Stephen Sondheim finding a real synthesis. A good deal of pop music has interesting lyrics, but they are not theater lyrics". A musical-theatre composer "must have a sense of what is theatrical, of how you use music to tell a story, as opposed to writing a song. Jonathan understood that instinctively." Around 2008, Sondheim approached Lin-Manuel Miranda to work with him translating "West Side Story" lyrics into Spanish for an upcoming Broadway revival. Miranda then approached Sondheim with his new project "Hamilton", then called "The Hamilton Mixtape", which Sondheim gave notes on. Sondheim was originally wary of the project saying he was
Kelly (musical) Yeko and Doris Chu Yeko, which specialised in obscure musical theatre recordings. The album's executive producers were the Yekos and Eddie Lawrence. It was dedicated to the memory of Moose Charlap, who died in 1974. Moose Charlap's wife, Sandy Stewart, who was a cabaret and jazz vocalist, released her own pop version of the song "Never Go There Anymore" in 1965, with a lush arrangement by Don Costa. The song subsequently become something of a standard. In 2000, it was described by Stephen Sondheim as one of the songs that he wishes that he'd written, at least in part. In