Stephen Sondheim: A Life

The Good:Good anecdotes - and many of them. Heavily researched, good detail, and many comments/interviews.The Not-So-Good:Caveat - ends with "Passion" since the book was written in 1998.Briefly mentions "Wise Guys" but those readers needing more detail will need to look elsewhere.Writing style, when using quotes from interviews, is a flat-out mess: the paragraphs run to Proustian length, keeping track of the speaker's identity sometimes is difficult, and those endless paragraphs with endless in-quotes comments needed to be broken up and re-worked for greater readability. Shame on the editor who let all that get past.Summary:A biography with many good points per detail and a vast trove of anecdotes, plus many comments and recollections from Sondheim himself. That being said, reading the book ultimately becomes an exhausting slog, given (IMHO) the often/frequently sloppy and uncontrolled writing and layout.

I ordered this book as a replacement for a lost copy. It arrived in great condition as stated. This biography is so interesting and full of intriguing information that I had to read it twice.

This is the go to book for Sondheim biographical material. Wonderful read.

Very interesting reading. I've read several books so far on Sondheim..one of which was on th making of Follies. I think this author took liberty with a heavy hand and repeated what the author wrote in the section of the book that discussed Follies. Other than that, I thought it was a very inciteful biography.

enjoyed all the background information in the beginning of the book that was about his childhood ad how he was molded into who he is today. The end wasn't as good because it became an overview of the shows he had written rather than about his life, but the first half to two-thirds was excellent coverage of him growing up and seeing where he found success and challenge.

Sondheim really changed theatre. He was a man who was not afraid of failing -- not having smash hits -- which he did very often. This book is about his life and work, not about who he !@#$-ed and how he #$%^-ed him. I found it very interesting as I think anyone would who enjoys his work.

I am a huge fan of Mr. Sondheim and his work. I had the privilege of seeing the original Company in 1971 and a revival in 2007. I have also seen a Little Night Music on Broadway and loved Sweeney Todd. He is a true genius who had a rather sad time of it with an unloving mother. The book is very well done and I will be starting his two "Hat" books which I own,very soon.

Great writing, fascinating life, well researched, a very enjoyable biography. I’m about half way through and I’m slowing down so I can savor it. When you come across a great biography writer, it’s such a pleasure. This author really delivers.

The definitive, best biography of Stephen Sondheim's life was written by none other than Sondheim himself, in his marvelous 2-part "Hat" tomes. But, apart from those fantastic books, this one is a very good companion.... Well researched and well-written. Will be enjoyed by all Sondheim fans.

Excellent biography of the genius who is Stephen Sondheim. Very detailed and well written and in very good condition for a book of its vintage. I believe the same author has written a biography of Leonard Bernstein which is next on my "wanted" list.

I love the works of Stephen Sondheim. even "Anyone Can Whistle" and "Merrily We Roll Along". And then there is "Follies", the likes of which Broadway will never see again - it was that special. "Company","A Little Night Music"."Into the Woods" (not the movie version which is a kettle of fish and not a musical in the best sense. Please stop Marshall from making Broadway musicals into movies. If you were to judge the movie "Nine" as an accurate presentation of the play, you would wonder how this masterpiece lasted so long on Broadway; Marshall totally butchered it!) were all treasures unequalled in the past century. And then, ignoring the movie again, there is "Sweeney Todd", quite likely the greatest musical masterpiece that Broadway has ever seen, and, no, I am not forgetting "Porgy and Bess", brilliance in its own way, but with a few too many flaws, especially in its latest reincarnation.So I delayed getting the book for fear of Sondheim somehow being diminished in my eyes, and heart. It didn't happen. There is too much about his miserable mother, but otherwise, there isn't a page that doesn't deliver insights into the man and his musicals. I suspect there will be no new musicals from him, but while he's still blessedly with us, I can hope. I wouldn't even mind if it turned out to be another "Pacific Overtures", which I'm still trying to get my head around since it is his one show I have not seen on a stage.If you love his works even half as much as I do, buy the book. It is a life story worth reading about as it is well-researched, well-written, and gives us so much more knowledge of the genius of this man and his work. He certainly had "a good thing going", and it would be sheer heaven to see it keep on going still.

I wasn't impressed with this. The stories of Sondheim's parents' upbringing are written with a prophetic tone that would seem to lend itself to a biography of Gandhi or Charles Manson. I didn't get much further than that.