent Martin, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Bernadette Peters, Frank Rich, Jonathan Tunick, John Weidman and Maury Yeston. Award-winning actor Alistair McGowan gives voice to Sondheim in several personal emails. Sondheim’s music throughout the series is played by composer-pianist Colm Molloy; instrumental tracks feature the Broadway Studio Orchestra. The podcast series can be found on numerous platforms.

SONDHEIM ARCHIVES

Check out this heartfelt six-minute YouTube conversation between musical theater specialist Mark Horowitz and Matthew Gardiner of Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, about the vast Sondheim holdings now at the Library of Congress. It’s an opportunity to actually see Sondheim’s handwritten letter to Leonard Bernstein on the eve of the opening of West Side Story, Hal Prince’s stage manager’s notebook from the original production of Sweeney Todd, as well Sondheim’s manuscripts for the songs “Losing My Mind” from Follies and “A Little Priest” from Sweeney Todd. … Gardiner’s theater annually presents the Stephen Sondheim Award recognizing individuals who have made important contributions to American Musical theater, especially in shows by Sondheim. For its 15th iteration, the honor goes to actress and singer Vanessa Williams, who played the Witch in the 2002 Broadway revival of Into the Woods; she was also member of the cast of Sondheim on Sondheim on Broadway in 2010. The March 16, 2026, black-tie event in Washington, D.C., will feature performances by Norm Lewis, Mark Meadows and Swa Sal Secka. … Later this year the Tony Award-winning Signature will continue its decades-long devotion to Sondheim’s shows with a production in the works of Merrily We Roll Along, Aug. 25-Nov. 1.

A FEW OF YOUR FAVORITE SONGS?

Readers of this post probably don’t need reminders of favorite Sondheim songs. But back in late January the New York Times published an interesting feature with 14 people sharing numbers they loved. They ranged from Times theater writers to noteworthy performers such as Judy Collins, Renée Fleming and Mandy Patinkin. Here are the songs: “Send in the Clowns”; “The Ladies Who Lunch”; “Losing My Mind”; “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd”; “Not While I’m Around”; “Comedy Tonight”; “Anyone Can Whistle”; “Finishing the Hat”; “What More Do I Need?”;  “A Bowler Hat”; “Sunday”; “I Wish I Could Forget You”; “Agony”; and “Goodbye for Now.” Each item in the Times feature provides links to recordings of the songs on various music platforms. It’s interesting to read the rationales by veteran performers and theater critics for their choices. If you’re so inclined, email me your favorites with your reasons, and I’ll include them in a future blog.

OLIVIER SEASON IN LONDON

The much praised London revival of Into the Woods has received 11 Olivier Award nominations, including Best Revival. (It is tied with Paddington: The Musical for the most recognition.) Winners will be announced on April 12. Here’s a detailed backstage look at director James Fein’s production by Sarah Crompton of The Observer in London. In addition to Into the Woods, the Olivier nominations included Sondheim’s final work, Here We Are, as the season’s best new musical.

IMMERSIVE SONDHEIM IN CANADA

If you find yourself in Toronto, you might want to check the calendar for the scrappy indie theatre, Talk Is Free, recently produced Company. (It opened in mid-January and was extended into February.) It’s become known for its boundary-pushing productions, and for a decade it’s been the de facto home of Sondheim’s musicals in Canada. The company specializes in site-specific and immersive productions of shows such as Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Assassins and Sweeney Todd. In 2008 it even took on the rarely produced Anyone Can Whistle. In January, Arkady Spivak, the company’s artistic producer, told the Toronto Star, “A lot of organizations do musicals because it brings in revenue,” said Spivak. “We do musicals because it’s a wonderful art form.” Founded in 2002, the company has staged more than 150 productions. Based in Barrie about 50 miles north of Toronto and often rehearsing in a church basement, Talk Is Free Theatre has presented shows across Canada … and beyond. Its immersive Sweeney Todd traveled to Buenos Aires and London, and Into the Woods was produced in New Zealand. Read more about this innovative company devoted to Sondheim’s works.

