Patinkin asks himself, “’I got to be in the room with Shakespeare. I think he was like the bird in the nest that just has its mouth open until mamma puts the last worm in it.” I think what he worked on, and used his craft to the nth degree for, were the musical constructions and the construction of the rhyme, with the rhyming dictionaries and the play with words.

“Did he plan to have those moments?” Patinkin asked. He came down to Patinkin after the performance, and embraced him. When the song was finished, I realised I never looked at the words, which has never happened to me before or since.” That night the director Mike Nichols was in the audience. We were all consumed in tears, as I am just retelling it to you, and he said, ‘Is it OK?’ We said, ‘Yes Steve, it’s OK.’ He gave it to me on that onion-skin type paper, and I pasted it into the back of the sketchpad. When he finished playing, he was sopping wet, like he’d walked into the ocean – he was sweating so profusely. “He walked in, with a dry shirt on, and played for the first time for us ‘Finishing the Hat’. He recalls the first time Sondheim played “Finishing the Hat,” on a piano in a bar across the street from Playwrights Horizons: On Tuesday, Broadway actor Mandy Patinkin, who originated the role of George (and the role of George) in Sondheim’s landmark Sunday in the Park with George, gave an interview to The New Statesman remembering his working relationship with the playwright. From Broadway stars to fellow composers, people shared messages honoring Sondheim’s legacy and reflecting on their memories of him. The scope of Sondheim’s vast influence was evident as friends, fans, and famous collaborators alike took to social media to react to the news of his passing. His sudden death reportedly came a day after he celebrated Thanksgiving with friends in Roxbury, Connecticut.

Sondheim was known for his transformative and enduring impact on the American musical, working on beloved productions like Into the Woods, West Side Story, and Sweeney Todd, among many others. The theater world mourned the loss of a giant after legendary lyricist and composer Stephen Sondheim died at age 91 on Friday, November 26. Photo: The Washington Post/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Some kind of wonderful music