Watching Sondheim Watch A New Musical

“It isn’t every day you spot the Almighty in the East Village, but on Tuesday I sat directly behind Stephen Sondheim, the reigning deity of musical theatre, at a performance of Fun Home … Engrossed as I was with the action onstage, it was impossible to watch without imagining it through Sondheim’s eyes. … But that’s because it’s often hard to watch any modern musical without considering his pervasive influence on the genre, as if Sondheim is perpetually perched in Row H of the artists’ minds.”