Sondheim Studies

[scenicdesign71]

I'm starting this thread to post and discuss miscellaneous books and articles about Sondheim's work that don't fit into existing threads: for instance, stuff that's not focused on a specific show (there are separate threads for those), and isn't primarily interview- or video-oriented.

So, probably mostly written texts of one kind or another.  That, more than any particular academic slant, might be what I mean to connote by the "Studies" in the thread title.  Non-academic writing could certainly have a place on this thread, and perhaps even non-written material -- categories are always loose on this forum, and my real reason for starting it is, as usual, just because I came across something I wanted to post here, and couldn't find an existing thread to drop it into.

Namely, this article from The Atlantic about an English professor's recent experience teaching Sondheim to undergraduates at Portland State University:

Atlantic:  What Gen Z Knows About Stephen Sondheim
                     How the late composer's preoccupation with outsiders has endeared him to a new generation

[scenicdesign71]

This might or might not be strictly the right thread for this -- the article doesn't offer any wildly original insights -- but it'll do, and it's a free share:

NYT:   Stephen Sondheim Belongs in the Pantheon of American Composers
              Sondheim was a titan of musical theater. But four recent shows onstage in New York argue for his place among classical music luminaries, too.


Also cited by the League of American Orchestras on their Symphony.org website, with a capsule summary.

[scenicdesign71]

From The Sondheim Review, Spring 2000:

The Case for Sondheim as Existentialist  by Alfie Kohn

A quarter century later — and just over a decade since Oxford published their Companion to Sondheim Studies — Kohn's thesis is hardly news.  But at the time, it might well have struck many readers as a rather bold and original claim.  It's a brisk but insightful read, and if one were new to SJS's works and just beginning to grok how deep their themes run, Kohn's compact and elegant essay would provide ample encouragement to keep exploring.