American composer Stephen Sondheim, whose music delights people around the globe, has died at the age of 91.

Stephen Sondheim was one of the greatest composers of our modern age. He had won no less than nine Tony Awards for his work, missing out on the coveted EGOT status by lacking only the Emmy.

Sondheim was responsible for such musicals as West Side Story (1957), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Gypsy (1959), A Little Night Music (1973), Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), Into the Woods (19887), and many others. His music has been a mainstay of musical entertainment through the years, gracing an astonishing 377 television, theater and motion picture productions.

Steven Spielberg, director of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, (1977) E. T. (1982), and The Adventures of Tintin (2011) has directed a remake of West Side Story (2021).

Stephen Sondheim was born March 22, 1930 in New York City. He died Frday, November 26, 2021 at his home in Rocbury, Conneticut. He died at home, after celebrating Thanksgiving with friends and family. His friend and attorney, F. Richard Pappas, announced the death. It was sudden, but appeared to be from natural causes.

Stephen Sonheim married Jeff Romley in 2017. His husband survives him.

Awards and Honors

In addition to eight Tony Awards, eight Grammy awards, one Oscar, one Pulitzer Prize. In 1993 Sondheim was granted Kennedy Center honors for Lifetime Achievement. President Barack Obama granted him the the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. He was granted a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 2008. Two theaters have been named in his honor, one in the East End of London, and one in New York City.

Sondheim is not normally a name associated with Science Fiction. However, the odds are good that glee clubs on starships will sing his songs, and amateur theatrical groups on space stations will revive his plays. And his Into the Woods if not fantasy, is at least fantasy-adjacent.

A long, ful life, filled with the adulation of his fans, the respect and admiration of his peers, ending with dying peacefully at home, after celebrating a holiday with loved ones. There are worse ways to live a life.

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Susan Macdonald
Susan Macdonald

Susan Macdonald is the author of the children’s book “R is for Renaissance Faire”, as well as 26 short stories, mostly fantasy in “Alternative Truths”, “Swords and Sorceress ”, Swords &Sorceries Vols. 1, 2, & 5, “Cat Tails” “Under Western Stars”, and “Knee-High Drummond and the Durango Kid”. Her articles have appeared on SCIFI.radio’s web site, in The Inquisitr, and in The Millington Star. She enjoys Renaissance Faires (see book above), science fiction conventions,  Highland Games, and Native American pow-wows.