Stephen Sondheim's latest musical, Road Show, makes its Bay Area premiere with a 15-performane run presented by Theatre Rhinoceros at the Eureka Theatre in San Francisco, January 2–19, 2014. Starting January 9, performances will be preceded by a pre-show presentation from director John Fisher. The Benicia Historical Museum in nearby Benicia is running an exhibition about the Mizner brothers who inspired Road Show and were born in Benicia. Nonesuch Records and PS Classics released the original cast recording of Road Show in 2009.

Six by Sondheim, a new documentary examining the life and music of composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim, premieres on HBO tonight at 9 PM. Directed by frequent Sondheim collaborator James Lapine, Six by Sondheim is a personal profile of the artist presented through the six of his iconic songs. Told primarily in Sondheim’s own words, the documentary includes interviews with the composer, rarely seen archival material, and re-stagings of three songs produced especially for the film, including Audra McDonald performing "Send in the Clowns." NPR's Fresh Air calls the documentary "delightful." The Boston Globe calls it "stunning," a "must-see for musical theatre lovers." Watch the trailer here.

Stephen Sondheim, who was awarded the Edward MacDowell Medal in August, discussed the award and much more on PBS NewsHour last night. While at The MacDowell Colony to receive the award last month, the composer spoke with Jeffrey Brown, NewsHour's Jeffrey Brown about the honor and the danger of resting on one's laurels. Writer Frank Rich, who was the chairman of the medal selection committee, tells the show: "I'd argue that he single-handedly has kept the musical theater in a serious place." Watch the PBS NewsHour feature here.

Stephen Sondheim was awarded the Edward MacDowell Medal in a public ceremony at The MacDowell Colony in Petersborough, New Hampshire, yesterday. Sondheim joins a notable list of past Medal recipients, including Robert Frost, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Leonard Bernstein; this marks the first time in the medal's history a luminary has been chosen from the realm of musical theatre. "I am not only humbled and privileged," says Sondheim, "I am astonished to be in the company." Writer Frank Rich, chairman of the medal selection committee, says: "No artist has made a larger contribution to this quintessential American art form in the modern era than Sondheim has, and no artist could be more deserving of this accolade."

Stephen Sondheim's latest musical, Road Show, begins a six-week run at the Stages Repertory Theatre in Houston, Texas, tonight, marking its first regional theatre production. The Guardian has described Road Show as "an intimate epic that, while giving enormous pleasure, aspires to be nothing less than a state-of-the-nation musical." Variety calls it "an alluring odyssey ... [N]obody who cares about musical theater should miss it." Nonesuch Records and PS Classics released the original cast recording of Road Show in 2009.

Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd opened at London's Adelphi Theatre last night, a West End transfer of the acclaimed Chichester Festival production, directed by Jonathan Kent. The production, starring Imelda Staunton and Michael Ball, opened to rave reviews, earning five stars from the Guardian, which calls it "a superb achievement," and the Times of London, which calls it "an absolute bleedin' triumph." The Daily Telegraph says Sweeney Todd is "Stephen Sondheim’s best show and one of the greatest musicals of all time." Earlier this month in London, Sondheim was awarded the Critics' Circle Award for Distinguished Services to the Arts.

Stephen Sondheim is due to receive the Handel Medallion, New York City's highest award for achievement in the arts, from Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a ceremony for the Mayor's Awards for Arts & Culture held this evening at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. Sondheim is due to receive the 2011 Chicago Tribune Literary Prize for lifetime achievement in an event at the Chicago Humanities Festival this weekend. His second book of collected lyrics, Look, I Made a Hat, is due out later this month.

Stephen Sondheim has been named the recipient of the 2011 Chicago Tribune Literary Prize for lifetime achievement and will accept the award at the Chicago Humanities Festival in November. "'Writing' seems an inadequate word to describe what Stephen Sondheim has done," suggests the Tribune, "yet it is the breadth, impact and influence of his writing that have won him" the award. Marquette University has established the Stephen Sondheim Research Collection after acquiring a vast collection of materials relating to his works from a co-founder of The Sondheim Review.

Stephen Sondheim's Road Show continues its run at the Menier Chocolate Factory, following last week's opening and the musical's European premiere. The production garners four stars from the Financial Times, which praises director John Doyle's "nimble, sassy staging" of Road Show, "a musical with a twinkle in its eye. Sondheim deploys the same vaudevillian flair he brought to Assassins." The Independent on Sunday calls Road Show "a polished new sparkler in the Sondheim treasury."

Stephen Sondheim's Road Show received its European premiere at London's Menier Chocolate Factory last night, earning four stars across the board from The Guardian, The Independent, and the Evening Standard. The Guardian says it is "lyrically witty, musically rich and has the sardonic satirical appeal of the Sondheim-Weidman Assassins ... full of vintage Sondheim." The Independent says it "has terrific drive, bite and buoyancy." The Evening Standard says it's "performed with sparkle." The Stage finds that its "rich, varied and tuneful score is as audacious and complex as any Sondheim has ever written."

Stephen Sondheim's latest musical, Road Show, receives its European premiere at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London tonight. This production is directed and designed by Tony Award winner John Doyle, who also directed the original production of Road Show at New York's Public Theater in 2008, which New York called “a boisterous picaresque about two brothers flimflamming their way from the Yukon to Boca Raton at the turn of the 20th century.”

Stephen Sondheim's Company, as performed by the New York Philharmonic and a star-studded cast including Neil Patrick Harris, Stephen Colbert, Jon Cryer, Christina Hendricks, Patti LuPone, and Martha Plimpton, will be shown in movie theaters across North America today, with encore screenings to follow. Watch a video preview here. Colbert discussed the production on NPR's Fresh Air. Nonesuch released the cast recording of the most recent Broadway revival of Company in 2007.