"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.
About the Author :
D.T. Max is a staff writer at the New Yorker. He is the author of The Family That Couldn't Sleep: A Medical Mystery, and the bestselling Every Love Story is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace. He lives outside of New York City.
Keith Sellon-Wright is a seasoned professional with a career in Hollywood spanning over thirty years. He has had the good fortune to work with some of Hollywood's seminal directors, including Christopher Guest and Spike Lee, and on some of the most important shows in television history, including Seinfeld, The West Wing, and Mad Men. Although the majority of his audiobook work is nonfiction, he enjoys narrating fiction titles as well. A proud member of SAG-AFTRA, he lives in Southern California. Christopher Grove is an award-winning, veteran actor and narrator based in Los Angeles. He guest-stars on top network TV shows (recurring on Season 2 of David Fincher's Mindhunter, How To Get Away With Murder, Pretty Little Liars, Revenge, Scandal, Masters of Sex, Justified, Agent Carter, and more). He has performed at major theaters around the country, including the Mark Taper Forum and the Public Theater. Chris has lived and worked in London, Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, and some of the places in between. He's the son of a college professor and World War II veteran and of a social worker. He has degrees from the University of Toronto (history and political science) and the University of Southern California (print journalism), where he graduated in the top of his class.
