{"title":"Stephen Sondheim","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eExplore the words and worlds of Stephen Sondheim, one of musical theatre’s greatest storytellers. Discover the librettos, scripts and lyrics behind his groundbreaking musicals, where wit, complexity and unforgettable characters take centre stage.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"a-funny-thing-happened-on-the-way-to-the-forum","title":"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum","description":"\u003cp\u003eBased - very loosely - on the plays of Plautus, A Funny Thing...ran for three years on Broadway with Zero Mostel as the cowardly slave, Pseudolus. The first British production, with Frankie Howerd, ran almost as long and spawned the TV series Up Pompeii! A Funny Thing...was only Sondheim's third musical and the first for which he wrote the score as well as the lyrics. On the first two, West Side Story and Gypsy, he had written lyrics only. It opened on Broadway in May 1962 and ran for 964 performances.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fourth Wall Bookshop","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57995343200591,"sku":"9781854591456","price":13.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1006\/6028\/1679\/files\/9781854591456.jpg?v=1781953072"},{"product_id":"a-little-night-music-nhb-libretti","title":"A Little Night Music","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe libretto for Stephen Sondheim's utterly sophisticated and charming musical based on Ingmar Bergman's film, Smiles of a Summer Night. A Little Night Music features one of his most famous songs, Send in the Clowns.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWinner of the New York Drama Critics Circle Award and Tony Award for Best Musical, Sondheim's glorious musical revolves around the complicated love life of a middle-aged actress Desirée Armfeldt. Presided over by her formidable mother, Desirée attempts to rid herself of one lover in order to marry another. A weekend in the country proves to be a sparkling catalyst for love, tears and laughter.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fourth Wall Bookshop","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57995343266127,"sku":"9781854591074","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1006\/6028\/1679\/files\/9781854591074.jpg?v=1781953072"},{"product_id":"assassins","title":"Assassins","description":"\u003cp\u003e“Nothing quite prepares you for the disturbing brilliance of Assassins.” –David Richards, The New York Times\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Dark, demented humor, as horrifying as it is hilarious.” –Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Intelligent and thrilling musical theatre. Dazzling in its originality.” –Ken Mandelbaum, Theaterweek\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStephen Sondheim’s groundbreaking achievements in musical theatre attain a new level of audacity and accomplishment in his latest creation, Assassins. Evoking a fraternity of Presidential assassins and would-be assassins across a hundred years of our history (including John Wilkes Booth, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, John Hinckley and Lee Harvey Oswald), he and collaborator John Weidman examine success, failure and the questionable drive for power and celebrity in American society. The result is an unusually imaginative and utterly idiosyncratic entertainment compounded equally of insight, pleasure, and provocation. Assassins is an important and permanent addition to the American stage.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fourth Wall Bookshop","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57995343233359,"sku":"9781559360388","price":21.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1006\/6028\/1679\/files\/9781559360388.jpg?v=1781953071"},{"product_id":"company-tcg-edition","title":"Company","description":"\u003cp\u003e“A landmark musical, one of those few shows that enter the permanent lore of the theatre by altering the vocabulary of dramatic possibilities.” –Time\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“There’s never been a franker, more sophisticated work written for the musical stage.” –San Francisco Examiner\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“With a deliberately episodic, painfully accurate book by George Furth and an unforgettable score by Stephen Sondheim, Company is a total reversal of the usual musical comedy format. It is rigorously unsentimental. It has the courage to be both bitter and honest about love and marriage.” –Kevin Kelly, Boston Globe\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA breakthrough Broadway musical in 1970, Company remains fresh, acerbic and original today. The musical’s themes—marriage and commitment, friendship and loneliness—and its innovations in form mark it as a landmark of modern American musical theatre.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCompany’s 25th anniversary was commemorated by two major revivals: in New York at the Roundabout Theatre Company and in London at the Donmar Warehouse. This edition incorporates all revisions and additions made for these productions.