Título: Stephen Sondheim
Seção: Early years
Background: Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; born March 22, 1930) is an American composer and lyricist known for more than a half-century of contributions to musical theater. Sondheim has received an Academy Award, eight Tony Awards (more than any other composer, including a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre), eight Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, a Laurence Olivier Award, and a 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom. He has been described by Frank Rich of The New York Times as "now the greatest and perhaps best-known artist in the American musical theater." His best-known works as composer and lyricist include A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll

Conteúdo: Sondheim was born into a Jewish family in New York City, the son of Etta Janet ("Foxy," nee Fox; 1897-1992) and Herbert Sondheim (1895-1966). His father manufactured dresses designed by his mother. The composer grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and, after his parents divorced, on a farm near Doylestown, Pennsylvania. As the only child of well-to-do parents living in the San Remo on Central Park West, he was described in Meryle Secrest's biography (Stephen Sondheim: A Life) as an isolated, emotionally-neglected child. When he lived in New York, Sondheim attended ECFS, the Ethical Culture Fieldston School known simply as "Fieldston." He later attended the New York Military Academy and George School, a private Quaker preparatory school in Bucks County, Pennsylvania where he wrote his first musical, By George, and from which he graduated in 1946. Sondheim spent several summers at Camp Androscoggin. He later matriculated to Williams College and graduated in 1950. He traces his interest in theatre to Very Warm for May, a Broadway musical he saw when he was nine. "The curtain went up and revealed a piano," Sondheim recalled. "A butler took a duster and brushed it up, tinkling the keys. I thought that was thrilling." When Sondheim was ten, his father (already a distant figure) left his mother for another woman (Alicia, with whom he had two sons). Herbert sought custody of Stephen but was unsuccessful. Sondheim explained to biographer Secrest that he was "what they call an i

user: What did he do in his early years?

assistant: When he lived in New York, Sondheim attended ECFS, the Ethical Culture Fieldston School known simply as "Fieldston."

user: When did he graduate?

assistant: private Quaker preparatory school in Bucks County, Pennsylvania where he wrote his first musical, By George, and from which he graduated in 1946.

user: Did he join the military?

assistant: He later attended the New York Military Academy

user: Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?

assistant: Sondheim detested his mother, who was said to be psychologically abusive and projected her anger from her failed marriage on her son:

user: Did his mother abuse him?

assistant: And she used me the way she used him, to come on to and to berate, beat up on, you see.

user: Where was his father?

assistant: When Sondheim was ten, his father (already a distant figure) left his mother for another woman (Alicia, with whom he had two sons).

user: Was his father involved in his life?

assistant: "what they call an institutionalized child, meaning one who has no contact with any kind of family.