Stephen Sondheim’s career stretches from writing the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy when he was in his late twenties to mentoring Jonathan Larson and Lin-Manuel Miranda in his seventies and eighties. His work encompasses the very best of modern musical theatre: Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods and Assassins. His trophy shelf boasts eight Tony Awards, eight Grammys, a Pulitzer Prize, an Olivier Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom – yet the most popular piece of Sondheim’s legacy is the ballad-turned-pop song most people can identify within four notes: Send in the Clowns’
First appearing in Stephen Sondheim’s 1973 Broadway musical A Little Night Music, Send in the Clowns became a popular pop hit after being recorded by both Frank Sinatra that same year, as well as Judy Collins in 1975. An extraordinary masterpiece that blends music and lyric, the song explores the ironies and disappointments of life as the character Desirée realizes her regret in turning down marriage years earlier from her lover Fredrik, who now as they’ve rekindled their romance with an affair, will not leave his much younger wife for her.
Sondheim was born March 22, 1930, in New York, New York. His early interest in music was encouraged by family friend Oscar Hammerstein II—one half of Rodgers and Hammerstein, the musical duo responsible for shows like Carousel and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Oklahoma! In addition to his studies with Hammerstein, Sondheim learned piano and organ, wrote school musicals, and studied music at Williams College in Massachusetts. After graduation he returned to New York, where he studied under composer Milton Babbitt.
After a few years of writing TV scripts in Hollywood, Sondheim received his first call to Broadway: he was hired as the lyricist on Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. When the musical opened, Sondheim was only 27 years old. West Side Story was a fortuitous beginning. Sondheim worked on a few more projects as a lyricist before deciding to focus on shows where he had full control of music and lyrics as both a composer and a lyricist. In 2008 Sondheim was granted a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. Stephen Sondheim died on November 26, 2021, at age 91. A few days later, hundreds of Broadway performers gathered in New York City’s Duffy Square to sing from Sondheim’s catalog and honor his legacy.
Send In The Clowns by Stephen Sondheim – arranged by Bob Krogstad and re-orchestrated by Paul Archibald
This recording was made on February 22nd 2025 and its purpose is to raise awareness of the work of the charity, HARMONY – ACTION THROUGH THE ARTS
weareharmony.org
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