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March 22, 1930
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is born in New York City to Janet Fox and Herbert Sondheim
1937
SS begins piano lessons
1940
SS's parents divorce and he moves with his mother to rural Pennsylvania, becoming acquainted with the neighbors, Oscar Hammerstein II and family
1942
SS enters the George School in Newtown, PA
1945
SS and friends write the school musical By
George
1946
SS enters Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, intending to major in mathematics
1947
During his summer vacation, SS is a gopher on the set of Rodgers' and Hammerstein's Allegro
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May, 1948
Phinney's Rainbow
is performed at Williams College
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March, 1949
All That Glitters is performed at Williams College
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1950
SS graduates from Williams (magna cum laude), receives the Hutchinson Prize, which allows him to study under Milton Babbitt
1953
SS is the clapper boy during the filming in Italy of John Huston's Beat the Devil
1953 - 1954
SS writes episodes of the CBS television series Topper
1954
A television musical adaptation of Frank Stockton's The Lady or the Tiger? written with Mary Rodgers is abandoned
1955
SS's first Broadway effort Saturday Night is abandoned when the producer dies
1956
SS writes the incidental music for the Broadway production The Girls of Summer
1956
Another Broadway musical attempt The Last Resorts is scrapped
1956
SS is chosen to write the lyrics for West Side Story with music by Leonard Bernstein
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September 26, 1957
West Side Story (music
by Leonard Bernstein; book by Arthur
Laurents) opens on Broadway
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January 6, 1957
SS is writer for the CBS television series "The Last Word", a
panel discussion exploring language and usage
1958
SS is asked to write the songs for Arthur
Laurents' book of Gypsy;
at Ethel Merman's request another composer (Jule Styne) is brought in,
so SS writes lyrics only
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May 21, 1959
Gypsy (music by Jule
Styne; book by Arthur Laurents) opens
on Broadway
November, 1959
SS (with Jule Styne) is nominated for (but doesn't win) the Grammy Award
for Song of the Year for "Small World" from Gypsy
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1960
SS writes the incidental music for Arthur
Laurents' play Invitation
to a March
October, 1961
Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins' film of West
Side Story is released, winning ten Academy Awards (but none
for its principal creators) |
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May 8, 1962
The first Broadway production with lyrics AND music by SS A
Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (book by Burt
Shevelove and Larry Gelbart) opens
1963
Forum wins the Tony Award
for best musical, the first of many for SS
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April 4 - 11, 1964
Anyone Can Whistle
(book by Arthur Laurents) has 9 performances
on Broadway
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March 8, 1965
Do I Hear a Waltz? (music
by Richard Rodgers; book by Arthur Laurents)
opens on Broadway
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1965
SS and James Goldman begin work on The
Girls Upstairs, which would eventually evolve into Follies
(1971)
1966
Richard Lester's film of A Funny
Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is released (without
most of Sondheim's songs)
November 16, 1966
A one-hour musical drama Evening
Primrose (four songs by SS; teleplay by James
Goldman) is telecast on ABC
1968
The Exception and the Rule
[aka A Pray by Blecht], a musical with music by Leonard
Bernstein and lyrics by SS is abandoned
1968 - 1969
SS's crossword puzzles appear in New York magazine
1969
Harold Prince agrees to produce The
Girls Upstairs after SS agrees to help with a series of playlets
by George Furth, which would eventually
become Company
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April 26, 1970
Company (book
by George Furth) opens on Broadway; this
and all new SS Broadway productions through 1981 are directed by Harold
Prince
March 16, 1971
SS wins his first Grammy Award for Best Score from an Original Cast Show
Album for Company
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April 4, 1971
Follies (book
by James Goldman) opens on Broadway
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October 13, 1971
A revival of A Funny Thing Happened
on the Way to the Forum opens in Los Angeles, California (moves
to Broadway on April 4, 1972)
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February 25, 1973
A Little Night Music
(book by Hugh Wheeler) opens on Broadway.
