Meryle Secrest reveals how Sondheim learnt to play the piano at an early age and how he had ambition to become a concert pianist. She writes about the effect his parent's divorce had on him when he was 10, and how he was left to grow up in military and private schools. She reveals how lonely he was and the difficulty he had struggling to gain a foothold in the theatre, attempting to make a living scriptwriting and beginning to live the Hollywood life.
Sondheim's stroke of luck was a chance meeting with playwright Arthur Laurents, which led to his first success - as co-lyricist in 'West Side Story' - and on to his collaboration with Laurents on 'Gypsy', to his first full Broadway musical score, 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum'. His first huge hit was in the 1960s with 'Company', along with the start of an almost twenty-year collaboration with producer and director Hal Prince, that resulted in Broadway fame and successes such as 'Follies', 'Pacific Overtures', 'Sweeney Todd', and 'A Little Night Music'.
