Stephen Sondheim | Queer of the Month | November 2009

Posted 10 months ago at 9:38 am. 0 comments

Preeminent composer of stage musicals, Stephen Sondheim worked with Leonard Bernstein on West Side Story and wrote words and music for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, A Little Night Music, Sweeny Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, and Into the Woods.  He won an Academy Award for his work on Dick Tracy in 1990.

Sondheim stayed in the closet until 1998 despite rampant speculation about his sexuality.  His first long-term relationship had begun late in life, with a younger man named Peter Jones, whom he met in 1991.  The two eventually lived together and exchanged wedding rings, but Jones later moved out.

“I was sexually very late blooming,” Sondheim has said.  From the beginning, though, his work has resonated with gay men, and regardless of his personal life, he has held a prominent position in gay culture.

Vote for December’s Queer of the Month in the poll in the right column.