Speech at the Tony Awards
from Michael Reidel, "Sorry Tony, I'm Traveling" <B>New York Post</B> http://www.nypost.com/seven/06182008/entertainment/theater/sorry__tony__im_traveling_116009.htm
Sondheim wasn't at the Tonys because he was traipsing through Europe.
I hear he found out about the award only when it was announced in the press. Nobody from the Tonys bothered to tell him beforehand, so he didn't change his travel plans.
But he did write that very classy letter, read by Mandy Patinkin (who seemed to be wearing Steve's panhandler's beard), acknowledging all his book writers.
One of those writers, Larry Gelbart ("A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"), sent Sondheim a one-word note the next morning. "Name-dropper," it said.
(Also: I read at a blog that Sondheim's note also said that a "life-time achievement award" sounds like a cue for the recipient's death. If anyone has the text of the speech, I'd like to see it.)
Scott Smoot
teacher, writer, composer | read my tribute to Sondheim as teacher at www.smootpage.com