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fourth Wall Bookshop","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57995343528271,"sku":"9781559361088","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1006\/6028\/1679\/files\/9781559361088.jpg?v=1781953073"},{"product_id":"company-the-complete-revised-book-and-lyrics","title":"Company: The Complete Revised Book and Lyrics","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe 2018 West End, revised edition.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt's Bobbie's thirty-fifth birthday party, and all her friends are wondering why she isn't married. Why can't she find the right man, settle down and start a family?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA breakthrough on Broadway in 1970, Company is Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's legendary musical comedy about life, love and loneliness, featuring some of Sondheim's most iconic songs including 'Company', 'You Could Drive a Person Crazy', 'The Ladies Who Lunch', 'Side by Side' and 'Being Alive'.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe acclaimed West End revival in 2018 was conceived and directed by award-winning director Marianne Elliott and produced by Elliott \u0026amp; Harper Productions. Reimagining the musical by switching the gender of several characters, including the protagonist Bobbie, played by Rosalie Craig, the production also starred Patti LuPone, Mel Giedroyc and Jonathan Bailey.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis edition features the complete revised book and lyrics for the production, colour production photographs, and an introduction by Sondheim's biographer David Benedict.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStephen Sondheim is the lyricist of West Side Story and Gypsy, and the composer\/lyricist of A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, Follies and Sunday in the Park with George, among others. George Furth is the author of The Act, The Supporting Cast, Twigs, Precious Sons and, with Sondheim, Merrily We Roll Along and Getting Away with Murder.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fourth Wall Bookshop","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57995343593807,"sku":"9781848428355","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1006\/6028\/1679\/files\/9781848428355.jpg?v=1781953073"},{"product_id":"follies","title":"Follies","description":"\u003cp\u003eNew York, 1971. There's a party on the stage of the Weismann Theatre. Tomorrow the iconic building will be demolished. Thirty years after their final performance, the Follies girls gather to have a few drinks, sing a few songs and lie about themselves. Including such classic songs as Broadway Baby, I'm Still Here and Losing My Mind, Stephen Sondheim's legendary musical is staged for the first time at the National Theatre.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fourth Wall Bookshop","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57995343561039,"sku":"9781848426825","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1006\/6028\/1679\/files\/9781848426825.jpg?v=1781953073"},{"product_id":"gypsy","title":"Gypsy","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe musical tale of a domineering stage mother's inadvertent creation of a burlesque stripper, now available in paperback for the first time.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fourth Wall Bookshop","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57995344707919,"sku":"9781559360869","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1006\/6028\/1679\/files\/9781559360869.webp?v=1781953073"},{"product_id":"here-we-are-nhb-modern-plays","title":"Here We Are","description":"\u003cp\u003eStephen Sondheim's 'cool, and impossibly chic' (New York Times Critic's Pick) final work, written with Tony Award-nominee David Ives. UK premiere at the National Theatre, London, in 2025.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fourth Wall Bookshop","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57995344675151,"sku":"9781839044731","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1006\/6028\/1679\/files\/9781839044731.jpg?v=1781953073"},{"product_id":"into-the-woods","title":"Into the Woods","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Tony Award-winning musical,\u003cbr\u003enow adapted into a lavishly illustrated book\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eInto the Woods is the imaginative account of what happens when the lives of new and old fairy-tale characters dramatically and humorously come together. Cinderella, Jack (of bean-stalk fame), Little Red Ridinghood, and the Baker and his Wife set out for the forest on a quest to find \"happily ever after.\" Along the way they meet Rapunzel, a Wicked Witch, a lascivious Wolf, vengeful Giants, a couple of charming Princes, and their own destiny. With wit and wisdom, the authors have given us a parable about the loss of innocence, the joys and sorrows of adulthood, and the price paid for getting the things you really want.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fourth Wall Bookshop","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57995344740687,"sku":"9781839045387","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1006\/6028\/1679\/files\/9781839045387.jpg?v=1781953073"},{"product_id":"passion","title":"Passion","description":"\u003cp\u003eWinner of the 1994 Tony Awards for Best Book, Best Music and Lyrics, and Best Musical \"Easily among Sondheim's best—subtle, rhapsodic and full of emotional depth.