As an avid Sondheim fan, he already changed my life so I was interested to read this book. We get little peaks into his process of composing and or writing different musicals.
The chapters each highlight one of his musicals, focusing on a summary, notable lyrics and themes in the shows.
At times I feel like the author centers himself and his students and how he teaches Sondheim too much. It reads more like a course guide on his class, than an ode to Sondheim, his work and him as a person. The book at times feels very much like homework, omitting the joy and depth of Sondheim as a person and his work.
I listened to several songs per chapter as it added an atmosphere to each part.
What I was missing is more about who Sondheim was as a person. I would have loved more in depth looks at the actors who have played in his work and how they added their own thing.
I think this book might resonate for theatre students.

Ahh this book was complete bliss for me!!

I adore musical theatre, and I love books that take a deep dive into analysis of various musicals.
I absolutely loved this book, and loved how in depth Schoch goes into specific songs within Sondheim's musicals.
My only negative, is that I wish the book was longer! I wanted more!! (About 40% of the book is notes)

This would make a great gift for any musical theatre fan!! I love how I can go back and listen/re-watch these musicals and see them from a completely different angle.

Truly a must-read for any fan of Stephen Sondheim, no matter how gentle or die-hard you might be. Reading Schoch's intimately detailed book replicates what it must be like to take one of his classes, exploring a selection of Sondheim's oeuvre - beginning with Gypsy and ending with the unfinished Here We Are - and planting a philosophical eye upon the subjects and stories of each musical. The 'life lessons' that can be learned from each don't necessarily become important as you read. It's more of a jumping off point for the author to analyse the shows themselves, throwing in an anecdote here and there to give evidence to his theses. Certainly, I found the writing leaning more into the academic and at times, it became a little difficult to read, despite the chapters being relatively short and compact.

If anything, this had made me even more eager to listen fully to the Sondheim shows that I'm less familiar with (as of writing: Follies, Assassins, Here We Are, Sunday in the Park with George) and explore all these exciting ideas and thoughts that Schoch brings to this book.