音乐剧大师斯蒂芬桑德海姆去世，享年91岁

《纽约时报》援引他的律师兼朋友 F. Richard Pappas 的话报道称，桑德海姆突然去世。帕帕斯告诉《泰晤士报》，桑德海姆前一天刚和朋友们一起吃晚饭庆祝感恩节。

作为作词家、词曲作者、概念艺术家和创意力量，桑德海姆在现代美国剧院中可能无人能及。他的作品涵盖了惊人的范围：“西区故事”（他为此写了歌词）更新的“罗密欧与朱丽叶”浪漫，“公司”中一群现代朋友和恋人的苦难，甚至总统凶手的困境（和谋杀未遂者）在“刺客”中。

在他的职业生涯中，他赢得了奥斯卡奖、普利策奖、八项格莱美奖、八项托尼奖、肯尼迪中心奖和总统自由勋章。曼哈顿剧院区的斯蒂芬桑德海姆剧院以他的名字命名。

特别是他的歌词是戏剧艺术的黄金标准，无论是挑衅（“玫瑰之轮”）、悲伤（“送小丑”）、不祥（“孩子们会听”）还是单纯的聪明（“啊，但在下面”）。

它们有时很棘手——充满了巧妙的押韵和具有挑战性的韵律，对于一个曾经将自己描述为“天生的数学家”的人来说，这或许很自然。但他们很少无法触及角色的核心。

“史蒂夫的歌曲的有趣之处在于，你会想，‘哦，这是关于某事，'然后你开始创作，然后你说，‘不，是关于某事，'”桑德海姆的主要口译员之一，女演员伯纳黛特·彼得斯 (Bernadette Peters)， 2010 年告诉 ABC 新闻。“它比你想象的更深入。”

桑德海姆特别擅长表达浪漫的渴望和失落。诸如“Send in the Clowns”（来自“A Little Night Music”）、“Losing My Mind”（来自“Follies”）和“Somewhere”（来自“West Side Story”）等歌曲的情感令人心碎。

“对于许多戏剧爱好者来说，有音乐剧，然后有桑德海姆音乐剧，”加里纳恩在卫报中写道。 “后者是它自己的一个类别，因为对于桑德海姆来说，每一个词、每一个押韵都经过精心处理，以至于它变得优美动听（如果有点啰嗦）。”

事实上，虽然他的作品有时被批评为油嘴滑舌，但桑德海姆说剧院的乐趣正在触动观众。

“我对戏剧感兴趣，因为我对与观众的交流感兴趣，”他在 2010 年告诉 NPR 的“新鲜空气”。“否则，我会从事音乐会音乐。我会从事另一种职业。我和音乐一样热爱戏剧，与观众交流并让他们发笑、让他们哭泣——只是让他们有感觉——的整个想法对我来说是最重要的。”

起点

斯蒂芬·约书亚·桑德海姆 (Stephen Joshua Sondheim) 于 1930 年 3 月 22 日出生于纽约，是一个富裕的服装制造商和他的设计师妻子的儿子。他的父母在桑德海姆青少年时期离婚，他搬到费城郊外的宾夕法尼亚州巴克斯县。

感谢朋友的父亲——著名剧团 Rodgers and Hammerstein 的作词人 Oscar Hammerstein II 的指导——桑德海姆已经是一位音乐神童，获得了戏剧写作大师班。

“他教我如何构建一首歌，一个角色是什么，一个场景是什么；他教我如何讲故事，如何不讲故事，如何使舞台指导实用，”桑德海姆告诉巴黎评论1997. “我把它全部吸收了，我仍然在实践他那天下午教给我的原则。”

桑德海姆就读于马萨诸塞州的威廉姆斯学院，在那里他获得了音乐奖学金，使他能够继续学习。在洛杉矶短暂停留后——在那里他为电视节目“Topper”写剧本，多亏了汉默斯坦的领导——他回到纽约并开始了在剧院的职业生涯。