SWEENEY IS DRAWING BLOOD … EVERYWHERE

Birmingham Repertory Theatre, founded in 1907, is one of Great Britain’s most established theater companies and one of its most consistently innovative. This summer it will mount a production of Sweeney Todd (July 4-August 9, 2026) featuring award-winning musical theater star Ramin Karimloo in the title role. Australian dancer, cabaret star and theater performer Meow Meow (real name Melissa Madden Gray) will play Mrs. Lovett. On joining the Rep’s cast, she said, “I can’t wait to hurl myself into the dubious deliciousness and dangerous world of Sweeney Todd with Joe Murphy, Ramin Karimloo and the gang at Birmingham Rep. Heady days ahead!” Murphy, the Rep’s artistic director, welcomed her, saying, “Mrs. Lovett demands a performer with impeccable comic timing, musical command, and a taste for the macabre — and she delivers all of that in spades. Her genius brings a thrilling theatrical edge to Sweeney Todd, and our audiences are in for something truly special.” … If you’re looking to catch up on a legendary version of Sweeney Todd, make note of the fact that Tim Burton’s 2007 cinematic version can now be streamed on the Paramount+ platform. Johnny Depp’s performance as Sweeney and Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett aren’t everyone’s cup of tea and their singing is not the high point, but Burton’s take is profoundly psychological. And Dante Ferreti’s moody cinematic design is spectacular. The film earned $153 million at the global box office and is currently the 11th highest-grossing movie based on a musical or opera of all time. Make some time to tune in if you haven’t ever watched. … Allow me a personal note here: I’m serving as dramaturg for a Sweeney Todd production (April 15-19, at the University of Cincinnati’s renowned College Conservatory of Music. It’s a joint venture by CCM’s top-ranked musical theater and opera/voice programs, and the production promises to be spectacularly sung and ingeniously designed. Ian Axness, the production’s musical director, was recently featured in an interesting interview on “The Sondheim Hub” on Substack.  Thinking of attending? Here’s a link for tickets.

I’ll wrap up this post with this link to an encore of my 2021 conversation with David Armstrong on his Broadway Nation about The Sondheim Encyclopedia, published five years ago. It continues to be available, both as a hardback and an affordable paperback edition ($55 + shipping) from Bloomsbury.

If you have Sondheim news to share or suggestions about this blog, please email me: pender.rick@gmail.com

MERRILY KEEPS ROLLING

The Tony Award-winning 2023 revival of Merrily We Roll Along that starred Jonathan Groff as Frank, Daniel Radcliffe as Charley and Lindsay Mendez as Mary, was a huge success, staged at the Hudson Theatre by British director Maria Friedman. (It was more or less the same production she staged with a different cast at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory in 2012 before transferring to the Harold Pinter Theatre in London’s West End, where it was filmed and distributed internationally.) The Broadway production won four of the seven Tonys it was nominated for including Groff and Radcliffe. The revival’s “pro-shot” was released by Sony Pictures Classics and Fathom Entertainment to cinemas around the U.S. and Great Britain from Dec. 4-18, and it’s eligible for the Golden Globes in the “best musical/comedy film” category, as well as several other award programs coming in 2026.

The film was shot during the final weeks of the revival’s Broadway run. It used four or five cameras but truly focused more on the actors than on “wide shots,” which Friedman told Playbill “had no energy … it’s not a choreographic show. I only had one set for the entire thing.”  She focused instead on “emotional and narrative clarity” using on-screen graphics to indicate time and place in Merrily’s reverse chronology across a 20-year span. She also employed her concept of the show being Frank’s memories, so she used many close-ups of the actors, especially Groff, to underscore their emotional reactions to one another. Friedman and Groff were guests on NPR’s Fresh Air in 2024. Here is a link to the 43-minute rebroadcast of Terry Gross’s  insightful interview.

Writing for The Guardian, London theater critic Michael Billington said of Friedman’s production that it’s “a constant joy and one that shows exactly why a famous flop is now a palpable hit.” It’s likely that the filmed production will be available on a streaming platform sometime in 2026. That’s long before director Richard Linklater’s version of the film of Merrily that will be shot across two decades so that the actors — Paul Mescal as Frank, Ben Platt as Charley and Beanie Feldstein as Mary) — will be the approximate age of the characters they are playing. That one should be on screens around 2040. Until then, the film of the Broadway revival will be around to entertain us.

