Hat Box: The Collected Lyrics of Stephen Sondheim: A Box Set Hardcover – December 6, 2011

Love love love these books.

Whether you are a Sondheim completist, or simply curious about the writing process, history and the man's own personal thoughts about his work, this box set is provides an invaluable inside peek to the whole breadth of his written works. Songs that were excised (and in some cases reinserted) from each of his major projects are here presented in their entirety, often with notes relating to their original context and reasons for deletion. The black & white reproductions of production photos and Sondheim's own written notes wonderfully accent the main text.It should be noted that Sondheim focuses mainly on the lyrics in this collection, for a deeper look into the process behind music and lyrics Mark Eden Horowitz's "Sondheim on Music: Minor Details and Major Decisions" (ISBN: 978-0810874367) is a better volume.

What a great and comprehensive journey into the mind of the greatest living writer for the musical stage. So much more than a thorough documentation of Sondheim’s lyrics it’s like being a fly on the wall hearing musical theater history being created. If not for yourself than buy this for your favorite theater geek. They will love you forever.

If you agree with Tom Lehrer that Stephen Sondheim is the best lyricist of the 20th Century (I do but I would remover the temporal limitation), then these two books are an absolute must. It's very interesting to see how Sondheim's lyrics have grown in sophistication from the days of West Side Story to his later works, such as A Little Night Music. The man is a genius, and these two volumes attest to it.

Fascinating look at Sondheim's lyrics and his philosophy about theater and lyric writing -- who his big influences were, etc. If you are a Sondheim fan, or like or write musicals, you'll probably find it very interesting. I think it's relatively difficult to get these two books in a slip jacket -- Vol 1 and Vol 2 did not come out at the same time -- so I'm glad I bought this particular product, with the slipcase.

The ultimate master class in lyric-writing, from the best musical theatre writer of all time. Not only do you get the full librettos for each of Sondheim's brilliant shows, along with revisions, alternate/cut numbers, etc., but brilliant asides by the man himself, including personal observations, recollections and annotations to the lyrics make this set absolutely indispensable for any lover of musical theatre or potential lyricists out there. Not to be missed.

Sondheim provides a clear view of the craft and art of lyric writing. Very enjoyable read. Only disappointment: It is harder to read some of the lyrics for shows of which I am unfamiliar because I keep trying to catch fragments of melody I cannot hear. The book will make you want to purchase all of the Sondheim cast albums. Very sly, Mr. Sondheim.

I love these two books. They are very thorough and helpful to the writer of music. There's an abundance of examples on tremendous songs and the evaluation of these songs is priceless. I encourage all writers of music to read these two books. This truly explains the art of writing music.