In this remarkable volume, Stephen Sondheim collects the lyrics (used, unused and reused) from his first 10 Broadway productions ("West Side Story" to "Merrily We Roll Along") as well as his first professional production ("Saturday Night") and another piece ("The Frogs"). A second volume - 'Look, I Made A Hat' - will follow in late 2011 with all his post-1981 lyrics, as well as his earlier TV and film work, and (assumedly) various songs he wrote for individual productions in the early days. And indeed, these two volumes are going to have pride of place on my shelf for many years to come.

To call Sondheim intelligent is a cruel understatement. As evidenced by the lyrics here, he never just dashes off a song and ignores it: a change of pronoun or a shift in tense conveys so much meaning in a Sondheim song. He discusses here the use of non-Latinate words in "Pacific Overtures", the reasons why some patter songs ("Getting Married Today") have a strong sense of structure while others ("The Worst Pies in London") do not, why inter-rhymes should only be used in the right situations with the right characters, and so on. Duly, Sondheim gives credit to the book writers with whom he has worked, and the array of talented directors, cast and crew who brought these visions to life. Sondheim is an artisan and part of a team, true enough. But this cannot disguise the fact that he is musical theatre's Shakespeare, never shirking from a challenge and always presenting us with more dimensions than we could have thought possible. This is a masterclass in song writing (not just for musicals, incidentally) written by the unparalleled master of the form.

In addition, Sondheim offers up his distilled thoughts on a number of 'Golden Age' lyricists - from Gershwin and Porter, to Fields and Hammerstein - but refuses to sugarcoat his opinions. Noel Coward is taken out and shot, basically. It's refreshing, first of all, to hear these uncensored comments. Sondheim is by no means cruel: personal opinions may surface, but we're presented primarily with academic discussions on the failings (or successes) of the typically-accepted pantheon of American songwriters. (My personal favourite was when Sondheim pointed the obvious flaws in some of Henry Higgins' lyrics in "My Fair Lady" - a musical he very much enjoys, but suggests is less gramatically correct than someone of Higgins' idiosyncracies would accept.)

At the same time, though, Sondheim is not a fool: he acknowledges that the pre-Hammerstein lyricists were working in a different era, with different goals as to character creation. The aim is not to limit the enjoyment of those who listen to this songs, but merely to argue for recognition of the growth and evolution of the medium. And Sondheim himself hardly gets off lightly: he is his own harshest critic, disdainful of lyrics that I - and many other fans - would surely adore. (The sweetest moments - although few and far between - come when he acknowledges that he does like a particular lyric of his own, one example being the simple but chilling "...and it was" from the end of 'Four Black Dragons'.)

At the end of the day, this is a necessity for Sondheads, highly recommended for any lovers of the musical theatre, and really a good read for anyone who has pondered lyric writing, or just enjoys the creation of art. Like all fans, I'm sure, there were many lines when I was disappointed to see no annotations but - of course - most of the time there would be very little to be said other than "this was good" or "this was bad". His lyrics stand as testaments to the art of presenting character, plot, theme and emotion through song. I don't mind when 'mainstream audiences' prefer to attend "Grease" or "Jersey Boys" to "Pacific Overtures"; that is the status quo in any artistic medium. But it does annoy me to a feverish degree when 'Broadway lovers' or 'musical theatre geeks' spend their days belting out tunes from 'Wicked' - whose lyrics I'd love to hear Sondheim take apart - while ignoring the great variety of works featured in this two-volume collection. I truly hope that - with re-releases of his recordings, and the release of these books - the lyrics contained herein, along with their masterful music, characters and stories can come to be appreciated by a far wider audience. ( )

I love most Sondheim songs so it's not surprising that I loved this book. It's a big (oversize) book filled with photos from his shows, lyrics, handwritten notes and anecdotes about his relationships with lots of other musicians, lyricists, and collaborators. It's basically a crash course in lyric writing which I found fascinating. To start with, I never knew there were so many different types of rhymes ... true rhymes, near rhymes, visual rhymes, regional rhymes, assonance, consonance, run-on, identities, etc. You'll learn why he used a particular word over another in a song and why certain lyrics didn't make it into a show. This book covers his thoughts and personal notes on 13 shows from West Side Story, Company, Sweeney Todd and Follies just to name a few. Can't wait for volume two! ( )

2433 ( )

The remarkable thing about this collection of lyrics – just volume one – is that it's a series of essays in disguise, as Sondheim delivers potted judgements on practitioners of musical theatre past (never living) and his view of the history and state of the art, as well as annotating lyrics with alternative versions, cuts, and corrections (taking the opportunity to make improvements decades after they were written). Remarkable insight into the process of a great writer. ( )

Because I'm a nerd, there's no way I couldn't love this. ( )