Stephen Sondheim has been a Tony winner, an Academy Award winner, a Grammy winner, and a Pullitzer Prize winner, his career has spanned over half a century, and his lyrics have become synonymous with musical theatre and popular culture. He really needs no introduction. In the world of songwriting, this is about as big as it gets. Along with the lyrics for all of Sondheim's productions from 1954 to 1981, we are treated to memories and tales from his life that only Sondheim could tell. But he also educates us: he tells us what he's learned from his failures as well as his successes; and dissects many songs, sometimes line by line, to outline his thought process and the decisions that go into the verses. Sondheim discusses his predecessors, his contemporaries, and analyzes his own work, offering rules, sins and wisdom on lyric writing that will definitely be studied for many years to come.Accompanying Sondheim's wonderful writing are unique and behind-the-scenes photographs from each production and many personal photographs of Sondheim with his contemporaries and collaborators. We'll be including one-of-a-kind, hand-written material from Sondheim's collection that fans will be thrilled to see.

This book is rich with history, gossip, and delightful detail that brings us back to a time when theatre was truly one of the pillars of culture. And after all these years, Sondheim's work still holds up and is being revived again and again all over the world.Insightful, poignant, sometimes scathing, and often funny, Finishing the Hat is destined to be one more thing that Sondheim can add to his list of classic works.