SOURCE: McLaughlin, Robert L. “‘No One Is Alone’: Society and Love in the Musicals of Stephen Sondheim.” Journal of American Drama and Theatre 3, no. 2 (spring 1991): 27-41.

In the following essay, McLaughlin examines the theme of love in contemporary society in West Side Story, Company, Sweeney Todd, and Into the Woods.

The cliché about Stephen Sondheim's musicals is that the critics cheer them while the audiences stay home. This generalization, however, hides more truth than it reveals. Although his shows have never achieved the popularity of Phantom of the Opera or Les Misérables, their life on Broadway, in London, in National Tours, in regional and community productions, and in television versions indicates an ever-growing audience for his work. Conversely, although his shows have frequently received awards from the New York drama critics, they have rarely been enthusiastically embraced by the critics.¹ Critics and audiences find Sondheim's musicals difficult...