Isn’t it rich? Why Stephen Sondheim, at nearly 90, is having a new heyday
Songs by the Broadway composer and lyricist are popping up in films and TV shows from Joker to Marriage Story
He is an 89-year old reclusive New Yorker who has been working on his new show for the last decade. Yet pop culture fans will have noted that the influence of this particular musical theatre icon is everywhere in 2019: from Marriage Story, the most talked-about film of the moment, to Joker, the year’s most violently controversial movie, everyone is making a song and dance about Stephen Sondheim.
The Broadway composer and lyricist behind Sweeney Todd, West Side Story and Gypsy turns 90 next year, but birthday celebrations seemed to have begun early with homage being paid to his work across the big and small screen: in the Apple TV series The Morning Show, Jennifer Aniston sings Not While I’m Around from an episode given the same name; Ryan Murphy (the writer behind Glee, American Crime Story and Pose) includes several numbers from Assassins in his show The Politician.