STEPHEN SONDHEIM, the renowned composer of “Into the Woods,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Gypsy,” “Sunday in the Park With George” and other essential works of musical theater, died early Friday morning, according to Aaron Meier at DKC O&M, the producers of Sondheim’s current production “Company.” He was 91. Sondheim died suddenly, the New York Times reported, citing his lawyer and friend F. Richard Pappas. Sondheim had just celebrated Thanksgiving with a dinner and friends the day before, Pappas told the Times. As lyricist, songwriter, conceptual artist and creative force, Sondheim was perhaps without par in the modern American theater. His works encompassed astonishing range: the updated “Romeo and Juliet” romance of “West Side Story” (for which he wrote the lyrics), the travails of a modern group of friends and lovers in “Company,” even the woes of presidential murderers (and attempted murderers) in “Assassins.” Over the course of his career, he won an Oscar, a Pulitzer, eight Grammy Awards, eight Tony Awards, a Kennedy Center honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Stephen Sondheim Theater in Manhattan’s Theater District is named after him. His song lyrics, in particular, were the gold standard of the theater art, whether defiant (“Rose’s Turn”), sad (“Send in the Clowns”), ominous (“Children Will Listen”) or simply clever (“Ah, but Underneath”). They were sometimes tricky — filled with clever rhymes and challenging meters, perhaps natural for a man who once described himself as “a mathematician by nature.” But they rarely failed to get to the heart of a character. Sondheim was particularly good at expressing romantic longing and loss. Songs such as “Send in the Clowns” (from “A Little Night Music”), “Losing My Mind” (from “Follies”) and “Somewhere” (from “West Side Story”) are heartbreaking in their emotion. Though his work was sometimes criticized as glib, Sondheim said the joy of the theater was touching audiences. “I’m interested in the theater because I’m interested in communication with audiences,” he told NPR’s “Fresh Air” in 2010. “Otherwise, I would be in concert music. I’d be in another kind of profession. I love the theater as much as music, and the whole idea of getting across to an audience and making them laugh, making them cry — just making them feel — is paramount to me.” Stephen Joshua Sondheim was born March 22, 1930, in New York. His parents divorced when Sondheim was an adolescent, and he moved to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia. Thanks to the tutelage of a friend’s father — lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II of the famed theatrical team Rodgers and Hammerstein — Sondheim, already a musical prodigy, received a master class in play writing. Sondheim attended Williams College in Massachusetts, where he won a fellowship for his music that allowed him to continue study. After a short stint in Los Angeles — where he wrote scripts for the TV show “Topper,” thanks to a lead from Hammerstein — he returned to New York and embarked on a career in the theater. His first success, at age 27, was as lyricist to “West Side Story,” with music by Leonard Bernstein. Some of the many people who’ve performed Sondheim’s work or been moved by it flooded social media with tributes following news of his death. “Thank the Lord that Sondheim lived to be 91 years old so he had the time to write such wonderful music and GREAT lyrics!” Barbra Streisand wrote. “May he rest in peace.”(SD-Agencies) | 