INTO THE WOODS IS DAZZLING IN LONDON

By far the most frequently produced Sondheim show is Into the Woods. That is probably due to its family-friendly subject matter (at least in the first act), to the “School Edition” (which pretty much sticks to the first act) and certainly to the Rob Marshall’s starry 2014 cinematic version. But its broad familiarity might also suffer a tad from overexposure. So it’s great news when a new major production comes along that grabs everyone’s attention. That’s happening right now (through springtime) in London with a staging at the Bridge Theatre. According to the New York Times, it “makes the most of the musical’s whimsical premise, leaning into the visuals for fairy tale lore with a spirit of winking pastiche.” Reviewer Houman Barekat wrote, “The verdant backdrop is rendered with elegant, lifelike simplicity, and there is no edgily anachronistic streetwear in sight. The characters look as if they’ve stepped straight off the pages of a classic illustrated edition of ‘Grimms’ Fairy Tales.’” In The Guardian, Arifa Akbar suggested that the “production shimmers and shines with all the humour and pathos these errant fairytale characters who misadventure into the woods, winding their rearranged stories around each other.” The Independent said, “ Stephen Sondheim revival is a thing of lush and arresting beauty,” and Time Out exclaimed, “Jordan Fein’s revival of the fairytale-filled Sondheim classic is pure magic.” Sounds like it might be time for a trip to London!

ELSEWHERE

If you’re willing to travel for an unusual Sondheim production, how about a Spanish-language staging of Sweeney Todd, directed by and starring Antonio Banderas sometime late in 2026? It will happen at Teatro del Soho in Malaga, the resort city on Spain’s southern coast. Banderas, a Hollywood movie star — but also a musical theater fan — previously staged Company (2021) and Gypsy (2024) that this 667-seat venue. When more details are available, they’ll be included in a future update.

AWARD-WINNING OPERA IN THE PARK … WITH GEORGE

The Glimmerglass Festival in picturesque Cooperstown, New York, was named a winner at the 2025 International Opera Awards, held on Nov. 13, 2025, at the Greek National Opera in Athens and livestreamed globally. Glimmerglass received the inaugural Musical Theatre Award for its July-August 2025 staging of Sondheim and Lapine’s Sunday in the Park with George. Directed by Ethan Heard, and conducted by Michael Ellis Ingram, the production featured Broadway performers John Riddle and Marina Pires as George and Dot/Marie. Presented annually since 2013, the awards celebrate excellence in opera worldwide. This year’s ceremony recognized artists and companies from 25 countries, selected from more than 14,000 nominations.

REMEMBERING SONDHEIM

If you’re in the mood for a lovely remembrance and tribute to Sondheim, follow this link to a post by Adam Guettel, the son of Mary Rodgers and grandson of Richard Rodgers. It also appeared in the fall issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, which focused on the arrival of Sondheim’s archives at the Library. Guettel was the composer and lyricist of The Light in the Piazza, Floyd Collins and — most recently — The Days of Wine and Roses.

A LOYAL ASSISTANT

Almost anyone who tried to reach Sondheim during his busy life probably did so through Steve Clar, the composer’s longtime assistant. As a trusted associate since 1987, Clar worked behind the scenes for decades in the second-floor office of Sondheim’s New York City townhouse. He was involved hands-on with several projects including the play with George Furth, Getting Away With Murder (1996), and the documentary Six by Sondheim (2013). Clar also handled many aspects of Sondheim’s personal life and organized Sondheim’s archives. He was named as one of the personal beneficiaries of Sondheim’s $75 million estate. Following complications from a stroke, Clar passed away on Sept. 24, 2025, at age 67.

SWEENEY BOOK SALES SO FAR …

I’m pleased to share the news that 750 people have purchased Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: Behind the Bloody Musical Masterpiece! My book was published in early October by Bloomsbury. If you need an affordable ($30.60) last-minute holiday gift for a musical theater fan, you can order it via this link.

I launched my Sondheim blog entries in the summer of 2021, just a few months after the publication of The Stephen Sondheim Encyclopedia. When I edited The Sondheim Review for more than a decade, I assembled miscellaneous “News & Notes” for each issue. There is no shortage of material and news to share: This blog is my 33rd! If you enjoy them and have friends who also have a passion Sondheim’s shows, please forward to them one of my updates and suggest that they join in the fun.