For an unprecedented third year in a row SS wins the Tony Award for Best
Score of a Musical
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March 11, 1973
A benefit concert honoring SS is performed on the set of A
Little Night Music, released as Sondheim:
A Musical Tribute
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March 29, 1973
Gypsy (with Angela Lansbury) opens in London (moves to Broadway
on September 23, 1974)
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April 23, 1973
SS appears on the cover of Newsweek |
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1973
The film The Last of Sheila
is released with a screenplay by SS and Anthony Perkins
1973
SS is brought in to help with the lyrics for Harold
Prince's revival of Leonard Bernstein's
Candide
1974
First edition of Sondheim & Co.,
Craig Zadan's biography of SS is published
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March 10, 1974
Candide with lyrical
revisions by SS opens on Broadway
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May 15, 1974
Alain Resnais' film Stavisky
is released in France with a score by SS [US release in December, 1974]
May 20, 1974
The Frogs (book and direction
by Burt Shevelove) is performed in
the Yale Swimming Pool
July 26, 1975
Judy Collins' recording of "Send in the Clowns" enters into the
Billboard Top 40 chart
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January 11, 1976
Pacific Overtures (book
by John Weidman) opens on Broadway
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February 28, 1976
SS wins the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for "Send in the Clowns"
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May 4, 1976
Side by Side by Sondheim,
a musical revue (directed by Ned Sherrin), opens in London (moves to Broadway
on April 18, 1977)
March, 1978
Harold Prince's film of A Little
Night Music is released
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March 1, 1979
Sweeney Todd (book
by Hugh Wheeler) opens on Broadway
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February 14, 1980
Revival of West Side Story
opens on Broadway
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October 29, 1980
Marry Me a Little, a
musical revue of obscure and/or discarded songs by SS (conceived by Craig
Lucas and Norman Rene), opens off-Broadway
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November 16 - 28, 1981
Merrily We Roll Along
(book by George Furth) has 16 performances
on Broadway; the Harold Prince / SS partnership
comes to an end
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December, 1981
Warren Beatty's film Reds is released with a score by SS
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March 23, 1983
Concerts in honor of SS are performed at Sotheby Parke Bernet, NYC; released
as A Stephen Sondheim Evening
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July 6, 1983
Workshop performances of Sunday in the Park with George begin
May 2, 1984
Sunday in the Park with George (book and direction by James Lapine) opens on Broadway
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March 22, 1984
The revised Pacific Overtures
opens off-Broadway (moves to Broadway on October 25, 1984)
July 14, 1984
Harold Prince's opera-house version of Sweeney Todd opens in Houston, Texas (opens at the New York City Opera on October 11, 1984)
April 14, 1985
SS and James Lapine are awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Sunday in the Park with George
June 16, 1985
The revised Merrily We Roll Along (directed by James Lapine) opens in La Jolla, California
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September 6 - 7, 1985
All-star concert performances of Follies is performed
at Lincoln Center, NYC; released as Follies
in Concert
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November 18, 1985
Barbra Streisand's The Broadway Album is released, with eight SS songs (three with lyrical revision by SS); hits #1 on the Billboard album chart
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December 4, 1986
Workshop performances of Into the Woods (book and direction by James Lapine) begin in San Diego, California
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July 24, 1987
A major revision of Follies
(with new songs by SS and a new book by James
Goldman) opens in London
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November 5, 1987
Into the Woods opens
on Broadway
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November 16, 1989
Another revival of Gypsy opens on Broadway
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June 15, 1990
Warren Beatty's film Dick Tracy
is released with five songs by SS
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December 18, 1990
Assassins (book by
John Weidman) opens off-Broadway
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1991
SS wins the Academy Award for Best Song for "Sooner or Later"
from Dick Tracy
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January 27, 1992
Putting It Together, a
musical revue (devised by SS and Julia McKenzie), opens in Oxford, England (Opens
