Rating: 
Summary: A must-read for Sondheim voyeurs and fans of theatre.
Review: A lot of the information is new. There has not before been so personal a view of Sondheim's life. I did find the need to reference the other books to get an absolutely clear picture of Sondheim's professional merits, but this book's motivation was to stress the personal.Now and then there were lacunae in the text which were daunting, considering that they were coming from such an experienced author and such a prestigious publishing house. But it was a fast read. As fast as a house on fire.
Rating: 
Summary: Sorry - Grateful
Review: According to Meryle Secrest, Stephen Sondheim's favorite subject is ambivalence. If Secrest intended to provoke this very reaction in the reader, she has succeeded admirably. Any Sondheim aficionado will be grateful for the first five chapters detailing Sondheim's childhood, school years and early musical compositions. Subsequent chapters primarily contain previously available information about his mature musicals, but only occasionally treat the reader to additional personal details or insights into the character of this most private artist. Unfortunately, the book never offers any original insight into Sondheim's work and fails to communicate any of the visceral excitement his musicals have created on the stage. In fact, the reader begins to doubt that Secrest has ever seen a Broadway or West End production of a Sondheim musical. I vividly remember the original Broadway productions of "Company" and "Follies" as two of the most exciting, sci! ntillating and boldly original theatrical productions I have ever seen. One would hardly guess this from Secrest's dry summaries. Her descriptions of these two musicals make them sound as dreary and tedious as Sondheim's harshest critics would have one believe. Overall, the book has a rambling, disjointed quality which proves the New York Times' recent assertion that publishers no longer bother to edit manuscripts in an era when cost cutting and speed reign supreme (apparently even at the venerable house of Knopf). The book ends abruptly, topped off with a dollop of dimestore psychoanalysis. In addition, the book contains numerous factual errors. Secrest states that "Company" won seven Tony Awards. It actually won six since there has never been (at least in the last thirty years) a Tony category for "Best Producer" as she claims. Secrest later states that "A Little Night Music" won five Tonys (the correct number) but immediately proceeds! to list six individual Tony Awards she claims the musical ! took home. (No, Florence Klotz's gorgeous costume designs did not actually win.) Some of Ms. Secrest's opinions are just as jarring. She includes "Ol' Man River" in a list of song titles to purportedly demonstrate that songs in musicals of the 1920's and 1930's had little or nothing to do with the underlying plot. It's hard to imagine a song which is more integrated into a musical than "Ol' Man River" is in "Showboat". Not to mention that it was written by Sondheim's mentor, Oscar Hammerstein, who almost singlehandedly created the modern integrated book musical! Although this book is a must for any Sondheim fan given the new information about his personal life, how disappointing that the style and content of this biography do not shine like the brilliantly original, boldly stylized, meticulously detailed and highly polished compositions of the man himself.
Rating:
Summary: A Little Sondheim?
Review: After reading Meryle Secrest's surprisingly accurate account of the life of Leonard Bernstein, I acted as quickly as I could to lay my hands on a copy of her new Stephen Sondheim biography. The book completely met up to my expectations, and though it was not perfect (as no book can be), Ms. Secrest continues to tell things as they are, in a straightforward, honest approach. She may quote one person who has a particularly strong viewpoint, but will almost always include a contradictory statement, or one that reinforces it. She writes with wit and with style, using words that are perhaps the best that could be found for the occasion, without making reading too heavy. Even if you were not a musical theater enthusiast, you would still thoroughly enjoy this fascinating book. It describes a man so unique in his lifestyle and his art that he has won himself the highest seat in recent musical theater. He has not always had critical or financial successes, but he (in my mind) has always had artistic ones. Perhaps if would sound like I am writing a review of Stephen Sondheim, but no. I am simply illustrating that Meryle Secrest paints a definitive portrait using the paint of numerous interviews with colleagues and the man himself, and the canvas of her own unique writing style. If only there was an option of four and one half stars, because that would be my rating for this fine book.
Rating: 
Summary: Her sweet imbecilities tumbled so rapidly onto my lap.
Review: As a Sondheim addict, my hopes for this new biography were high. Unfortunately, they weren't met -- not even close. As has been stated in other reviews, there is little new here, very little insight; Seacrest does talk to a number of interesting people from Sondheim's past, but the passages she chooses to use are ho-hum at best. Perhaps most off-putting is Seacrest's almost unbearably dry writing style. The fact that she could take a subject like Stephen Sondheim and make him boring to read about has to be one of the new wonders of the world.
