Stephen Sondheim at 80
Rebound
In the late sixties, Sondheim joined with the noted director and producer Harold Prince, creating a partnership that would lead to seven musicals and forge a reputation for works that challenged audiences and redefined what a Broadway musical could be. Among their hits was 1973's A Little Night Music, above, which was based upon the Ingmar Bergman film, Smiles of a Summer Night, and starred Glynis Johns, center, above, and Len Cariou. The show included the composer's only Top 40 hit, "Send in the Clowns." Among the other big shows created by Sondheim and Prince were Company, produced in 1970; and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in which the composer and director crafted a musical around a gruesome tale of murder and cannibalism.