Check out the COVERAGE menu at www.RickPenderWrites.com to find a lengthy list of interviews and articles with Rick about this comprehensive reference volume. On June 15, author Rick Pender hosted a panel discussion for the American Theatre Critics Association, A Little Night Musing: Writing About Sondheim. His esteemed guests were Ted Chapin (author of Everything Was Possible: The Birth of the Musical Follies), Mark Horowitz (author of Sondheim on Music: Minor Details and Major Decisions), and Stacy Wolf (Broadway and Beyond: The Pleasure and Promise of Musical Theatre Across America). Their lively 75-minute conversation is available on Facebook via this link: https://www.facebook.com/watch/133976036665774/128169455921615/
Since you’re receiving this blog posting, you’ve expressed interest in the works of Stephen Sondheim at some time in the past. The Sondheim Encyclopedia is a comprehensive work — 650+ pages, 131 entries — covering all of Sondheim’s shows, his collaborators, and many aspects of his creative life. Go to www.RickPenderWrites.com for more information; the website offers a coupon code good for a 30% discount when you purchase the book directly from Rowman & Littlefield. Hundreds of copies have been sold since it was a released on April 15, 2021, and comments have been very positive.
Here’s an advance comment about the Encyclopedia from Rob Weinert-Kendt, editor-in-chief of American Theatre magazine: “Who needs an encyclopedia in the age of the internet? It turns out that when the subject is the inexhaustible career of composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim, nothing less than a capacious volume will do. Rick Pender, former editor of The Sondheim Review, has compiled a trove of detailed entries about nearly every subject Sondheim touched, bringing to life not only the man’s well-known collaborators and projects but also many names you may have glimpsed in programs or on albums, as well as gathering definitive descriptions of lesser-known works and influences that you’d have to search dozens of books to cull. What emerges is an indispensable 360-degree portrait not only of an essential American artist but also of the culture that shaped him and that he in turn helped to shape.”
Do you have your copy yet?