SONDHEIM @ 80 Stage Tube: 30 Songs in 9 Minutes!

'Putting It Together' is a musical revue that showcases 30 of Sondheim's most beloved songs from such musicals as Sunday in the Park with George, Assassins, Company, Merrily We Roll Along, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd and others. Many of the classic Sondheim songs are presented in a context entirely different from that for which they were written, so the show is billed as a "review" of the composer's work. Here's an excerpt of the revue - 30 snippets of incredible Sondheim songs!

Considered by many to be the greatest Broadway composer/lyricist of his time, Stephen Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962); Anyone Can Whistle (1964); Company (1970); Follies (1971); A Little Night Music (1973); The Frogs (1974); Pacific Overtures (1976); Sweeney Todd (1979); Merrily We Roll Along (1981); Sunday in the Park with George (1984; winner of the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama); Into the Woods (1987); Assassins (1991); Passion (1994); and Road Show (2008). He wrote the lyrics for West Side Story (1957); Gypsy (1959) and Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965); and additional lyrics for Candide (1973). Side by Side by Sondheim (1976), Marry Me a Little (1981), You're Gonna Love Tomorrow (1983), and Putting It Together (1993) are anthologies of his work as composer and lyricist.

For film, Stephen Sondheim composed the score for Stavisky (1974), and co-composed the music for Reds (1981), as well as songs for Dick Tracy (1990). He also wrote the songs for the television production Evening Primrose (1966), and co-authored the film The Last of Sheila (1973) and the play Getting Away with Murder (1996). He provided incidental music for the plays The Girls of Summer (1956), Invitation to a March (1961), Twigs (1971), and The Enclave (1973). His first professional musical, Saturday Night (1954), finally had its New York premiere in 1999. Mr. Sondheim is on the council of the Dramatists Guild - the national association of playwrights, composers, and lyricists - and served as its president from 1973 to 1981, when he founded Young Playwrights Inc. to develop and promote the work of American Playwrights ages 18 years and younger.

He turns 80 today, March 22, 2010.