If you are a fan of musical theatre you almost certainly know who Stephen Sondheim is. If not you probably have a vague idea that he writes musicals but you don't really know what he does. The truth is that Stephen Sondheim is one of the most successful composers and lyricists to ever work on Broadway.
Stephen Sondheim is probably the greatest lyricist in the history of Broadway. He got his start adding the lyrics to the music that other composers had written. His really big break came when he worked with Leonard Bernstein to write the lyrics for West Side Story. This quickly turned into one of the greatest Broadway musicals of all time and really made made Sondheim's career as a lyricist. He then proceeded to write the lyrics for a number of other Broadway shows including the very popular Gypsy. However by this point he really wanted a chance to compose the music as well as write the lyrics. Unfortunately finding work as a composer proved difficult because he had never composed a musical before.
Finally after several years of trying Sondheim got a break and he was allowed to compose the music as well as write the lyrics for a musical called A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. It was a huge hit although Sondheim's composition did get mixed reviews. Nevertheless he now had a track record as a successful Broadway composer and the work started coming fast and furious. Unfortunately his next production called Anyone Can Whistle was a complete bomb and closed after just nine shows.
It was at this point that Sondheim began his collaboration with director Hal Prince. They would work together for fifteen years and produce some of the greatest musicals of all time. They really broke the mold and made some daring and risky choices in the way they produced their plays. They produced musicals that didn't have a straightforward plot, they produced plays that dealt with dark subject matter. They even produced Sweeney Todd which was closer to an opera than a Broadway musical. Despite these risky choices they produced a string of hits until finally Merrily We Roll Along came out and was a complete failure. At this point Sondheim and Prince went their separate ways and didn't work together for more than twenty years.
After splitting with Prince Sondheim seriously considered giving up composing but instead he began a collaboration with director James Lapine. Lapine had little experience in theatre his background was actually in photography. They decided that they wanted to produce off Broadway musicals so that they could take even more chances and be more creative. In the end all but one of their collaborations eventually made its way to Broadway where they became big hits. This returned Sondheim to the top of his profession and that is a position he has maintained ever since.