Review by Angus Campbell • Halifax • 2025-11-02
What do you get when you combine New York’s best celebrity caricaturist with one of Broadway’s most talented composer and lyricist? Hirschfeld's Sondheim - a poster book by David Leopold with art by Al Hirschfeld.
My best friend Tom and I coined the term Sondheimite in 1979 to perfectly describe our mutual passion for Stephen Sondheim musicals. Tom had the pleasure of meeting him in 1980 at Mr. Sondheim’s home, and as a “souvenir” petted his cat so he could bring home some hair. Tom continued to correspond with him for many years starting in the early 80s, I corresponded with him after Tom’s death in 2011.
Bernadette Peters, who starred in Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George and Into the Woods amongst other productions, writes in her introduction, "this is a keepsake treasure book graced with fifty remarkable drawings”. She later admits, “We all loved waiting for the Sunday paper, anticipating Al’s next famous caricature; I know Steve loved them too.”
What is extra special about this book is that you can remove 25 of the pages and frame them. I love it! (Confession: I already have the Follies illustration, framed, in my Sondheim Room. I’ll have to write a separate article with photos of my shrine.)
Al Hirschfeld (1903-2003), one of the most recognizable illustrators of all time, and Stephen Sondheim (1930-2021), a god of the American Theatre, each had their unique innovations. They are no longer alive, but their iconic artistries live on.
I’m not going to take away your gay card if you’re not a musical theatre queen, but perhaps after reading this article, and hopefully this book, you will feel the need to see some theatre and maybe even seek an autograph. (Bring a Sharpie!)
Illustrator Hirschfeld was talented from a very early age, drawing many school classmates. He gained fame by illustrating actors, singers, and dancers of TV, film, and Broadway plays, which would appear in advance in The New York Times to herald the play's opening.
Hirschfeld’s daughter Nina was born in 1945, and he started hiding her name in each drawing. This began a fun challenge for readers to find all instances of her name in uppercase letters. It became an obsession for many, including for Tom and me. The number of NINAs hidden is revealed next to his signature. (Can you find the five NINAs in the book cover?) When there is no number, there is only one NINA, or it was before her birth.
At one point Hirschfeld stopped including NINAs in his work, which was intentionally meant for friends, but the public was outraged and started writing letters to the New York Times (from “curious” to “furious”, the legend goes) and he felt it was easier to include NINAs than to answer all the letters. There are many stories of people attempting to find all the NINAs, even before he started adding them.
Hirschfeld received two Tony awards for Lifetime Achievement. Additionally, he has a theatre named after him on West 45th Street in New York.
Stephen Sondheim was a proud gay man and his contributions to musical theatre are as immeasurable as his mentor’s, Oscar Hammerstein II. Steve credited Hammerstein for teaching him “more about songwriting and musical theatre in one afternoon than most people learn in a lifetime.”
Sondheim’s list of credits includes several exceptional shows, music, and lyrics. Some were initially misunderstood but their brilliance persisted. He even permitted Barbra Streisand to rewrite the lyrics to his most famous song Send in the Clowns to mock Donald Trump -- watch it here.
In addition to specials and revues, Angela Lansbury starred in two of Sondheim’s Broadway shows (Anyone Can Whistle and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.) I was fortunate to see her in the latter’s touring cast as it was closing in Los Angeles in 1981. She kicked off her slipper at the final performance, and it touched my hand as we all stood to catch it, but it ended up behind me by two rows. Lucky guy.
I’ve been fortunate enough to see Bernadette Peters live in Follies in Washington, DC, and New York City. I was thrilled to chat with her briefly after her Washington performance.
Julie Andrews was the star that Hirschfeld drew the most. I saw her on Broadway in 1995 in Victor/Victoria (non-Sondheim). She was fabulous.
Many of the above performances are available online.
This book would be a welcome piece to any coffee table, library, or for any collector of wall posters. Every person that I have shown it to has had great interest.
Published by Abrams Books (abramsbooks.com) @abramscomicarts
US $29.99, Can $37.95
ISBN 978-1-4197-8415-6
