If you think that's churlish, Sondheim devotes a full-page essay in ''Finishing the Hat,'' his 2010 collection of lyrics, to labeling Hart as ''the laziest of the pre-eminent lyricists.'' He cites what he perceives to be Hart's '''mis-stressed syllables, convoluted syntax and the sacrifice of meaning for rhyme.''
But Sondheim acknowledges Hart ''reveals himself more openly than any other lyricist, except Hammerstein'' and can be ''verbally nimble, full of humor.''
Sondheim also called Richard Rodgers and his wife, Dorothy, ''dedicated homophobes, despite Dick's closeness to his homosexual partner Lorenz Hart.'' |
