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Stephen Sondheim (1930–2021): The Last Giant, Seen From Our Seats

October 27, 2026

Stephen Sondheim, the composer and lyricist who reshaped the American musical, died on Friday, November 26, 2021, at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut. He was 91. His lawyer, F. Richard Pappas, said that the death was sudden. The day before, he had celebrated Thanksgiving with friends and spent Wednesday at two Broadway performances,“doing what he most loved to do.” No cause was given. The news broke twelve days after the Classic Stage Company opened its Assassins, a production TheaterScene reviewed that month. This is a look back at how our critics heard him, which they did in some 40 posts over two decades. [more]

Allegro

December 2, 2014

"Allegro" was inspired by Thornton Wilder's Our Town which also uses no scenery and uses the actors as a chorus commenting on the action. Aside from the actors all playing stringed instruments when the show begins (as well as other instruments in the course of the show such as piano, clarinets, oboe, etc.) in Mary-Mitchell Campbell's folksy new orchestrations, they remain on stage throughout as they both narrate and give advice to its hero Joseph Taylor, Jr. [more]