\" —David Patrick Stearns, USA Today \"Hypnotic, rigorous, very risky...a major work.\" —Vincent Canby, New York Times \"Held me in its grip...had me sobbing uncontrollably...Sondheim's deepest, most powerful work.\" —Robert Brustein, New Republic Passion is the third original collaboration between Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. Their first, Sunday in the Park with George, earned them a Pulitzer Prize. Their second, Into the Woods, won Tony, Grammy, Drama Desk, and Drama Critics Circle awards.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fourth Wall Bookshop","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57995344871759,"sku":"9781559360883","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1006\/6028\/1679\/files\/9781559360883.jpg?v=1781953074"},{"product_id":"sunday-in-the-park-with-george-nhb-libretti","title":"Sunday in the Park with George","description":"\u003cp\u003eInspired by Georges Seurat's pointillist masterpiece, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's musical celebrates the art of creation and the creation of art.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the first half of the musical, set in 1884, the people - and the animals - in the painting come to life in a world where, for the artist George, art comes before love, before everything.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the second half, a century later, Seurat's great-grandson is wrestling with the same obsessions in present-day New York.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSunday in the Park with George was premiered on Broadway in May 1984, in a production directed by James Lapine. An earlier, incomplete version had been performed Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in July 1983. The musical went on to win the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe first London production opened at the National Theatre in March 1990. It won the 1991 Olivier Award for Best New Musical.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fourth Wall Bookshop","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57995401363791,"sku":"9781854590572","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1006\/6028\/1679\/files\/9781854590572.jpg?v=1781953138"},{"product_id":"sweeney-todd","title":"Sweeney Todd","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe gruesomely fascinating musical about the 'Demon Barber of Fleet Street', one of Sondheim's greatest hits. From the writing partnership behind A Little Night Music.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eVictim of a gross injustice that robbed him of his wife and child, Sweeney Todd sets about exacting a terrible revenge on society: slitting the throats of the customers who visit his barbershop.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut things are getting complicated – a romance has developed with Mrs Lovett, the lady who runs the pie shop next door, and the disappearances are starting to cause concern. With the bodies piling up, Sweeney Todd hits upon a novel idea, and starts passing on his 'patrons' to his homely neighbour... Meat pie, anyone?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's musical Sweeney Todd opened on Broadway in 1979 and in the West End in 1980. It won the Tony Award for Best Musical and Olivier Award for Best New Musical. It has since had numerous revivals as well as a film adaptation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'A masterpiece, perhaps the last truly great American musical. This is, in short, a blood-drenched love letter you are unlikely to forget in a hurry' ― Daily Telegraph\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'Sondheim has been inching closer and closer to pure opera, and Sweeney Todd is the closest he's come yet' ― Newsweek\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBest Musical, Tony Awards\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBest New Musical, Olivier Awards\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fourth Wall Bookshop","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57995405492559,"sku":"9781854591081","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1006\/6028\/1679\/files\/9781854591081.jpg?v=1781953141"},{"product_id":"a-little-night-music","title":"A Little Night Music","description":"\u003cp\u003e“Throwing caution to the winds, I assert that A Little Night Music comes as close as possible to being the perfect romantic comedy musical.” –Brendan Gill, The New Yorker\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Heady, civilized, sophisticated and enchanting. Good God! An adult musical.” –Clive Barnes, The New York Times\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fourth Wall Bookshop","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57995632443727,"sku":"9781557830708","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1006\/6028\/1679\/files\/9781557830708.jpg?v=1781954254"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1006\/6028\/1679\/collections\/sondheim.jpg?v=1785135001","url":"https:\/\/fourthwallbookshop.co.uk\/collections\/stephen-sondheim.oembed","provider":"Fourth Wall Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}