in New York on April 1, 1993)
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June 10, 1992
A benefit concert honoring SS is performed at Carnegie Hall; released as
Sondheim: A Celebration at
Carnegie Hall
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1992
An attempt at a film musical Singing
Out Loud (screenplay by William Goldman with songs by SS) is
abandoned
March / April, 1993
Original cast reunion concerts of Company
are performed
December 5, 1993
SS is a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors
December 12, 1993
A filmed version of Gypsy
starring Bette Midler (and quite faithful to the stage version) is televised on CBS
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May 9, 1994
Passion (book and direction
by James Lapine) opens on Broadway
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May 15, 1994
Tenth anniversary reunion concert of Sunday
in the Park with George is performed
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May 26, 1994
The New York debut of the revised Merrily
We Roll Along opens at the York Theatre
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April 8, 1995
All-star benefit concert performance of Anyone
Can Whistle is recorded
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1995
The Kennedy Center announces that they have commissioned SS and John Weidman to write a musical (tentatively titled Wise Guys), based on the life of the Mizner brothers, a project SS has had on the back burner for forty years
September 10, 1995
SS and George Furth's non-musical play,
The Doctor is Out,
opens in San Diego, California
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October 5, 1995
First major New York revival of Company
opens off-Broadway. Plans to move to Broadway in December are scrapped
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March 8, 1996
Mike Nichols' film The Birdcage
is released with three songs by SS
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March 17 - 31, 1996
The Doctor is Out, retitled Getting
Away With Murder, opens on Broadway for 17 performances
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April 18, 1996
A smash hit revival of A Funny
Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum opens on Broadway
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January 9, 1997
SS accepts the National Medal of Arts from the National Endowment for the
Arts
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April 17, 1997
Another reworking of Candide
opens on Broadway with additional lyrics by SS
November 9, 1997
Benefit concerts of Into
the Woods are performed on Broadway by the original cast to
commemorate the tenth anniversary of the show
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December 17, 1997
More than 40 years after it is written, the first full production of Saturday
Night opens at the Bridewell Theatre, London
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![Sondheim [by Meryle Secrest]](graphics/tnsecrest.jpg) |
June, 1998
Stephen Sondheim: A Life,
a major biography by Meryle Secrest, is published |
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March 12-14, 1999
Concert performances of Sweeney
Todd are presented in Los Angeles to commemorate its twentieth
anniversary
May 19, 1999
The American Premiere of Saturday
Night is produced by Chicago's Pegasus Players
October 29, 1999
A workshop of Wise Guys is presented by the New York Theatre Workshop
November 21, 1999
The first Broadway production of Putting It Together opens
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January 18, 2000
Previews of the New York premiere of Saturday
Night begin at the Second Stage Theatre
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May 4 - 6, 2000
Three concert performances of Sweeney Todd are presented by the New York Philharmonic to celebrate Sondheim's 70th birthday
May 22, 2000
The Library of Congress celebrates Sondheim's birthday with a concert in Washington DC
December 1, 2000
The London premiere of Merrily We Roll Along opens at the Donmar Warehouse
March 8, 2001
Previews begin for the first Broadway revival of Follies. It closes on July 14, 2001
July 19 - 21, 2001
Three concerts of Sweeney Todd are performed in San Francisco and filmed for a television broadcast on October 31, 2001
September 13, 2001
Plans for the first Broadway production of Assassins (originally scheduled for November) are scrapped due to the tragic events of September 11, 2001
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October 16, 2001
The world premiere recording of the score from The Frogs is released
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February 1, 2002
Previews begin in Los Angeles for a new production of Into the Woods. It opens on Broadway on April 30, 2002
May 10, 2002
The opening night performance of Sweeney Todd begins the four-month long Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration in Washington DC
July 9, 2002
A limited engagement of Amon Miyamoto's Japanese-language version of Pacific Overtures opens at Lincoln Center in NYC and later in the year plays at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC
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May 1, 2003
Another revival of Gypsy, this time starring Bernadette Peters, opens on Broadway
June 30, 2003
Previews begin at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago for the world premiere production of Bounce, the first new SS musical in nine years (and SS's first work with Hal Prince in more than twenty years)
October 30, 2003
The Kennedy Center production of Bounce opens at the Eisenhower Theatre in Washington
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March 26, 2004
Previews of the first Broadway production of Assassins begin at Studio 54, opening on April 22
July 9, 2004
The Royal National Theatre revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum opens in London
July 22, 2004
An revised and expanded production of The Frogs adapted by Nathan Lane and with several new songs by SS opens at Lincoln Center
October 20, 2004
Most of the original Broadway cast of Passion return for a Tenth Anniversary Concert
December 2, 2004
Another Broadway revival of Pacific Overtures opens at Studio 54. It is an English-language version of Amon Miyamoto's New National Theatre version
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March, 2005
Several tribute concerts are performed to celebrate the 75th birthday of SS, including Wall to Wall Stephen Sondheim on March 19, Children and Art on March 21, and later in the year, Stephen Sondheim's 75th: The Concert on July 8
May 10, 2005
Stephen Sondheim Sings, the first volume of SS demos performed by the composer is released on PS Classics. A second volume appears in October
October 3, 2005
Previews begin for another Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd
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May 13, 2006
The Menier Chocolate Factory production of Sunday in the Park With George transfers to the Wyndham's Theater, London, becoming the first West End revival of that show.
October 30, 2006
Another Broadway revival of Company begins previews at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.
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February 8-12, 2007
Encores! presents a concert version of Follies at New York City Center.
March 4, 2007
An animated SS voiced by the man himself appears on an episode of the animated television series The Simpsons.
December 21, 2007
The film version of Sweeney Todd, directed by Tim Burton, opens in theaters nationwide in the US.
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January 25, 2008
The 2006 London revival of Sunday in the Park With George transfers to New York City's Studio 54, becoming the show's first Broadway revival.
March 3,2008
The fifth Broadway production of Gypsy begins previews at the St. James Theatre.
May, 2008
The first authorized release of the soundtrack recording from the 1966 television special Evening Primrose.
June 15, 2008
SS is presented a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater.
September 30, 2008
The Story So Far..., a career-spanning box set celebrating the work of Stephen Sondheim, is released in the US.
October 28, 2008
Previews begin for Road Show, a revision of the show previously known as Bounce, for a limited Off-Broadway run at The Public Theater.
November 22, 2008
A new production of A Little Night Music opens at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London. It will transfer to the West End's Garrick Theatre in March, 2009, and then open on Broadway later in the year.
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January 12, 2009
A Gala Concert reading of A Little Night Music is presented at Studio 54, NYC.
February 23, 2009
Previews for a Broadway revival of West Side Story begin at the Palace Theatre.
November 24, 2009
Previews for a Broadway revival (based on the London production} of A Little Night Music begin at the Walter Kerr Theatre.
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March 10, 2010
The London revival of Anyone Can Whistle opens at the Jermyn Street Theatre.
March 15, 2010
Sondheim's 80th birthday is celebrated by the New York Philharmonic and guests at Lincoln Center in New York City. Several more celebrations are held the following months: Encores! concerts of Anyone Can Whistle in April, and concerts at New York City Center in April, the Royal Philharmonic, London in April, Kennedy Center, Washington DC in May, Ravinia Festival, near Chicago in July, and the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, London in July.
March 19, 2010
Previews begin at Studio 54 for Sondheim on Sondheim, a new multi-media revue of his work, conceived and directed by James Lapine.
March 22, 2010
At a birthday gala at Roundabout's Studio 54, Sondheim is surprised to learn that a Broadway theatre will be renamed in his honor. The former Henry Miller's Theatre on West 43rd Street is now the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.
October 26, 2010
The first part of Sondheim's collected lyrics, titled Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes, will be published by Alfred A. Knopf.
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