FOR YOUR SONDHEIM BOOKSHELF

I’ve previously mentioned Barry Joseph’s fascinating recent book about Sondheim and puzzles, Matching Wits with Stephen Sondheim. He was interviewed by Christopher Zara, news director of Fast Company for that respected magazine’s  November issue. “Ludology is the study of games,” Joseph told Zara. “And so I thought, ‘Can one look at Stephen Sondheim from a ludological lens? And at the time, I didn’t know if there’d be much of anything. But after just a few weeks of some quick Google searches, what I found was that there were a lot of fascinating, enticing tidbits.” He assembled them into an intriguing book. He studied Sondheim’s shows and found numerous “moments that Sondheim often talked about, where you’re forming order out of chaos. And that’s essentially a jigsaw puzzle being constructed.” … Prizewinning journalist Daniel Okrent, the former public editor of The New York Times, is the author of a new biography, Stephen Sondheim: Art Isn’t Easy (Yale University Press, March 2026).  His forthcoming book is described as shining “new light on Sondheim’s tormented emotional life, wavering self-confidence, and alcoholism, drawing on interviews with many of his friends and collaborators. … [He] explores the ways Sondheim’s music and lyrics express the inner man, … [revealing] a life that was defined by two parallel arcs: the movement from alienation to connection, and from ambivalence to resolution.” This will be a fascinating read, I’m sure.

LIBRARIAN MARK HOROWITZ HONORED

For many years Mark Eden Horowitz, senior music specialist at the Library of Congress (LOC), has made countless contributions to the study of musical theater. He recently added Sondheim’s creative archives to the extensive holdings there. Last month he was honored by the Theatre Library Association (TLA) with its 2026 Louis Rachow Distinguished Service in Performing Arts Librarianship Award. Several of Mark’s admirers (including me) nominated him. We wrote, “Mark is considered the most knowledgeable curator by musical theatre scholars and interpreters around the world. He has distinguished himself as a writer, public speaker, advocate, interviewer, and mentor. His encyclopedic knowledge of the Music Division’s holdings of the LOC has made him the indisputable ‘go to’ person for all questions, simple and complex, which he answers accurately and with dispatch. … Mark’s impact on American musical theatre studies has been profound.” Here is a video of the TLA awards program from October 23, 2025. The eight-minute segment about Marks recognition begins at 13:45, including his humble acceptance. Follow this link for samples of what’s now available for viewing from the Sondheim materials at LOC.

SONDHEIM ON THE SILVER SCREEN

Blue Moon, director Richard Linklater’s 2025 biopic about lyricist Lorenz Hart, is in general release to movie theaters across the U.S., featuring a quick cameo of teenaged Sondheim. Set at Sardi’s restaurant on 44th Street in New York City, Hart holds forth as people arrive following the 1943 opening of Oklahoma!, by Richard Rodgers, Hart’s onetime writing partner. He’s now working with Oscar Hammerstein II. Hart is bitter and yearning to reconnect, but it’s clear that’s not going to happen. He eventually encounters Hammerstein for a brief conversation. He introduces Hart to his young friend, “Stevie,” none other than adolescent Stephen Sondheim. Asked for his reaction to Hart’s lyrics, the precocious kid calls them “sloppy” before being hustled off and scolded by Hammerstein. That evening might have been Sondheim’s first Broadway opening night: Oklahoma premiered on March 31, 1943, just nine days after his 13th birthday. In his book of lyric studies, Finishing the Hat (2010), Sondheim offered a similar assessment of Hart’s lyrics. The youthful encounter was likely invented, perhaps inspired by his adult judgment. Nevertheless, it was amusing to see a brief appearance by the young, sharply insightful Sondheim. … Filmmaker Linklater continues his long-term project to create a cinematic rendition of Merrily We Roll Along. He plans to take 20 years of shooting to reflect the 20-year span of the show’s reversed-chronology story. His cast includes Paul Mescal (as Frank), Beanie Feldstein (as Mary) and Ben Platt (as Charley). Filming has been under way since 2021. Here’s an update.

STEVE ROSS SINGS SONDHEIM (WITH FRIENDS)

Steve Ross is a veteran New York cabaret artist and a frequent interpreter of Sondheim’s songs. His latest recording, Steve Ross sings (Sondheim) with friends, was just released by Cactus Records. His tributes to Sondheim are sung with Laura Lavelle and Benjamin Weil, accompanied by pianist Dennis Buck. The songs range from 1954 through 1976. Ross calls this collection “a challenge and a privilege,” offering interpretations of songs including “Being Alive,” “Sorry/Grateful,” “You Could Drive a Person Crazy,” “With So Little To Be Sure Of,” “Old Friends” and “Not a Day Goes By.” The recording also features a few numbers by lyricists and composers who Sondheim admired. James Gavin, author of Intimate Nights: The Golden Age of New York Cabaret, called the album “a role model for anyone who aspires to be smarter, worldlier and more stylish than the rest.”  

