This weekend he added a public tribute to Sondheim’s talent: “Future historians: Stephen Sondheim was real.
In Britain, Andrew Lloyd Webber, the world’s best known and most successful musical theatre name, saluted Sondheim’s towering skill as a lyricist in particular, calling him “the musical theatre giant of our times, an inspiration not just to two but to three generations”.Singer Elaine Paige, the original stage Evita and later exponent of Sondheim’s music, wrote on social media of her devastation at hearing of the death while the prominent British theatrical producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh said: “The theatre has lost one of its greatest geniuses and the world has lost one of its greatest and most original writers.” He added that Sondheim will “still be here as his legendary songs and shows will be performed for ever more.”.Actor Vanessa Williams, who played the witch on Broadway in the 1994 revival of Sondheim’s Into the Woods, tweeted: “What a privilege to have soaked up the incredible aura of legendary Stephen Sondheim in person many times in my life.“The theatre world is a smaller place tonight after the passing of Stephen Sondheim,” he said