His best-known works include A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Into the Woods (1987), and Passion (1994). Sondheim began his career by writing the lyrics for West Side Story (1957) and Gypsy (1959), before eventually devoting himself solely to writing both music and lyrics. His shows addressed 'darker, more harrowing elements of the human experience', with songs often tinged with 'ambivalence' about various aspects of life.
One of the most important figures in twentieth-century musical theater, Sondheim was credited for having 'reinvented the American musical' with shows that tackled 'unexpected themes that range far beyond the traditional subjects' with 'music and lyrics of unprecedented complexity and sophistication'. Stephen Joshua Sondheim ( / ˈ s ɒ n d h aɪ m/ SOND-hyme March 22, 1930 – November 26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist.
