History Music / StephenSondheim

* BreakTheFourthWall: Almost always PlayedForLaughs. Used to great effect in plays like ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'', ''Theatre/TheFrogs'', ''Theatre/{{Company}}'' and especially in the second act of ''Theatre/IntoTheWoods''.

* DrunkenMaster: In his own words, "I've often used, anyway–alcohol to help me lose the inhibitions. I sip out of a, out of a shot glass, because once you're through an ounce and a half of liquor, if you want more, you have to get up and more."

* CampGay: In "The Boy From...", the narrator describes the young man she has a crush on, completely oblivious to the implications of his flamboyant dress sense and effeminate mannerisms.

* OverlyLongName: In "The Boy From...", a parody of "The Girl From Ipanema", the young man in question hails from Tacarembo la Tumba del Fuego Santa Malipas Zacatecas la Junta del Sol y Cruz. [[spoiler:And at the end of the song, he moves to Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrndrobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch.]]

* {{Deconstruction}}: ''Road Show'' (the American Dream)

* BreakTheFourthWall: Happens very frequently and almost always PlayedForLaughs. Used to great effect in plays like ‘’Sweeney Todd,’’ ‘’The Frogs’’, ‘’Company’’ and especially in the second act of ‘’Into the Woods.’’

* BreakTheFourthWall: Happens very frequently and almost always PlayedForLaughs.

* VillainSong: Surprisingly, the villain in ''Evening Primrose'' (Ms. Munday) did not receive one, most likely because it was only written to fit within an hour of television broadcast time. Many fans think that if ''Evening Primrose'' were to be expanded for stage, Ms. Munday should deserve a song.

!!!Works by Stephen Sondheim without their own pages, and his oeuvre in general, provide examples of:

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: He loves this. Any Sondheim musical will include lines like "I feel fizzy and funny and fine," "The realities remain remote," "The bong of the bell of the buoy in the bay," and the infamous "That's the puddle where the poodle did the piddle."
* AllMusicalsAreAdaptations: He's perhaps the only man ever to adapt a ''painting'' into a full-length musical. He's only done three completely original shows: ''Anyone Can Whistle'', ''Company'', and ''Follies''.
** ''Follies'' was inspired by a picture of Gloria Swanson standing in the ruins of the Roxy Theater.
** And ''Company'' was originally based on a series of one-act plays by George Furth that were combined into the musical.

* CounterpointDuet: BIG fan of this, puts it in almost all his shows, and sometimes going [[UpToEleven one step further]] and making it into a trio, quartet, quintet, sextet, septet, or [[MassiveMultiplayerEnsembleNumber an ensemble number with as much as 8-part counterpoint!!]]
* {{Deconstruction}}: Present to some degree in most of his works, most notably the following:
** ''[=Into the Woods=]'' (fairy tales)
** ''Pacific Overtures'' (the sort of East-meets-West story best represented by ''The King and I'')
** ''{{Theatre/Assassins}}'' and ''Road Show'' (the American Dream)
* DoubleMeaningTitle: ''Follies'', ''Pacific Overtures'', perhaps to a lesser extent ''Company''
* DownerEnding: ''Assassins'', ''Theatre/WestSideStory'' (inherent in the [[Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet source material]]), ''Merrily We Roll Along'' (subverted in that it's placed at the beginning), ''Sweeney Todd'', ''Follies'', ''Evening Primrose''.
** Some stagings of ''Gypsy'', notably the 2008 production starring Patti [=LuPone=].
* GossipyHens: Most of the minor characters in ''Sunday in the Park with George'', and some Gossipy Roosters in the form of the soldiers in ''Passion''.
* ''{{Leitmotif}}''
* LyricalDissonance

* {{Pastiche}}: Over half the songs in ''Follies'' are pastiches (not parodies) of the styles of older composers, lyricists and musical forms. The score of ''Assassins'' also consists mostly of pastiches of different American musical styles like patriotic marches and '80s pop.
* PatterSong: Uses these often in his musicals, such as "Getting Married Today" in ''Company,'' "The Contest" in ''Sweeney Todd,'' and "Now" in ''A Little Night Music.''
* {{Reconstruction}}: Arguably, ''Passion'', of the archetypal love epic.
* SanitySlippageSong: He's got several - "Epiphany" from ''Sweeney Todd,'' "Getting Married Today" from ''Company,'' "Live, Laugh, Love" from ''Follies,'' "Franklin Shepard Inc." from ''Theatre/MerrilyWeRollAlong,'' and "Rose's Turn" from ''Gypsy.''
** And really, any song containing the word "Ballad" in ''Assassins''.

