The Chronology of Sondheim

An Attempt to Summarize Ninety Incredible Years Effectively

Beginnings

1930 - 1939

• March 22, 1930 - Stephen Joshua Sondheim is born to Janet Fox and Herbert Sondheim in New York City.

• 1937 - Stephen begins taking piano lessons.

1940 - 1949

• 1940 - Stephen's parents divorce, and his mother moves to Doylestown, PA, right next to new neighbor Oscar Hammerstein II, who will become the prominent father figure in Stephen's life.

• 1945 - Writes his first musical, which is for the military school he attends, entitled By George.

• 1946 - Enrolls and attends Williams College to major in mathematics.

• 1948 - Writes Phinney's Rainbow which premieres at Williams College, followed by All That Glitters in 1949.

The Start of a Legacy

1950 - 1959

• 1950 - Graduates from Williams College magna cum laude.

• 1953 / 54 - Works as a clapper boy in film and writes episodes for a CBS show called Topper.

• 1955 / 56 - Two Broadway musical efforts by Sondheim (Saturday Night and The Last Resorts) are abandoned and scrapped.

• 1956 - Chosen to write the lyrics for West Side Story with music by Leonard Bernstein.

• 1957 - West Side Story opens on Broadway

• 1958 - Asked to write the songs for Gypsy. Ethel Merman then requests another composer (Jule Styne), so Sondheim only writes the lyrics.

• 1959 - Gypsy opens on Broadway

• 1959 - Nominated for a Grammy Award for Song of the Year for "Small World" from Gypsy

1960 - 1969

• 1961 - West Side Story comes out on film (directed by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise). It wins ten Academy Awards, but none are for the principal creators of the musical.

• 1962 - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum opens on Broadway. It is the first Broadway production with both lyrics and music by Sondheim.

• 1963 - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum wins a Tony Award for Best Musical.

• 1964 - Anyone Can Whistle opens on Broadway.

• 1965 - Do I Hear a Waltz? opens on Broadway with music by Richard Rodgers.

• 1966 - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is released on film (directed by Richard Lester). Most of Sondheim's songs are cut.

Making a Name

1970 - 1979

• 1970 - Company opens on Broadway.

• 1970 - Approximately the time Sondheim comes out as gay.

• 1971 - Wins first Grammy Award for Best Score from an Original Cast Show Album for Company.

• 1971 - Follies opens on Broadway.

• 1973 - A Little Night Music opens on Broadway. For the third year in a row, Sondheim wins the Tony Award for Best Score of a Musical.

• 1975 - The recording of "Send in the Clowns" sung by Judy Collins enters the Billboard Top 40.

• 1976 - Pacific Overtures opens on Broadway.

• 1976 - "Send in the Clowns" wins the Grammy Award for Song of the Year.

• 1979 - Sweeney Todd opens on Broadway.

1980 - 1989

• 1981 - Merrily We Roll Along opens on Broadway.

• 1984 - Sunday in the Park with George opens on Broadway, with book and direction by James Lapine.

• 1985 - Sondheim and Lapine are awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Sunday in the Park with George.

• 1985 - Barbra Streisand's The Broadway Album is released, featuring 8 Sondheim songs, and hits #1 on the Billboard album chart.

• 1987 - Into the Woods opens on Broadway.

Earning Lifetime Recognition

• 1990 - Assassins opens off-Broadway.

• 1993 - Receives Kennedy Center Honors.

• 1994 - Passion, with book and direction by Lapine, opens on Broadway.

• 1996 - The film The Birdcage (directed by Mike Nichols) is released with three songs by Sondheim.

• 1997 - Receives the National Medal of Arts from the National Endowment for the Arts.

• 1998 - Stephen Sondheim: A Life, a major biography by Meryle Secrest, is published.