Sondheim returns with the second volume of his collected lyrics, giving us another remarkable glimpse into his life's work--and into his life. He richly annotates his lyrics with personal and theater history, discussions of his collaborations, and exacting, charming dissections of his work--both the successes and the failures. 480 pp. (Music)

Reviews

"Sondheim is a national treasure, a giant in the world of musical theater who changed the structure and sound of the form in 20th-century masterpieces. Speaking of heaven, though, here's "Look, I Made a Hat," the second part of Sondheim's two-volume collection of lyrics, this one spanning 1981-2011, with additional bits and pieces. Talmudically thorough and devilishly diverting with what the author refers to as 'attendant comments, amplifications, dogmas, harangues, digressions, anecdotes, and miscellany, ' the book is divine. It's also even more magnanimously authoritative than the first book. The handsomely designed book, like the first volume, contains illuminating reproductions of pages from the author's beloved legal pads on which he works out rhyme schemes, as well as annotated scripts and pages of musical notations. And the second volume is brimming -- a word Sondheim would probably dismiss as 'infelicitous' -- with precise, vigorous, instructive, sharp-tongued, and often very f