Before the presentation that Courtney had given on Friday, I had never heard of the composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim. Little did I know, Sondheim was one of the main minds behind famous plays and musicals such as Sweeney Todd, Company, and West Side Story. Although I’m surprised that I’ve never even heard of his name before, I have heard of most of his musicals. In the presentation, I liked the way that Courtney had found a clip of Sondheim himself introducing himself as well as giving some of his personal background. It was a nice touch and, believe it or not, I think that hearing his voice helped me further visualize him as well as characterize his personality better.

Even though Courtney had some difficulties with using PowerPoint, she turned that around with the bright and eye-catching poster she created that contained posters and titles of each of the musicals that Sondheim contributed to. Since I had never really heard any of Sondheim’s musical compositions before, I also was happy that she included a clip of “I’m Not Getting Married Today” from Sondheim’s musical, Company. I had never known that Madeline Kahn had such a talent in singing and that her career had spread beyond acting in just movies. The enthusiasm that Courtney showed while giving her presentation really helped captivate me and although I’m not a big fan of musicals, she made me realize just how much talent and creativity is required to compose something like Sondheim’s pieces.