Finale

Late Conversations with Stephen Sondheim

By: D.T. Max

Narrated by: Christopher Grove, Keith Sellon-Wright

Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

“Brazenly entertaining. . . . It summons to the page a Broadway voice like no other.”—Los Angeles Times

“[An] erudite and affably self-conscious memoir of the creative process.”—Vulture

An intimate portrait of a genius: the late Stephen Sondheim in a series of illuminating and deeply personal interviews from the last years of his life—conversations that show the composer-lyricist as he has likely never been seen before.

In 2017, New Yorker staff writer D.T. Max began working on a major profile of Stephen Sondheim that would be timed to the eventual premiere of a new musical Sondheim was writing. Sadly , that process – and the years of conversation – was cut short by Sondheim’s own hesitations, then the global pandemic, and finally by the great artist’s death in November 2021.

Now, Max has taken the raw version of these conversations and knit them together into an unforgettable work of literature and celebration. Finale reveals Sondheim—a star who disliked the spotlight—at his most relaxed, thoughtful, sardonic, and engaging, as he talks about work, music, movies, family, New York City, aging, the creative process, and much more.

Max brings you into the room and gives you a front row seat for their unusual and intimate three-year-long “pas de deux.” The two bond, spar, separate, and reunite, as Max elicits from Sondheim a candor and vulnerability he seldom displayed in public.

This is a unique portrait of an artist in his twilight, offering remarkable insight into the mind and heart of a genius whose work changed American musical theater and popular culture forever.

©2022 D.T. Max (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

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This book is better read than heard. The narrators were not as successful as they could have been. It was difficult for me to discern when the author was speaking and when Mr. Sondheim was speaking. Their voices were too similar. Plus cut the intro-: too long.

If you must buy this book, buy the print version

For those of us who love musical thater, Stephen Sondheim is always a fascinating subject. It's no exaggeration to say that Sondheim revolutionized the Broadway musical.
This book is the story of a reporter, D. T. Max, trying to do a piece on Sondheim for the New Yorker Most of it is told in dialog between the author and his subject. SADLY, in the audio version, there is no attempt to tell us which one of them is speaking. At a gala with the author, Sondheim and Meryl Streep, there are three witty, clever people speaking and the listener has almost no idea who is saying what.
I hope the print version has this problem solved.
So what does this book teach us about Sondheim? Very little, unfortunely. On their first meeting, Sondheim sends D.T. Max home with the two books he wrote about his work, Finishing The Hat and Look I Made A Hat. In these fascinating books, you'll learn much more about Sondheim and his work than you will from his conversations with D. T. Max.
Another great book filled with insights into Sondheim is Mary Rodgers' memoir, Shy. Rodgers, the daughter of composer Richard Rodgers and an author and composer in her own right knew Sondheim and loved him since they were children. They even attempted at one time a trial "marriage."
In short, I was disappointed in Finale,