Children and Art | Sondheim: The Father Figure

Stephen Sondheim longed to be a father. Sadly, this dream was denied him. Yet although Steve never had children of his own, he was a father figure to countless loved ones – and their children. Join Sondheim’s chum Martin Milnes and Steve’s first love Peter E. Jones as they chat to the children – and parents – whose lives were touched by Steve’s love.

“He was terribly into magic. Steve would put on these little magic shows for us. Traditional magic tricks: the wand with the handkerchiefs coming out.” – Walter E. SondheimWhat did Steve’s half-brother Walter accidentally discover about his family history? What was the common bond shared by mother and son Mia and Ronan Farrow in their friendships with Steve? And what has Steve’s love meant to Maria and her children?

“He found a lot of lost souls, lost people searching, and gave them a meaning and a way forward. It gave them an opportunity to find and make friends with themselves as fallible, fractured people.” – Maria Friedman

00:00 Dame Julie Andrews: ‘Oh, Steve! I’m pregnant!’

02:40 Martin & PJ: Steve’s Regret

04:12 Walter E. Sondheim: ‘Steve’s really my half-brother!’

15:02 Jamie Bernstein: ‘But we didn’t lose Steve!’

24:38 Mia Farrow: ‘The Old Woman in the Shoe’

27:38 Ronan Farrow: ‘This Extraordinary Polymath’

35:10 Mia Farrow: ‘I’ll never have anyone remotely like that’

38:38 Maria Friedman: ‘Stephen Song-Guy The Sandwich Man’

48:50 Walter E. Sondheim: ‘We’re going to see Uncle Steve!’