The Six Degrees of Sondheim

[KathyB]

Ty Cobb ( the baseball player,  I don't know another) played Baseball.

The other one is the president's special counsel, or at least one of his lawyers.
W. Somerset Maugham

[Bookman George]

W. Somerset Maughan wrote
Of Human Bondage, a film adaptation of which starred
Kim Novak, who appeared in The Mirror Crack'd with
Angela Lansbury, whose SJS connections go all the way back to Anyone Can Whistle.


Galileo

[Bookman George]

No one has replied for a week, so I thought I would bring this game back into the foreground. I do have a connection, if no one else can think of one.

[KathyB]

Galileo was the subject of a song by Indigo Girls,
Who were featured in the documentary Wordplay, along with Will Shortz,

(And while I'm sure there are several links from Shortz to Sondheim using obscure names known only to rabid puzzlers, I'm going to go the easy route:)

Who is the crossword puzzle editor of the New York Times,
Which has reviewed many a Sondheim production.



Karen Carpenter

[Chris L]

The music of Karen Carpenter's group The Carpenters is frequently cited as an influence on...
"Unworthy of Your Love" from Sondheim's Assassins.
(I can't recall if Sondheim has said this himself.)

Billy Crystal

[Bookman George]

Billy Crystal starred in Forget Paris with Debra Winger

who starred in Terms of Endearment with Shirley MacLaine

who sang a version of "I'm Still Here" in Postcards from the Edge.


Sophia Loren

[MartinG]

Sophia Loren appeared in Desire Under the Elms with... 
Anthony Perkins, who starred in Evening Primrose.


Christopher Crowfield

[AmyG]

Christopher Crowfield is a sometimes pseudonym of Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Which was featured in The King and I by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II as a the ballet "The Small House of Uncle Thomas".
Of course there are ties for both of these guys but I'll just say Oscar Hammerstein II was Sondheim's mentor.

Alexander Hamilton

[Leighton]

Hamilton was the inspiration for, well Hamilton, written by Lin Manuel Miranda
Miranda was in Merrily


Dave Benson Phillips

[MartinG]

Dave Benson Phillips appeared in the film The National Union of Space People with...
Brian Capron, who was in the 1996 film of Emma with...
Sophie Thompson who appeared in Company and Into The Woods at the Donmar.



Gerald Scarfe

[Bookman George]

Time to resurrect this game!



British cartoonist Gerald Scarfe drew a cartoon of a JFK surrounded by a bevy of faceless breasts.
Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, a major character in Assassins.



Isaac Stern

[MartinG]

Isaac Stern provided the violin soundtrack for Fiddler On The Roof, which is mentioned obliquely in "It's A Hit!" from MWRA.


Carla Bruni

[Bookman George]

Carla Bruni had a small role in Midnight in Paris, which was directed by Woody Allen.

Allen had previously directed Blue Jasmine, the cast of which included Peter Sarsgaard, who is married to Maggie Gyllenhaal, whose brother Jake recently starred in the NY revival of Sunday in the Park.



John Adams (the president, not the current composer).

[Chris L]

John Adams (the president, not the current composer).

In the original production (and movie) of 1776, Adams was played by William Daniels.
Daniels was in the movie Reds...
...which contains music written by Stephen Sondheim.

Ivanka Trump

[Leighton]

Ivanka's father is Donald Trump
Trump was in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, as was Dana Ivey, who was in SITPWG


Gary Barlow