* ShoutOut: In the opening of ''Pacific Overtures'', the Reciter sings of far off lands where, among other things, women are being praised, which is arguably a ShoutOut to 'In Praise of Women' from Sondheim's previous musical ''A Little Night Music''.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Very cynical in most cases
* SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion: More often inverted than played straight. Often he'll complete the rhyme, but in a way you'd never guess. Or he'll stuff in a bunch of internal rhymes where no other songwriter will dare.
* ThatRemindsMeOfASong: Used dramatically in ''Follies'', in which half the songs are numbers that the women used to sing in their days in the Ziegfeld Follies-esque show, but are used to point up the melancholy of the story.
* VillainSong: He's good at this.
** Surprisingly, the villain in ''Evening Primrose'' (Ms. Munday) did not receive one, most likely because it was only written to fit within an hour of television broadcast time. Many fans think that if ''Evening Primrose'' were to be expanded for stage, Ms. Munday should deserve a song.
** Everything except the parts sung by the Balladeer in Assassins counts as villain songs.
* WhiteDwarfStarlet: Half the cast of ''Follies'', a show which does a little examining of this very phenomenon.

Sondheim has also done the movie scores for two films: Creator/WarrenBeatty's ''Film/{{Reds}}'' and Alain Resnais' ''Stavisky.'' His collected lyrics (with his comments and recollections) have been published in two volumes: ''Finishing the Hat'' and ''Look, I Made a Hat.''

Sondheim has also done the movie scores for two films: Creator/WarrenBeatty's ''Film/{{Reds}}'' and Alain Resnais' ''Stavisky...''

'''Stephen Sondheim''' (born in New York City, New York on 22 March 1930) is one of the 20th Century's most respected composers of [[TheMusical musicals]]. He's won seven Tony Awards, an Academy Award, several Grammy Awards, and the UsefulNotes/PulitzerPrize. He began on Broadway as a lyricist, and then began writing his own music. Critics of his work complain that the songs are too complex and unhummable, which he went on to [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] in such works as ''Merrily We Roll Along'' and ''Theatre/SundayInTheParkWithGeorge''.

'''Stephen Sondheim''' (born in New York City, New York on 22 March 1930) is one of the 20th Century's most respected composers of [[TheMusical musicals]]. He's won seven Tony Awards, an Academy Award, several Grammy Awards, and the UsefulNotes/PulitzerPrize. He began on Broadway as a lyricist, and then began writing his own music. Critics of his work complain that the songs are [[ViewersAreMorons too complex and unhummable]], which he went on to [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] in such works as ''Merrily We Roll Along'' and ''Theatre/SundayInTheParkWithGeorge''.

'''Stephen Sondheim''' (b 22 March 1930) is one of the 20th Century's most respected composers of [[TheMusical musicals]]. He's won seven Tony Awards, an Academy Award, several Grammy Awards, and the UsefulNotes/PulitzerPrize. He began on Broadway as a lyricist, and then began writing his own music. Critics of his work complain that the songs are [[ViewersAreMorons too complex and unhummable]], which he went on to [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] in such works as ''Merrily We Roll Along'' and ''Theatre/SundayInTheParkWithGeorge''.

* ''MerrilyWeRollAlong'' (1981) (book by George Furth; directed by Hal Prince)

* SanitySlippageSong: He's got several - "Epiphany" from ''Sweeney Todd,'' "Getting Married Today" from ''Company,'' "Live, Laugh, Love" from ''Follies,'' "Franklin Shepard Inc." from ''MerrilyWeRollAlong,'' and "Rose's Turn" from ''Gypsy.''

'''Stephen Sondheim''' (b 22 March 1930) is one of the 20th Century's most respected composers of [[TheMusical musicals]]. He's won seven Tony Awards, an Academy Award, several Grammy Awards, and the PulitzerPrize. He began on Broadway as a lyricist, and then began writing his own music. Critics of his work complain that the songs are [[ViewersAreMorons too complex and unhummable]], which he went on to [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] in such works as ''Merrily We Roll Along'' and ''Theatre/SundayInTheParkWithGeorge''.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/24hf01_150.jpg

-->Audience enters into the brand new underground Henry Miller Theater, soon to-be-christened the STEPHEN SONDHEIM THEATER. It is under-attended, more modern than you're comfortable with, and requires you to travel deeper down than you think you ought to. \\

Good job with the naming, Roundabout.

* DownerEnding: ''Assassins'', ''Theatre/WestSideStory'', ''Merrily We Roll Along'' (subverted in that it's placed at the beginning), ''Sweeney Todd'', ''Follies'', ''Evening Primrose''.

* ''Theatre/TheFrogs'' (1971, revived in 2004) (play by Aristophanes)

* ''Theatre/TheFrogs'' (1941, revived in 2004) (play by Aristophanes)