STEPHEN SONDHEIM A Life By Meryle Secrest Knopf. 461 pp. $30 Urbane, complex and utterly contemporary, Stephen Sondheim's Broadway musicals are greeted with a high seriousness normally reserved for novels and plays. Their very existence is a mystery: How could...

'Allnighter' is the new collection from the trendy imprint, Pulp Fiction. But does the writing by some of the complete unknowns leave a lasting impression? Offerings from Elaine Palmer's one-woman, north London publishing phenomenon, Pulp Fiction, are now awaited with an almost unhealthy...

A little night music frozen in time The big Forest City Ratner high-security press conference today produced little news but lots of images: fewer crooked buildings and more straight lines, more titanium siding and less Las Vegas. This is all about how it looks,...

Ingmar BergmanSTOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) _ Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, an iconoclastic filmmaker widely regarded as one of the great masters of modern cinema, has died, the president of his foundation said. He was 89.Bergman died Monday at his home in Faro, Sweden, Swedish news agency...

Broadway is notoriously unappreciative of chance takers, but in recent years, at least, it has come to honor Sondheim's work with a regularity bordering on inevitability…. This year was no different: "A Little Night Music," his third show in three years, was named best musical, and Sondheim walked off with the Tony for best words and music. Which is as it should be—and shouldn't. For the embarrassment of Tonys on Sondheim's mantelpiece also points up the emba...

In the following review, Simon gives a positive assessment of the New York City Opera's production of A Little Night Music, focusing on the staging, costumes, and orchestration. However, he finds fault with the performance of the cast.

In the following review, Davis praises the New York City Opera's performance of A Little Night Music, yet criticizes Sondheim's music and lyrics as clumsy and unpolished.