SONDHEIM ONSTAGE

Sondheim’s first Broadway show in 1956 was West Side Story. Seventy years later it remains a powerful work, including a recent concert staging by the Los Angeles Opera, presented in September and October 2025. In a blog, conductor James Conlon wrote, “In the strident, divided and divisive year of 2025, the perpetually recurring and moving drama of two young lovers, holding on to each other across an antagonistic cultural chasm, never loses its power to move us.” … Cleveland’s Great Lakes Theater presented Sunday in the Park with George to kick off its 2025-2026 season. It was staged by Victoria Bussert, now heading a new musical theater program at Oberlin College after a long tenure with a similar program at Baldwin Wallace University. In 1984, Bussert attend a late preview of the show’s original Broadway production. “I remember just being so overwhelmed,” she said in a recent newspaper feature. “Sondheim and James Lapine were standing behind the audience. One of the things about seeing a Sondheim in previews in New York before everybody knew what was going to happen is you truly did experience these things for the first time. So to experience the end of act one — and to have no warning about it — was incredible.” It’s taken more than 40 years for Bussert to stage her own rendition of Sunday. “There’s a part of me now that feels like I probably needed to wait this long because I’ve learned some things about life that have been very helpful in directing this.”

PULLING THE PLUG

The long celebrated Sondheim Unplugged series of concerts at the legendary venue 54 Below (254 W. 54th St., New York), after 15 years, is winding down with final programs set for Nov. 23; Feb. 22, 2026; April 26, 2026; and June 28, 2026. The series was created in 2010 by original host Phil Geoffrey Bond, who continues as its executive producer. When it wraps up with 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. performances next June 28, Sondheim Unplugged will have happened 150 times in Manhattan and dozens more nationally, internationally and for broadcast. The Nov. 23 event (which will also be livestreamed) features Ramona Mallory (Broadway revival of A Little Night Music), Liz McCartney (Broadway revival of Sunday in the Park with George) and Lucia Spina (Broadway revival of Into the Woods). Rob Maitner hosts the program with music direction from John Fischer.

AN OFFER

My recent book, Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: Behind the Bloody Musical Masterpiece, was published by Bloomsbury last month. You can order one from the publisher, but if you’d like an autographed copy, I have a supply on hand that I’m willing to inscribe and sign. I’m charging $40, which includes shipping. Email me your request (pender.rick@gmail.com); I’ll accept payment via Venmo (rick-pender).

Following on the 2021 publication of my STEPHEN SONDHEIM ENCYCLOPEDIA, I was invited by Rowman and Littlefield (which became Bloomsbury Publishing in May 2024) to undertake another Sondheim volume. R&L was acquired by Bloomsbury Publishing in 2024, and that’s who has released my book-length, in-depth study of SWEENEY TODD:
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/stephen-sondheims-sweeney-todd-9781538196441/ is now available for ordering.

Here’s Bloomsbury’s promotional text:

An award-winning Sondheim expert dives into all facets of this unique, murder-filled masterpiece-its slimy roots, original production, characters from killers to lovers to bakers, soaring score, gripping storytelling, and lasting power.

This bloody tale, Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, is often considere, one of the greatest musicals of all time. Rick Pender provides a kaleidoscopic view and interweaves a wealth ofarchival materials and insights, starting with the show’s 19th-century gruesome literary origins and Christopher Bond’s 1970 stage adaptation that inspired Sondheim to transform it into a Broadway musical. Pender extensively explores the show’s development and its Tony Award-winning original 1979 production, focusing on Sondheim’s majestic score and the show’s masterfully written and intricately plotted book by Hugh Wheeler. Also profiled are members of the all-star creative team led by director Hal Prince as well as legendary orchestrator Jonathan Tunick, renowned musical director Paul Gemignani, and the original cast, including Len Cariou, Angela Lansbury, Victor Garber, Sarah Rice, Edmund Lyndeck, Ken Jennings, and Merle Louise.

The book surveys major, subsequent productions by theater and opera companies, as well as Tim Burton’s dark 2007 cinematic adaptation featuring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter. Critical assessments of the original production and numerous adaptations are shared, including John Doyle’s 2005 Tony Award-winning actor/musician production and the 2023 revival starring Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford. The book ends with a look at the musical’s cultural impacts and legacy. Rick Pender provides riveting exploration of Sweeney Todd will please fans of musical theatre, Sondheim enthusiasts, and those who gravitate to horror stories.

Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Pages 264
ISBN 9781538196441
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Illustrations 17 bw illus
Dimensions 9 x 6 inches
Publisher Bloomsbury Academic