| abstract | There is little doubt that, in the latter half of the 20th century, composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim expanded the language of
musical theater. Mentored by librettist, lyricist and producer, Oscar Hammerstein II, who almost single-handedly created the accepted structure of traditional American
musicals, Sondheim created works that propelled the evolution of musical theater from a popular escapist entertainment to a challenging and intellectual art form, while
also constructing those works within the framework of time-honored theatrical conventions. Sondheim has endowed his musicals with intelligence and a sense of truth
rarely associated with popular Broadway productions. What seems to interest him most is a direct communication with an audience, without the filter and distance
associated with other forms. His shows create a mythology around desolation, favor abstraction over narrative and, as such, would seem to exist in contradiction to
Sondheim's training at the foot of Hammerstein. His job as a rehearsal assistant on the Rodgers and Hammerstein production Allegro had a profound influence on
Sondheim's work and the meta-theatrical nature of his shows can be directly traced to the structure and form of Allegro. References to the show's style and the
use of a Greek chorus, to comment on the action and communicate complex characters and ideas to the audience, can be found throughout the Sondheim canon. Sometimes
taking the form of a full singing and dancing ensemble, rooted in the customary musical theater notion of a chorus, or presented as a small group or an individual
character, the Sondheim Greek chorus not only connects Sondheim's works to the conventions of both classical and musical theater history, but also provide a platform
for the expansion and contraction of time and space on Sondheim's musical stage. As a result, Sondheim's works reflect their own conventions and the conventions of the
musical theater form, even while disregarding them, and become commentaries on the aesthetics of both the integrated and non-integrated musical.
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