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Stephen Sondheim Filmography
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Theiapolis - Camp
2003 - Actor (Himself)
Stephen Sondheim Resources
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Stephen Sondheim: Early Life
Sondheim was born in New York City and grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and later on a farm in Pennsylvania. An only child in a well-to-do family, Sondheim's childhood has been described as isolated and emotionally-neglected. His parents, Herbert and Janet "Foxy" Sondheim, were non-religious Jews, though Foxy had grown up in an Orthodox family; Sondheim had no formal religious education or association, did not have a Bar Mitzvah, and reportedly did not set foot in a synagogue until he was 17.
Herbert and Foxy Sondheim divorced when their son was young, a traumatic event which would have major repercussions on both his private life and his public work. Under the laws of the day, Sondheim's mother retained full custody, which was perhaps unfortunate; Foxy Sondheim was narcissistic, emotionally abusive, a hypochondriac, and became sexually predatory towards her son as a substitute for his absent father. Many have speculated that it was this early intense love/hate relationship with his monstrous mother that would re-emerge in many of Sondheim's later works, which often treat love and commitment as claustrophobic and smothering, most notably in his musical Company
. Perhaps also as a result of his relationship with his mother, Sondheim would become known for giving words and/or music to a series of strong, manipulative, somewhat unstable female characters, including Mamma Rose in ', Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd
, and the Witch in Into the Woods, all of whom are obsessive about keeping a hold on their child or love interest.
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