Rating:
Summary: What a dissapointment.
Review: As a true admirer of the work of Stephen Sondheim, I bought this book the day it hit my local bookstore. I was interested in finally reading a complete history (thus far) of the premier composer/lyricist in the American musical theater. What a huge dissapointment this book was. Although this is the first such book to include detailed information about Sondheim's childhood and, on the other end, current personal life, there is a bit too much of it. Secrest digs up no new information of her own, but merely borrows the same quotes we have all read four times before in the other Sondheim books. If you have an interest in this compser, do yourself a favor and read Craig Zadan's "Sondheim & Company", it is by far the best book on the subject. Secrest also does not quite know what to say about the musical features of his work. If you want a technical approach (albeit an often ridiculous one), read Bandield's "Sondheim's Broadway Musicals". The only true merit in Secrest's book is in the chapters on the more recent work like Assassins and Passion. She is the first to go into these, as the other books are a bit older. Otherwise, don't buy this book. Everyone should own the Zadan book, and only those with a above-average interest in Sondheim should bother with this mess.
Rating:
Summary: Everything's Coming up Sondheim
Review: For lovers of musical theatre and Sondheim devotees this book is a must. Meryle Secrest has put together an admirable biography of a very talented and complex man. This book was done with Sondheim's cooperation and he has been very frank in his discussions with the author. The book delves into his troubled youth and his love/hate relationship with his mother. His friendship with James Hammerstein was an important part of his life. It also goes "backstage" in the making of his productions. If there is a weakness in the book it tends to be the fact that certain details about a musical are totally deleted. All of the hard work that went into a particular will occasionally be glossed over with a sentence or two. This does not happen often, but it does occur a couple of times. I think Ms. Secrest handled a lot of the material with tact and delicacy. Of course, one of the issues was Sondheim's admission that he is gay. For many years his sex! uality was "known" by everyone who knew him, but it was something that he did not discuss. He discussed with candor his relationships with other men and the emotional roller coaster rid he was on before he came out. I have seen some lukewarm reviews of this book that I did not feel were justified. I found it interesting and a book that held my interest throughout. A definite must for any theatre fan.
Rating: 
Summary: The life of Stephen Sondheim is given a new view point
Review: For once there is a biography about Stephen Sondheim and his private thoughts. It is an accurate portrayal of all of his works and then some. I enjoyed reading the book very much because of my attachment to his musicals.
Rating:
Summary: A word of protest !
Review: I am a passionate admirer of Stephen Sondheim's output, and joyfully anticipated reading this book. It is pedestrian and uninspiring - - surely Mr. Sondheim could have entrusted this work to a writer with more flair, skill and specialist knowledge of the creative and professional worlds he inhabits. The most striking aspect of Ms. Secrest's book, in my view, is the snobbish and insupportable bit of American bashing she indulges in. She introduces the notion that Sondheim has found a more receptive audience for his work in England than he has in the US, and posits that this is attributable to the superior "training" of the English theatre-going public (e.g., rigorously schooled in Shakespeare, a native love of language, etc.). I am an American and an avid theatre-goer who has been resident in London for seven years, and cannot identify any justification for Ms. Secrest's absurd obervations! They signify what these kinds of remarks always do - the desperate and embittered attempts of a surpassed culture to cling to the romance of its imagined regality.
Rating:
Summary: Mis-identification of photo of Mimi Lynch
Review: I am the granddaughter of Mimi Lynch, who is mis-identified in a photograph in your book. The black haired woman standing next to Dorothy Hammerstein is not my grandmother, Mimi Lynch. I, nor my mother, who grew up with the Hammersteins, recognize this woman, but we are certain it is not our relative.
Rating:
Summary: Not as great as I thought it would be...
Review: I bought this book after it had been hyped up in "The Sondheim Review", a magazine for Sondheim junkies like myself. I read it in hopes of going behind the genius of such musicals as "Follies", "Company" and "West Side Story", but instead got a dark and detailed (too detailed for my taste) account of the more dreary parts of his life. There is some musical theater critique, but her lack of knowledge in this area is unbelievable. Her constant "Here, let me tell you what I think was going on at this point" grows tiresome as well. Still, there's no denying his life has been fascinating, and this book serves as a good rainy day reader.
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