Stephen Sondheim on Leonard Bernstein - 1998

I just love hearing Sondheim talk - so erudite and yet so grounded - and I always learn a lot from what he says.

Think of how lucky we are to have access to this history...

I could listen to him talk for a million hours. Incredibly interesting.

This is a treasure. Thank you.

This is brilliant in so many levels! Rather a master class, than an interview. Genius. And the glimpse of a very interesting human being, too. ❤

You can learn everything you need to know about lyric writing from this man.

Love the clarity of his process

What would West Side Story have been without this genius?

Cant get enough Sondheim!

Put this one in a time capsule--he was the best

Fascinating and brilliant this is indeed. What a joy to listen to. God bless Sondheim and Bernstein. S x

This is the kind of stuff that should have been incorporated into Maestro

Bless you for posting this.

I suggest you retitle this interview to indicate that it's very much about West Side Story in general as much or more than about Leonard Bernstein

Many thanks for this Sondheim interview. PLEASE DO MORE interviews of Broadway, Off. Off-Off Broadway, notables of any profession, song and lyric composers, actors, producers, critics, or anyone. Check tin pan alley composer and lyrisist Bob Dahdah. I just Google searched Bob Dahdah, who died 1n 2016 aged 89. He did many radio interviews with notable New York theater personalities for either WNYC or a NYC public cable station for years. I'm in Moscow now but Bob was a longtime friend from 1987 on. I will return to NJ in July 2024 after school ends where I teach English and computer science. He directed "Dames at Sea" at the famous "grandtather" of Off Brodway theater, Cafe Cino.

A wonderful interview with Stephen Sondheim, and his collaboration and rivalry with Leonard Bernstein. It doesn’t matter! 😆 They were co-authors and protagonists of the best Modern American Music and creations of Masterpieces of their time. Outstanding Authors in Lyrics and Music forever ✨

There’s an edge to his thoughts on Bernstein. He sounds critical of Bernstein’s genius and is very measured with any praise he fives him.I have it think there is a backstory to their relationship.

Thank you for this!!

Oh, I miss him.....

This interview is a vast treasure trove of insight. I just want to know, when he talks about Lenny’s Serenade (the first three movements) what his objection was to the other two. Too jazzy and musical I guess. But he singled them out, those first three.