他的第一次成功是在 27 岁时为《西区故事》作词，由伦纳德·伯恩斯坦 (Leonard Bernstein) 创作音乐。音乐剧的著名歌曲包括“美国”、“今晚”、“我感觉很漂亮”和“某处”。尽管桑德海姆后来称歌词“令人尴尬”，但该节目仍然大受欢迎，进行了近 1,000 场演出。

接下来是 1959 年的“吉普赛人”，桑德海姆与作曲家朱尔·斯泰恩（Jule Styne）合作的吉普赛·罗斯·李和她母亲罗斯的故事，以及 1962 年的“通往论坛的路上发生了一件有趣的事”，桑德海姆为此创作了音乐和歌词。

随后是一段漫长的枯燥期，最终在 1970 年与“公司”合作，该片持续了一年多并获得了托尼奖最佳音乐剧奖。这也标志着桑德海姆与制片人兼导演哈尔·普林斯 11 年合作的开始，其中包括诸如“Follies”（1971）、“A Little Night Music”（1973）和“Sweeney Todd”（1979）等热门歌曲。

“A Little Night Music”制作了可能是桑德海姆最著名的歌曲“Send in the Clowns”。

大胆的作品

随着桑德海姆的成熟，对于他的笔力和智慧来说，没有什么想法是太牵强了。

“Company”和“Follies”以其几乎没有情节的介绍而著称； “Pacific Overtures”（1976 年）讲述了 19 世纪美国进入日本的故事，以歌舞伎风格演出。 “Sweeney Todd”是一个关于一个凶残的理发师将他的受害者制成肉馅饼的嬉戏。

80 年代和 90 年代，他写了一部关于法国点彩画家乔治·修拉的音乐剧《与乔治一起在公园里的星期天》（1984 年），获得普利策戏剧奖。 《走进森林》（1987）可能是他表现最好的作品，是对格林童话的重新演绎。 “刺客”（1990）是一个关于总统刺客过去和现在的不太可能的故事。

他的最后一部新作品是 2008 年的“路演”，讲述了一对社会攀登的兄弟。它从未进入百老汇。

尽管他的早期作品，如《西区故事》和《吉普赛人》被拍成电影，但他 1970 年后的作品普遍抵制这种转变。

PBS 和 Showtime 为电视拍摄了“Sunday in the Park”，该版本后来随桑德海姆的评论一起发布。 2007 年，约翰尼·德普 (Johnny Depp) 主演了蒂姆·伯顿 (Tim Burton) 的《甜心托德》(Sweeney Todd)，而演员阵容包括梅丽尔·斯特里普 (Meryl Streep) 和未来的深夜主持人詹姆斯·科登 (James Corden) 的《走进森林》(Into the Woods) 于 2014 年拍摄。

导演史蒂文·斯皮尔伯格 (Steven Spielberg) 将于下个月推出新改编的“西区故事”。

桑德海姆因为 1990 年的“迪克·特雷西”“迟早”写的一首歌赢得了奥斯卡奖。作为一个核心的纽约人，他没有参加仪式。

然而，剧院是另一回事。 2010 年他 80 岁生日的评论“桑德海姆上的桑德海姆”赢得了热烈的评论和对他漫长职业生涯的重新考虑。这位作曲家是一个沉默寡言的人，在不狂喜地谈论他的克莱门特伍德押韵字典或赞美他的合作者时，他对这种反应通常很谦虚。

去年在全球大流行期间组织了一场庆祝桑德海姆 90 岁生日和工作的虚拟音乐会。这场为“努力终结贫困的艺术家”筹集资金的音乐会以百老汇重量级人物林-曼努埃尔·米兰达、奥德拉·麦克唐纳和帕蒂·卢波恩等人的出场和表演为特色。

“这在公众的聚光灯下有点太多了，”他告诉“新鲜空气”的特里格罗斯。 “但热情和感情的流露是值得的。知道人们喜欢你的东西真是太棒了。”

致敬

在桑德海姆去世的消息传出后，许多曾表演过桑德海姆作品或被其感动的人中，有一些人在社交媒体上发表了悼念之词。

“感谢上帝，桑德海姆活到 91 岁，所以他有时间写出如此美妙的音乐和伟大的歌词！”芭芭拉史翠珊写道。 “愿他安息。”

