Stephen Sondheim spoke with playwright Tony Kushner at New York's Public Theater last fall, upon the publication of Finishing the Hat, Sondheim's first-ever collected lyrics. The evening, part of the Public Theater's Public Form discussion series, was hosted by NEA chairman Rocco Landesman. You can now watch excerpts from the event in a new video from the Public, posted here. Sondheim will receive the Olivier Special Award in London this Sunday.

The Society of London Theatre has announced that Stephen Sondheim will be the recipient of the Olivier Special Award 2011. He will accept the Award in person, given in recognition of his contribution to London theatre, at the Olivier Awards this Sunday, March 13, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. The Awards ceremony will conclude with a tribute to Sondheim. The whole evening will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 2; there will be live televised coverage via the BBC’s Red Button.

Stephen Sondheim was the subject of a feature article in the Guardian, in which he discusses is his first-ever book of collected lyrics, Finishing the Hat, which has topped many a year's-best list, not least the New York Times Sunday Book Review's 10 Best Books of 2010. Finishing the Hat is the Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4; Sondheim will read from it throughout the week. He was on The Colbert Report last week. His 80th birthday concert makes the Minneapolis Star Tribune's list of the Top 10 TV Moments of the Year, topping the year's "great musical moments."

Congratulations to all the Nonesuch artists who were nominated for the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, announced last night by The Recording Academy: The Black Keys, Laurie Anderson, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Punch Brothers, Stephen Sondheim, and World Circuit / Nonesuch Records artists Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté. Together, these artists' 2010 releases garnered an impressive 11 nominations, including a remarkable six nominations for The Black Keys' latest Nonesuch release, Brothers. Hear music from all the nominees on Nonesuch Radio.

Stephen Sondheim celebrated his 80th birthday this past March, a momentous milestone that has been marked in many ways throughout the year, including two New York Philharmonic concerts at Lincoln Center. The New York Times called it "thrilling." That show, Sondheim! The Birthday Concert, is airing on PBS's Great Performances, starting tonight. David Hyde Pierce hosts a stellar cast, including Mandy Patinkin, Audra McDonald, Laura Benanti, John McMartin, Michael Cerveris, Patti LuPone, Victoria Clark, Bernadette Peters, Elaine Stritch, and many others.

Tune in to hear Stephen Sondheim on NPR's Fresh Air today; he'll discuss his newly released collection of lyrics, Finishing the Hat. Paul Simon, reviewing the book in the Times Book Review, calls it "a master class in how to write a musical ... given by the theater’s finest living songwriter" and says: "I would argue that Sondheim’s lyrics are deeper, more invisibly intricate and braver in their search for truth than those of any who have preceded him." Fresh Air says of Sondheim's Evening Primrose, just out on DVD: "Boy, does it make a case for the early brilliance of Sondheim."

Stephen Sondheim: Finishing the Hat, the composer's first-ever collection of his lyrics, with personal anecdotes and behind-the-scenes photos, is out now in the US. The New York Times says: "If you’re a fan of the genre, how can you not feel privileged to eavesdrop on his dialogue with his own words?" Today also marks the first-ever DVD release of Sondheim's 1966 teleplay Evening Primrose; the Times credits the Nonesuch recording of the show, in part, with popularizing its signature song.

Stephen Sondheim: Finishing the Hat, the composer's first-ever collection of his lyrics, is out now in the UK and is due out in the US next week. The collection includes the lyrics for all of his musicals from 1954 to 1981 along with personal anecdotes and behind-the-scenes photos. Variety declares London "smitten with Sondheim." Financial Times says "Sondheim has brought unprecedented depth to musicals"; one sees a Sondheim show "for the exhilaration of seeing a popular art form stretched to its limits." Sondheim's Evening Primrose will receive a one-night-only reading next week, the night before the original TV production is out on DVD. Bernadette Peters will receive the the Signature Theatre's 2011 Sondheim Award.

The Kennedy Center has announced the creation of The Kennedy Center/Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Awards, to be presented annually on the composer's birthday to select teachers in appreciation for their contributions to their field. Sondheim was recently featured in the Daily Telegraph, which finds that the man "who revolutionised the musical with hits such as Sweeney Todd and A Little Night Music, has lost none of his edge."

In honor of Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday this past March, the Roundabout Theatre Company announced that it would rename its Henry Miller's Theatre, on West 43rd Street in New York City, The Stephen Sondheim Theatre. In a public ceremony tonight, the composer lights the marquee renamed in his honor. Among those scheduled to appear are Patti LuPone and librettist John Weidman.

Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday has been celebrated in many ways, including concerts with renowned interpreters of the composer's music, like Bernadette Peters, who taks to the Sunday New York Times about her new role in A Little Night Music. Times critic Anthony Tommasini offers own birthday wishes to the composer in a video featuring the writer at the piano performing and discussing some of his favorite Sondheim musical moments. After one such piece, he says: "It's that kind of detail that makes Stephen Sondheim so important to musicians and composers, but it is also what makes the show so rich and meaningful, and why he is so beloved by so many people, including me."

Bernadatte Peters recently took over the role of Desirée Armfeldt in Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music from actress Catherine Zeta Jones, who is featured on Nonesuch's recording of the work. Peters' rendition of the famous "Send in the Clowns," perhaps the composer's best-known song, was recently praised by New York Times writer Charles Isherwood, leading the Los Angeles Times arts blog, Culture Monster, to take a look, via YouTube, at other famous versions of this popular song.