Stephen Sondheim
Monday 6 August 2007 21:45-22:30 (Radio 3)
Norman Lebrecht talks to Stephen Sondheim, the leading living exponent of the American musical, in an interview recorded in April this year at his home in New York.
Sondheim sees himself essentially as a songwriter, but through his collaborations with various dramatists, he has consistently extended the style and subject matter of the genre. This conversation embraces the influence of Oscar Hammerstein, Sondheim's collaborations with Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, Harold Prince, James Lapine and others. His aims as a dramatist, why some musicals failed at their first outings, and his thoughts about his last musical Bounce and the forthcoming film of Sweeney Todd.
This interview forms part of a series to be broadcast during the Proms season to include Lang Lang, Peter Sellars and Mariss Jansons.
This programme will be available to download for 7 days as a podcast from The Lebrecht Interview homepage.
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