NPR

Opinion: In Sondheim's essential lyrics, a soundtrack for life

NPR's Scott Simon reflects on the life and legacy of Stephen Sondheim, the venerated composer and lyricist who died Friday at the age of 91.
Stephen Sondheim onstage during an event at the Fairchild Theater in East Lansing, Mich., in 1997.

Folks on our show will tell you I use Blackwing grey pencils because Stephen Sondheim did. Not as well, of course. But I always hope for a scintilla of his magic in my words, which was really imagination, fueled by discipline.

I did a few

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