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Stephen Sondheim has won seven Tonys, an Academy Award, seven

Grammys, a Pulitzer Prize and the Kennedy Center Honors. His career

has spanned more than half a century, his lyrics have become

synonymous with musical theater and popular culture, and in

Finishing the Hat—titled after perhaps his most

autobiographical song, from Sunday in the Park with

George—Sondheim has not only collected his lyrics for the first

time, he is giving readers a rare personal look into his life as

well as his remarkable productions.

Along with the lyrics for all of his musicals from 1954 to

1981—including West Side Story, Company, Follies, A Little Night

Music and Sweeney Todd—Sondheim treats us to

never-before-published songs from each show, songs that were cut or

discarded before seeing the light of day. He discusses his

relationship with his mentor, Oscar Hammerstein II, and his

collaborations with extraordinary talents such as Leonard

Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, Ethel Merman, Richard Rodgers, Angela

Lansbury, Harold Prince and a panoply of others. The

anecdotes—filled with history, pointed observations and intimate

details—transport us back to a time when theater was a major pillar

of American culture. Best of all, Sondheim appraises his work and

dissects his lyrics, as well as those of others, offering

unparalleled insights into songwriting that will be studied by fans

and aspiring songwriters for years to come.

Accompanying Sondheim’s sparkling writing are behind-the-scenes

photographs from each production, along with handwritten music and

lyrics from the songwriter’s personal collection.

Penetrating and surprising, poignant, funny and sometimes

provocative, Finishing the Hat is not only an informative

look at the art and craft of lyric writing, it is a history of the

theater that belongs on the same literary shelf as Moss Hart’s

Act One and Arthur Miller’s Timebends. It is also a

book that will leave you humming the final bars of Merrily We

Roll Along, while eagerly anticipating the next volume, which

begins with the opening lines of Sunday in the Park with

George.

Note to the Reader

Cast of Characters

Preface

Introduction

Rhyme and Its Reasons

1. Saturday Night

2. West Side Story

3. Gypsy

4. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

5. Anyone Can Whistle

6. Do I Hear a Waltz?

7. Company

8. Follies

9. A Little Night Music

10. The Frogs

11. Pacific Overtures

12. Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street

13. Merrily We Roll Along

Acknowledgments

Appendix: Original Broadway Productions

Index of Songs

Subject Index

Stephen Sondheim has written award-winning music and lyrics for

theater, film and television. He is also the coauthor of the film

The Last of Sheila and the play Getting Away with

Murder. Sondheim is on the council of the Dramatists Guild of

America, having served as its president from 1973 to 1981. He lives

in New York City.

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Lyrics, even poetic ones, art not poems. Poems are written to be read ... Some lyrics (...) present themselfves as poetry, but music only underscores the self-consciousness of the effort. In theatrical fact, it is usually the plainer and flatter lyric that soars poetically when infused with music.

Oh, what a beautiful mornin',

Oh, what a beautiful day.

I got a beautiful feelin'

Ev'rythin's goin' my way!

Poetry is an art of concision, lyrics of expansion ... Every reader absorbs a poem at his own pace, inflecting it with his own rhythms, stresses and tone ... All of us (...) slow down, speed up, even stop to reread (a poem) ... The poet may guide us with punctuation and layout and seduce us with the subtle abutment of words and sounds, but it is we who supply the musical treatment.

Poetry can be set to music gracefully ... but the music benefits more from the poem which gives it structure than the poem does from the music … Music straitjackets a poem and prevents it from breathing on its own, whereas it liberates a lyric. Poetry doesn't need music; lyrics do.

Lyrics are not light verse, either. Light verse doesn't demand music because it supplies its own … Light verse is complete unto itself. Lyrics by definition lack something; if they don't, they're probably not good lyrics.

