Stephen Sondheim was an American composer and lyricist, considered the greatest writer of musical theatre of the late twentieth century. Beginning his career as a lyricist his early work includes West Side Story (1957) and Gypsy (1959). He later transitioned to writing both music and lyrics for the theater, with his best-known works including A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Anyone Can Whistle (1964), Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), Pacific Overtures (1976), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Into the Woods (1987), Assassins (1990), and Passion (1994).
Sondheim's numerous awards include eight Tony Awards (including a Lifetime Achievement Tony in 2008), an Academy Award (for Dick Tracy), eight Grammy Awards, an Olivier Award, a Pulitzer Prize, a Kennedy Center Honor, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom. A theater is named after him both on Broadway and in the West End of London. Film adaptations of his works include West Side Story (1961), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), A Little Night Music (1977), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), Into the Woods (2014), and Spielberg's West Side Story (2021).
James Lapine is a leading American theatrical director, librettist and playwright. Among Lapine's most notable works is "Sunday in the Park with George", which he produced in collaboration with Stephen Sondheim. It won two Tony Awards, numerous Drama Desk Awards and the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Lapine and Sondheim collaborated again to create the musical play "Into the Woods" (1987), which proved to be the pair's most successful collaboration, earning the Best Book and Best Score Tony Awards. As a follow-up, Lapine and Sondheim produced "Passion" (1994), a full-length intermission-less musical show about the many faces of love which also won the Tony Award for Best Musical. Other Lapine works have included "March of the Falsettos" and "Falsettoland" - both produced in collaboration with composer William Finn. In 1992, "Falsettoland" won Tony Awards for its book and score. In addition to his work in the musical theater, Lapine became a noted stager of dramatic works, including Shakespeare. He enjoyed a spectacular success with a 1982 PBS telecast production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" starring William Hurt as Oberon. Like many stage directors, Lapine ventured into the realm of filmmaking. In 1991, working from a script by his wife Sarah Kernochan, he produced "Impromptu" - a romantic romp set in the 19th-century, and "Life with Mikey", a comedy in which TV actor Michael J. Fox portrayed a struggling talent agent.
Sources
The College of Arts