Stephen Sondheim was an acclaimed Broadway lyricist and composer who spent much time developing the talents of others on their way up.
There may be nothing more vicious than a theater review of a flop or what is perceived as a flop. For all the acclaim, Stephen Sondheim received more than his share of criticism. Many of his productions, for which he wrote lyrics and music, were deemed flops. However, Sondheim himself did not dish it out; he did the opposite – he mentored the up-and-comers. In an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air, Lin Manuel Miranda told host Terry Gross how Sondheim was a sounding board and an encourager of his talent. Nowhere does this come through more strongly than in Miranda’s production of the film Tick, Boom, the musical by the lyricist and composer Jonathan Larson. We see Larson (played by Andrew Garfield) meet Sondheim, who championed his work. Larson blossomed, later writing the long-running musical Rent (sadly only to die just before it premiered in 1995.) Providing feedback and understanding Sondheim’s mentorship was, in a sense, what we today call «feed forward,» the idea (developed by Marshall Goldsmith) of helping others learn and develop with on-going feedback.
