This program originally aired online via Zoom on Thursday, September 17th, at 12:30 pm Eastern.
Julie Salamon, New York Times best-selling author and journalist, sat down with writer and editor Daniel Okrent to discuss his latest book, Stephen Sondheim: Art Isn’t Easy. In writing this biography, Okrent prioritized the art and craft of Sondheim’s music, spotlighting how brilliantly it connects with his lyrics. While Okrent himself isn’t musical, his wife teases that “he can carry a tune all but 10 feet.” Daniel is a great lover of music and wanted to have a deeper understanding of Sondheim’s artistry. To prepare for the book, Okrent sat down with Anthony Tommasini, the classical music critic for The Times, to better understand the art and technicality of musical composition and structure. The book also covers notable relationships in Sondheim’s life, including his adversarial relationship with his mother, close friends Hal Prince and Mary Rodgers, collaborators James Lapine, and John Weidman, as well as his mentoring relationships with Jonathan Larson, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Stephen Flaherty. While conducting his research, Okrent found that Sondheim was both a man known for great decency and generosity, as well as someone who could be quite difficult and cruel. Studying Sondheim’s career made Okrent reflect on his own. When asked what Okrent learned about himself in the writing of the book, he responded, “I wish I had been nicer to people.” Hearing how Sondheim’s generosity had moved so many people, but also how his meanness could be so hurtful.
Okrent shared stories from his career, including how he got his start in publishing. After attending the University of Michigan, Okrent was inspired to write a letter to influential author and editor Robert Gottlieb regarding an article he had read about Joseph Heller’s Catch-22. Gottlieb kindly replied, “If you ever find yourself in New York, give me a call.” Okrent took that as an invitation, and immediately hitchhiked to the Detroit airport, landed at LaGuardia, and immediately called Gottlieb’s office. The editor was true to his word and took a meeting with young Okrent, during which he offered him a job. Over his career, Okrent would go on to work for Alfred A. Knopf, Harcourt, and several other notable publishing houses. In 2003, he was named the first public editor for The New York Times.
Topics covered in this discussion:
- Stephen Sondheim: Art Isn’t Easy is published as part of the Jewish Lives series at Yale University Press, and while Sondheim was not raised observant, nor did he practice as an adult, he was culturally Jewish.
- Daniel Okrent is a non-practicing Jew, but deeply identifies with Jewish culture.
- Daniel Okrent, an avid baseball fan, is credited with inventing fantasy baseball in 1979. It’s known as Rotisserie League Baseball after the restaurant where he first proposed the idea.
