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Finishing The Hat: Collected Lyrics, 1954-1981, With Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines, And Anecdotes (2010)

by Stephen Sondheim(Favorite Author)

4.53 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0679439072 (ISBN13: 9780679439073)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Knopf

series

The Hat Box

review 1: Finishing the Hat is a book of collected lyrics by Stephen Sondheim encompassing his shows from 194-1981. In this collection, he includes “attendant comments, principles, heresies, grudges, whines, and anecdotes.”I absolutely loved this book. I’ve been a big fan of Sondheim ever since I became a musical theater fan (which was probably 15 years ago), and I know a lot of his lyrics backwards and forwards. I was originally skeptical about this book because I thought it would just be a list of lyrics, which, as Sondheim himself points out, are meant to be heard with the accompanying music. However, the information that Sondheim provides along with the lyrics is fascinating. He talks about the conception of the show, the deleted songs, how certain words are chosen, and ab... moreout how lyrics are written.In short, the book is fantastic. As a musical theater fan and a Sondheim fan I loved hearing about how he wrote his shows, and the autobiographical information is equally fascinating. I also realized that I didn’t know as much about the shows as I thought, and that there were entire shows I’d never seen or listened to. I really enjoyed this book, and now I’m on to the second chapter!
review 2: Wow. I started this almost a year ago, didn't I?So exciting to finally finish it (and on a snowy day, at that!) Now, I didn't feel I could give this book anything but 5 stars. It's exactly what it was going to be - a small insight into the intimidatingly-brilliant mind of Stephen Sondheim. Though my favorite of his plays is in the sequel, my second favorite (Merrily We Roll Along), was the last section here, and I loved reading all the tidbits of information he has for us about his thought process. They're all perfect, those tidbits, because they're both fascinating pieces of information about the show, and fascinating pieces of information about him as a composer/songwriting at its best.I will say, though, that he does not come off in it as a particularly nice person. In fact, the opposite. But, not all geniuses can be wonderful people, so I suppose that's all right. Wonderful book, and I'll have to read Look I Made a Hat so I can get a glimpse of Into the Woods. less

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