Introduction -- Everybody has to go through stages like that -- "I've never even known a Puerto Rican!" -- Musical production -- No fits, no fights, no feuds, no egos? -- Musical libretto -- Send in the clowns -- Music publishing -- The way the cookies crumbled -- Musical direction -- "The less said, the better" -- Casting -- Waiting around for the girls upstairs -- Musical staging -- An embarrassment of riches -- Orchestration -- The game is never over -- Original cast recordings -- Is Hans Christian Andersen ever risque?́ -- For whose benefit? -- East Side story -- Songwriting -- Murder, he wrote -- Poster art -- "It's still backwards" -- Pop recordings -- Art isn't easy -- One last look at where it all began -- Some enchanted evening -- Perpetual anticipation -- With so little to be sure of -- Appendix A: Sondheim productions -- Appendix B: Sondheim cast albums -- Acknowledgments -- Index.