Pour le Sport ( The Last Resorts) 1956

“We’re having such fun.
We’re going golfing.
We’re having such fun.
And feeling fit.
Isn’t it mad? We’ve never had so much fun—-
Let’s quit.”

— Sondheim—1956

As an apprentice under Oscar Hammerstein.
Consummate wordsmith brought words to the point of a rhyme.
His work spanned theatrical lifetimes.

His sense of rhythm, was simply sublime.

His content dictated the form as a sentence,
Turned a paragraph into a story through rhyme.

Sinatra sent in the clowns and Bernadette Peters took a walk through the park with george.

Ambition only superceded by talent.
Like when “good things get bettter/bad things get worse/Wait—I think I meant that in reverse.”
He took us “Into the woods”

In good “Company” were we.
Every theater lyric a short story, every line the weight of a paragraph you see.
“A funny thing happened on the way to the forum,” with a “Little Night Music”
And a “Gypsy” or three.

With “Passion” he composed the story,
From the “West Side” of the street was the call.
Dear Mr. Sondheim, in our memory, you will always stand Tall.
You threw a lot of spaghetti and All of it stuck to the wall.