Stephen Sondheim

Stephen Joshua Sondheim (born March 22, 1930) is an American musical theater lyricist and composer.

Stephen Sondheim was born on March 22, 1930, to a Jewish family in New York City and grew up on the Upper West Side of Ma

Stephen Joshua Sondheim (born March 22, 1930) is an American musical theater lyricist and composer.

Stephen Sondheim was born on March 22, 1930, to a Jewish family in New York City and grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and later on a farm in Pennsylvania. An only child of well-to-do parents living in a high-rise apartment on Central Park West, Sondheim's childhood has been described as isolated and emotionally neglected. His parents, Herbert and Janet "Foxy" Sondheim, were non-religious Jews, though Foxy had grown up in an Orthodox family; Sondheim had no formal religious education or association, did not have a Bar Mitzvah, and reportedly did not set foot in a synagogue until he was 17. He graduated from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts in 1950.