“也许自 1616 年 4 月 23 日以来，剧院还没有失去如此革命性的声音，”演员乔什·盖德 (Josh Gad) 写道。 “感谢桑德海姆先生的恶魔理发师，一些夜间音乐，周日在公园里，公司，在论坛上的乐趣，到树林里旅行并告诉我们一个西区故事。RIP。”

演员亚伦·特维特 (Aaron Tviet) 说：“感谢桑德海姆先生所做的一切。无言以对。我们很幸运能拥有你给予世界的一切。”

Stephen Sondheim, master of musical theater, dead at 91

(CNN)Stephen Sondheim, the renowned composer of "Into the Woods," "Sweeney Todd," "Gypsy," "Sunday in the Park with George" and other essential works of musical theater, died early Friday morning, according to Aaron Meier at DKC O&M, the producers of Sondheim's current production "Company." He was 91.

Sondheim died suddenly, the New York Times reported, citing his lawyer and friend F. Richard Pappas. Sondheim had just celebrated Thanksgiving with a dinner and friends the day before, Pappas told the Times.

As lyricist, songwriter, conceptual artist and creative force, Sondheim was perhaps without par in the modern American theater. His works encompassed astonishing range: the updated "Romeo and Juliet" romance of "West Side Story" (for which he wrote the lyrics), the travails of a modern group of friends and lovers in "Company," even the woes of presidential murderers (and attempted murderers) in "Assassins."

Over the course of his career, he won an Oscar, a Pulitzer, eight Grammy Awards, eight Tony Awards, a Kennedy Center honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Stephen Sondheim Theater in Manhattan's Theater District is named for him.

His song lyrics, in particular, were the gold standard of the theater art, whether defiant ("Rose's Turn"), sad ("Send in the Clowns"), ominous ("Children Will Listen") or simply clever ("Ah, but Underneath").

They were sometimes tricky -- filled with clever rhymes and challenging meters, perhaps natural for a man who once described himself as "a mathematician by nature." But they rarely failed to get to the heart of a character.

"What's funny about Steve's songs is you think, 'Oh, this is about something,' and then you start working on it, and you go, 'No, it's about SOMETHING,'" actress Bernadette Peters, one of Sondheim's leading interpreters, told ABC News in 2010. "It goes even deeper than you imagined."

Sondheim was particularly good at expressing romantic longing and loss. Songs such as "Send in the Clowns" (from "A Little Night Music"), "Losing My Mind" (from "Follies") and "Somewhere" (from "West Side Story") are heartbreaking in their emotion.

"For many theater lovers, there are musicals, then there are Sondheim musicals," wrote Garry Nunn in the Guardian. "The latter is a category of its own because with Sondheim, every single word, every rhyme has been labored over to the point that it's mellifluous and articulate (if a little garrulous)."

Indeed, though his work was sometimes criticized as glib, Sondheim said the joy of the theater was touching audiences.

"I'm interested in the theater because I'm interested in communication with audiences," he told NPR's "Fresh Air" in 2010. "Otherwise, I would be in concert music. I'd be in another kind of profession. I love the theater as much as music, and the whole idea of getting across to an audience and making them laugh, making them cry -- just making them feel -- is paramount to me."

Beginnings

Stephen Joshua Sondheim was born March 22, 1930, in New York, the son of a well-off dress manufacturer and his wife, a designer. His parents divorced when Sondheim was an adolescent, and he moved to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia.

Thanks to the tutelage of a friend's father -- lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II of the famed theatrical team Rodgers and Hammerstein -- Sondheim, already a musical prodigy, received a master class in play writing.

"He taught me how to structure a song, what a character was, what a scene was; he taught me how to tell a story, how not to tell a story, how to make stage directions practical," Sondheim told the Paris Review in 1997. "I soaked it all up, and I still practice the principles he taught me that afternoon."

