Stephen Sondheim, legend of the musical, has died at the age of 91 at his home in the American town of Roxbury. His death has been announced by the lawyer F. Richard Pappas, who has described it as sudden, as Sondheim celebrated Thanksgiving as normal just a few hours ago.
Acclaimed
Sondheim was especially known for his contribution to the musical genre on Broadway, being behind works such as’ Company ‘, Follies’,’ Sweeney Todd ‘, brought to the big screen by Tim Burton in 2007, ‘Sunday in the Park With George’, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize, or ‘Into the Woods’, adapted for the big screen by Rob marshall in 2014.
His were also the lyrics for the songs of ‘West Side Story’, which soon after became one of the film musicals of all time by the hand of Robert Wise and Jerome robbins and of which we will soon see a new version with Steven Spielberg Behind the cameras.
In addition, Sondheim also participated as a composer for several films, with the subject standing out ‘Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)’ for ‘Dick Tracy’, for which he won the Oscar. It was the only time he was nominated for the awards given by the Hollywood Academy.
Considered by many the best composer of the second half of the 20th century, he was also a recognized influence on other authors, something recently shown in the movie ‘tick, tick … BOOM!’, Where he was interpreted by Bradley Whitford.
Rest in peace.