Lyric Stage Company Launches Stephen Sondheim Initiative in Boston

Spiro Veloudos, producing artistic director of Boston's Lyric Stage, has announced a deepening commitment to the work of Stephen Sondheim over the course of the company's next five seasons.

Lyric Stage will present Sondheim on Sondheim as the fourth production of its current 2015-16 season and has slated a production of Company for its 2016-17 season. Lyric Stage will also celebrate Veloudos' 20th anniversary with the company in 2017-18 season with a new Veloudos production of Sunday in the Park With George, as well as Veloudos' first interpretation of Merrily We Roll Along. Passion and Pacific Overtures are additional Sondheim works in talks to join future seasons.

In addition to Sondheim productions, Veloudos is planning an annual summer Sondheim workshop for teen artists, and winter master classes for professionals,
starting in 2016. Lyric Stage will also sponsor a New England College Sondheim Competition, with awards going to one male and one female college student for excellence in Sondheim performance.

The final installment of the initiative will be an annual Boston Stephen Sondheim Award to an outstanding figure who has made significant contributions locally or nationally to furthering the art of musical theater.

"Sondheim is to the world of musical theater as Shakespeare is to the classical cannon," says Veloudos. "I would hate to think that there might be a time when either of these genius writers' works would be forgotten."

Managing director Matt Chapuran adds, "Boston is blessed with a wealth of brilliant musical theater performers. The challenges of performing Sondheim crystallizes those talents, and Spiro has demonstrated, from his productions of Assassins in 1998 to last fall's Sweeney Todd, that he has an enviable ability for drawing out memorable performances from those artists."