Look, I Made a Hat

Look, I Made a Hat by Stephen Sondheim
Alfred A. Knopf, 2011
430 pages
Non-fiction
4/5 stars

Source: Library

After finishing the first book Finishing the Hat, I was beyond excited to get my hands on this second book, which features a string of awesomeness, if not popular successes: Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Wood, and Assassins (my personal favorite Sondheim). And those sections were great. I loved finding out their origins and following their development. I was already pretty familiar with most of the lyrics but reading them over brought new pleasures. It was great to linger over and savor my imagination of how they might be staged (I have seen the filmed stage versions of the first two)

There are also more essays from Sondheim such as his opinion on awards (he appreciates those that come with cash) and one on critics. These were fascinating and I would have enjoyed more of them. I kept paging through some of the later sections, hoping for more essays.

Unfortunately the rest of the book wasn't too my taste, featuring Passion, Wise Guys/Bounce/Road Show: A Saga in Four Acts, and other musical, movie, and television songs from Sondheim. I just didn't really care. I wanted to read about complete shows that I loved. While I do think I'll find at least something to enjoy in Passion whenever I sit down to listen to it, I haven't done so yet and it fell flat for me. I feel so bad saying that but this review is my opinion and that's how I felt. Certainly theater geeks will want to read these but I found the content of the first book far superior.

Overall: Obviously something you'll want to complete the set but I preferred the first book.

Finishing the Hat

Finishing the Hat by Stephen Sondheim
Alfred A. Knopf, 2010
421 pages
Non-fiction; Musical
4.5/5 stars

Source: Library

While Stephen Sondheim is one of my favorite composers and lyricists (Gypsy, Assassins, and A Little Night Music being among my favorite musicals), I wasn't originally interested in this book as I thought it was just a collection of Sondheim's lyrics. Interesting as I find the writing, I can read all of the lyrics online or just listen to the songs as I have recordings for all.

Then I found out that Sondheim also included notes about the writing of the shows and about specific lyrics, which sounded very interesting. Another bonus was the pictures of the cast and of Sondheim's handwritten lyrics although they're in black and white so you don't get to see the colorful clothes and hair styles of the cast.

The book covers roughly the first half of Sondheim's career, from 1954-1981. The shows included are Saturday Night, West Side Story*, Gypsy*, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Anyone Can Whistle, Do I Hear a Waltz?*, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, The Frogs, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Merrily We Roll Along (asterisks denote shows where Sondheim wrote the lyrics only). This includes some great shows but I remain more interested in the shows that will appear in the second collection (specifically Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, and Assassins).

This is a great collection for ANYONE interested in musical theater or songwriting as Sondheim does not just discuss his career but also lyric-writing (and creating a show in general) and evaluates other lyricists, such as Lorenz Hart and E.Y. Harburg. I hope that will be continued in the second collection as well.