Stephen Sondheim made his very first public speaking appearance on our stage on May 2, 1971, in a talk with Lyrics & Lyricist’s founder Maurice Levine, as part of the series’ inaugural season. Their intimate and witty conversation captures Sondheim’s early reflections on what he calls “the craft, not the art,” of lyric writing, why it’s the simplicity of the line “I just kissed a girl named Maria”—not the grand part—that makes that song soar, and so much more. Recorded May 2, 1971 at the 92nd Street Y, New York.

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