Stephen Sondheim

For more than half a century, Stephen Sondheim has remained untouchable as the most brilliant of musical composers and lyricists. His best work is as thrilling as it is challenging — he manages to create a dazzling maze of allusion and polyphony without losing sight of the fact that — yes, folks — it's all entertainment. We raise the curtain with "Tonight" from his big breakthrough, West Side Story (words by Sondheim, music by Leonard Bernstein), and the superbly observed "Ladies Who Lunch" from the all-Sondheim concept musical, Company (1970).

Prepared to be stunned by Pacific Overtures, in Next Steps.

Between 1970 and 1981, Sondheim worked closely with director/producer Harold Prince on a run of six musicals, most of which are regarded among the composer's best: Pacific Overtures (1976) (featuring "Someone In a Tree," performed here by the original London cast) is an incredible, tapestry-like interweaving of styles and themes, based around Japanese-American relations, while Sweeney Todd (1979) — adapted into a movie starring Johnny Depp in 2007 — is a masterful jaunt through the classic tale of revenge and haircuts set in olde London towne. Angela Lansbury plays Mrs. Lovett here.

Madonna finds her way into the Sondheim catalog, in Deep Cuts.

There's something for everyone in Sondheim's work — try the satirical toe-tapper "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid," a breezy standout from the soundtrack to the movie version of his first hit as a composer and lyricist, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; or how about a couple of slinky Madonna numbers ("More," "Sooner or Later") commissioned by Warren Beatty for the 1990 movie Dick Tracy; or even a selection of overlooked winners from 2003's Bounce, a.k.a. Road Show, a tale of early 20th-century scams and schemes that never made it to Broadway.

Stephen Sondheim — winner of more Tony® Awards than any other composer — single-handedly reinvented the Broadway musical, tackling out-there subjects in brilliant, adventurous ways, and illuminating his unconventional themes (Presidential assassins; middle-age; impressionist painter Georges Seurat) with peerless lyrical finesse. He has long been considered the thinking musical lover's composer of choice, thanks to his undeniable sophistication and refined wit. As an aspiring young artist in the '40s he was mentored by Oscar Hammerstein II — of Rodgers & Hammerstein fame — which helped his development no end, and helped shape the boy into the maestro. Even some of Sondheim's flops — like 1964's Anyone Can Whistle, which enjoyed a paltry nine-show run — have subsequently picked up a cult following.