Performers can color a lyric with phrasing and rubato (rhythmic fluidity), but it's the melody which dictates the lyric's rhythms and pauses and inflections, the accompaniment which sets the pace and tone. These specific choices control our emotional response … For the songwriter, it's a matter of what phrase, what word, he wants us to focus on … An actor singing "Oh, what a beautiful mornin' " might want to emphasize "beautiful," but Rodgers forces him to emphasize "mornin' " by setting the word on the strongest beat in the measure and the highest note in the melody.

编辑推荐

"Finishing the Hat is a show stopper! If you love Stephen

Sondheim, hate him, or never even heard of him, you'll still have a

great ride—so take it! This book is filled with humor, controversy,

stories about talented and glamorous people and, above all, life.

And his lyrics! Everything you've ever wanted to know—about

anything—is in those lyrics." —Phyllis Newman

 “There is so much to be learned and appreciated from

Finishing the Hat. It's filled with fascinating,

entertaining, unique and compelling lessons from a man who

encompasses the essence of what is truly great about American

Musical Theatre.” —Michael Feinstein

“Just as Stephen Sondheim is, without dispute, THE master lyricist

for the theater of our generation (not to mention his superb

music!), he now has written THE book on the art and craft of lyric

writing. It is a book that will enrich and entertain anyone with an

interest in music and theater, either as a life’s work or a life’s

pleasure. It is like no other writing on the subject. It

is Sondheim.” —Alan & Marilyn Bergman

“Seeing my first Sondheim musical, Follies, I was like the

farm girl brought to the Homes of Tomorrow exhibit; breathless,

nose pressed to the glass. This book takes the glass away. It’s a

thrill to experience these shows again with Steve as your guide.

What a gift to the theatre this book is! For actors, it's a must.

For lyricists, it a primer.” —Joanna Gleason

“The book is a masterpiece. There never has been and never will be

one like it. It is about the grain of sand that produces the pearl

and is indeed as honest and simple as that pearl. If you pay

attention to this book you could learn how to write a song, though

not a great song. That is forever mysterious as genius will always

be. The main lesson is that this particular genius is dead

practical. All the hocus pocus attached to art has no meaning in

the mind of Sondheim. You must read it to see what does matter

to him and you will marvel and read it again. And then again.”

—Mike Nichols

“Stephen Sondheim’s book can be read for pleasure, information,

wisdom, humor or inspiration; all of the pleasures I received. Or

because it tells a few secrets about how genius works.” —Stanley

Donen

书籍介绍

Stephen Sondheim has won seven Tonys, an Academy Award, seven Grammys, a Pulitzer Prize and the Kennedy Center Honors. His career has spanned more than half a century, his lyrics have become synonymous with musical theater and popular culture, and in Finishing the Hat —titled after perhaps his most autobiographical song, from Sunday in the Park with George —Sondheim has not only collected his lyrics for the first time, he is giving readers a rare personal look into his life as well as his remarkable productions.

Along with the lyrics for all of his musicals from 1954 to 1981—including West Side Story, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music and Sweeney Todd —Sondheim treats us to never-before-published songs from each show, songs that were cut or discarded before seeing the light of day. He discusses his relationship with his mentor, Oscar Hammerstein II, and his collaborations with extraordinary talents such as Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, Ethel Merman, Richard Rodgers, Angela Lansbury, Harold Prince and a panoply of others. The anecdotes—filled with history, pointed observations and intimate details—transport us back to a time when theater was a major pillar of American culture. Best of all, Sondheim appraises his work and dissects his lyrics, as well as those of others, offering unparalleled insights into songwriting that will be studied by fans and aspiring songwriters for years to come.

Accompanying Sondheim’s sparkling writing are behind-the-scenes photographs from each production, along with handwritten music and lyrics from the songwriter’s personal collection.

Penetrating and surprising, poignant, funny and sometimes provocative, Finishing the Hat is not only an informative look at the art and craft of lyric writing, it is a history of the theater that belongs on the same literary shelf as Moss Hart’s Act One and Arthur Miller’s Timebends . It is also a book that will leave you humming the final bars of Merrily We Roll Along, while eagerly anticipating the next volume, which begins with the opening lines of Sunday in the Park with George .