Musical Theatre: Sondheim

The resources on this page are on the upper level of Lewis Library unless indicated.  Remember that we can also borrow books and vocal scores on interlibrary loan.

See the reference librarian for additional resources.

The International Bibliography of Theater and Dance database in GALILEO includes PDF full text for The Sondheim Review (a quarterly journal on Sondheim and his works) from 2004 to the present.  Type “sondheim review” in the “Publication” box to restrict your search to this publication.  Or search the entire database to find something specific (e.g., “sondheim AND assassins”).

You can visit The Sondheim Review's web page here.

We have many books on Sondheim, including his own two-volume collection of his lyrics with extensive commentary.

• Sondheim, Stephen.  Finishing the Hat:  Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines, and Anecdotes.  (call number ML54.6 .S69 S66 2010)
• Sondheim.  Look, I Made a Hat:  Collected Lyrics (1981-2011)… (ML54.6 .S69 S662 2011)
• Horowitz, Mark Eden.  Sondheim on Music:  Minor Details and Major Decisions.  Expanded 2^nd edition (2-010) available as an e-book; 2003 edition on the shelf (ML410 .S6872 A5 2003)
• Zadan, Craig.  Sondheim & Co.  (ML410 .S6872 Z2 1989)
• Secrest, Meryle.  Sondheim:  A Life.  (ML410 .S6872 S43 1998)
• Mordden, Ethan.  On Sondheim:  An Opinionated Guide.  (ML410 .S6872 M67 2015)
• Chapin, Theodore S.  Everything Was Possible:  The Birth of the Musical Follies.  (ML410 .S6872 C53 2003)
• Banfield, Stephen.  Sondheim’s Broadway Musicals.  (ML410 .S6872 B3 1993)
• Swayne, Steve.  How Sondheim Found His Sound.  University of Michigan Press, 2007.  Available as an e-book.
• Gordon, Joanne.  Art Isn’t Easy:  The Achievement of Stephen Sondheim.  (ML410 .S6872 G7 1990)  Also available as an e-book.
• Citron, Stephen.  Sondheim and Lloyd Webber.  Available as an e-book.

Other books contain essays or chapters on Sondheim, for example:

• The Cambridge Companion to the Musical (ML2054 .C355 2002)
• Easy to Remember:  The Great American Songwriters and Their Songs  (ML3477 .Z577 2001)
• Show Tunes:  The Songs, Shows, and Careers of Broadway’s Major Composers (REF ML 128 .M785 S86 2010, on the Main level)
• American Playwrights since 1945:  A Guide to Scholarship, Criticism, and Performance (REF Z1231 .D7 A53 1989, on the Main level)
• All American Music:  Composition in the Late Twentieth Century (ML200.5 .R6 1983)

• Gypsy (music by Jule Styne) (call number M1503 .S937 G9 1994)
• A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (M1503 .S6974 F9 1980)
• Anyone Can Whistle (M1503 .S6974 A62 1980Z)
• Company (M1503 .S6974 C6 1980)
• Follies (M1503 .S688 F6)
• A Little Night Music (M1503 .S6974 L52 1974C)
• Merrily We Roll Along (M1503 .S613 M4 1984)
• Sweeney Todd (M1503 .S6974 S93 2010)
• Into the Woods (M1503 .S6974 I6 2010)

We also have vocal selections for Merrily We Roll Along (M1508 .S6974 M47 2012).

• West Side Story (call number ML50 .B529 W44 1958)
• Gypsy (ML50 .S955 G9 1994)
• A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (ML50 .S705 F9 1991)
• Anyone Can Whistle (ML50 .S705 A52 1976)
• Do I Hear a Waltz?  (ML50 .R67 D6 1966)
• Company (ML50 .S705 C6 1996)
• Follies (ML50 .S705 F6 1971)
• A Little Night Music (ML50 .S705 L6 1991)
• The Frogs/A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (ML49 .S677 F8 1985; contains the 1974 version of The Frogs)
• Pacific Overtures  (ML50 .S705 P3 1991)
• Sweeney Todd  (ML50 .S705 S9 1991)
• Sunday in the Park with George (ML50 .S705 S8 1991)
• Into the Woods  (ML50 .S705 I5 1989)
• Assassins (ML50 .S705 A7 1991)
• Passion  (ML50 .S705 P37 1994)
• Road Show  (ML50 .S705 R63 2009)

Lewis Library subscribes to the Naxos Music Library database, which provides many Sondheim recordings.  You can do a “Composer” search for Sondheim, or link directly to the albums below.

Original cast albums:

Other recordings include:

• Saturday Night (“original New York cast”; call number CD M1505 .S655 S28 2000)
• West Side Story (music by Leonard Bernstein) (CD M1505 .B485 W47 1998)
• Gypsy (music by Jule Styne) (CD M1505 .S655 G98 1999)
• A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (CD M1505 .S694 F91 1993)
• Anyone Can Whistle (CD M1505 .S694 A64 2003)
• Company (CD M1505 .S694 C66 2009)
• Follies (CD M1505 .S694 F65 1992)
• A Little Night Music (CD M1505 .S655 L57 1998)
• Pacific Overtures (CD M1505 .S655 P32 1984)
• Sweeney Todd (CD M1503 .S66 S93 2007)
• Sweeney Todd (concert production with Michael Cerveris and Patti LuPone) (M1505 .S655 S9 2006)
• Merrily We Roll Along (CD M1505 .S694 M51 1981)
• Sunday in the Park with George (CD M1505 .S655 S86 2007)
• Into the Woods (original London cast recording) (CD M1505 .S694 I68 1991)
• Assassins  (CD M1505 .S694 A81 2009 and CD M1505 .S655 A71 2012)​

• Sweeney Todd (stage production, with Angela Lansbury and George Hearn) (DVD PN1997 .S913 2004)
• Sweeney Todd (motion picture, directed by Tim Burton) (DVD PN1997 .S944 2008)
• Into the Woods (stage production, with Bernadette Peters; commentary by Sondheim and others) (DVD PN1997 .S944 1999)
• Into the Woods (2014 motion picture, with Meryl Streep)  (DVD PN1997 .I5945 2015)

• Gypsy (with Imelda Staunton, DVD PN1997 .G97 2016)
• Candide (concert performance with Kristin Chenoweth, additional lyrics by Sondheim) (DVD M1505 .B485 C36 2005)

We have a videocassette of the documentary Company:  The Original Cast Recording (VC M1507 .C844 2000); it’s in Storage, so please ask if you wish to see it (we have a VCR in the library).

Also, on Streaming video, you can watch Sondheim in his television acting debut in the 1974 adaptation of the play June Moon:

​A few of these interviews are on the Web, but most are in GALILEO databases (and the first two are in books in the LaGrange College library)  If you have difficulty accessing any of them, please e-mail me at arobinson@lagrange.edu .

• Musicals—and Sondheim (ML410 .S6872 M87 1995; text of interviews from 1990 and 1993)
• In Their Own Words:  Contemporary American Playwrights (PS 352 .S28 1988; 1987 interview with Sondheim on pp.226-239)
• Interview (June 15, 2004) in Art of the American Musical:  Conversations with the Creators, pp. 186-205