Stephen Sondheim returns with the second volume of his collected lyrics, giving us another remarkable glimpse into his life's work, and into his life
Stephen Sondheim has written award-winning music and lyrics for theatre, film, and television. He is also the coauthor of the film The Last of Sheila and the play Getting Away with Murder. Sondheim is on the council of the Dramatists Guild of America, having served as its president from 1973 to 1981. He lives in New York City.
With this chronological continuation of Finishing the Hat, musical theater lyricist and composer Sondheim has produced another delightful book that melds lyrics, anecdotes, opinions, and whimsy. This volume features lyrics from Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Assassins, and other shows, including unproduced works and television material. As in the previous volume, Sondheim includes descriptions about each show, as well as running commentary. Sondheim's general essays (the "harangues" and "dogmas" of the subtitle) show him at his opinionated and literate best. In "Awards and Their Usefulness," for instance, he writes, "the only awards that have significant value are the ones that come with cash." He also discusses (as in the first volume) his fellow lyricists and notes, for example, how the opening scene in Meredith Willson's The Music Man approaches modern rap. The book includes appendixes ("Oversights," "Original Productions," and "Selected Discography") and "Index of Songs" and "Subject Index." Verdict Highly recommended; certainly all libraries owning the first volume will want the second.-Bruce R. Schueneman, Texas A&M Univ. Lib., Kingsville (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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