Sondheim attended Williams College in Massachusetts, where he won a fellowship for his music that allowed him to continue study. After a short stint in Los Angeles -- where he wrote scripts for the TV show "Topper," thanks to a lead from Hammerstein -- he returned to New York and embarked on a career in the theater.

His first success, at age 27, was as lyricist to "West Side Story," with music by Leonard Bernstein. The musical's famous songs include "America," "Tonight," "I Feel Pretty" and "Somewhere." Though Sondheim later called the lyrics "embarrassing," the show was a massive hit, running for almost 1,000 performances.

Next came 1959's "Gypsy," the story of Gypsy Rose Lee and her mother, Rose, for which Sondheim worked with composer Jule Styne, and 1962's "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," for which Sondheim wrote both music and lyrics.

A long dry spell followed, finally snapped in 1970 with "Company," which ran for more than a year and took home a Tony for best musical. It also marked the beginning of Sondheim's 11-year collaboration with producer-director Hal Prince, which included such hits as "Follies" (1971), "A Little Night Music" (1973) and "Sweeney Todd" (1979).

"A Little Night Music" produced what is perhaps Sondheim's best-known song, "Send in the Clowns."

A bold body of work

As Sondheim matured, no idea seemed too far-fetched for his pen and intellect.

"Company" and "Follies" were notable for their almost plotless presentations; "Pacific Overtures" (1976), about the 19th-century American entry into Japan, was performed kabuki-style. "Sweeney Todd" was a romp about a murderous barber who has his victims made into meat pies.

In the '80s and '90s, he wrote a musical about French pointillist painter Georges Seurat, "Sunday in the Park with George" (1984), which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. "Into the Woods" (1987), probably his most-performed work, was a recasting of Grimm's fairy tales. "Assassins" (1990) was an unlikely tale about presidential assassins past and present.

His last new work was 2008's "Road Show," about a pair of social-climbing brothers. It never made it to Broadway.

Though his early works, such as "West Side Story" and "Gypsy," were made into movies, his post-1970 work generally resisted the transition.

PBS and Showtime filmed "Sunday in the Park" for television, a version later released with Sondheim's commentary. "Sweeney Todd" was made into a 2007 Tim Burton movie starring Johnny Depp, and "Into the Woods," with a cast including Meryl Streep and future late-night host James Corden, was filmed in 2014.

A new adaptation of "West Side Story" is due out next month from director Steven Spielberg.

Sondheim earned his Oscar for a song he wrote for 1990's "Dick Tracy," "Sooner or Later." A New Yorker to his core, he didn't attend the ceremony.

The theater, however, was another matter. A 2010 review for his 80th birthday, "Sondheim on Sondheim," earned rapturous reviews and a reconsideration of his long career. The composer, a reticent man when not waxing rhapsodically about his Clement Wood rhyming dictionary or praising his collaborators, was typically modest about the reaction.

A virtual concert celebrating Sondheim's 90th birthday and body of work was organized last year amid the global pandemic. The concert, which raised money for Artists Striving to End Poverty, featured appearances and performances from Broadway heavyweights like Lin-Manuel Miranda, Audra McDonald and Patti LuPone.

"It's been a little too much in the public spotlight," he told "Fresh Air's" Terry Gross. "But the outpouring of enthusiasm and affection has been worth it. It's terrific to know that people like your stuff."

Tributes

Some of the many people who've performed Sondheim's work or been moved by it flooded social media with tributes following news of his death.

"Thank the Lord that Sondheim lived to be 91 years old so he had the time to write such wonderful music and GREAT lyrics!" Barbra Streisand wrote. "May he Rest In Peace."

"Perhaps not since April 23rd of 1616 has theater lost such a revolutionary voice," actor Josh Gad wrote. "Thank you Mr. Sondheim for your Demon Barber, some Night Music, a Sunday in the Park, Company, fun at a Forum, a trip Into the Woods and telling us a West Side Story. RIP."

Actor Aaron Tviet said: "Thank you for everything Mr Sondheim. Speechless. We are so lucky to have what you've given the world."