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Permalink Reply by Taryn Retzlaff on April 16, 2015 at 9:40am

Add me as a friend, so I can ask you some questions please!! :)

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Permalink Reply by PSPoolside on July 3, 2021 at 3:54pm

I know you posted years ago but I must comment. You are so lucky as Mr. Sondheim no longer gives autographs due to his objection to them being traded and sold. I’ve been wanting one of his letters for years and was able to get this note he wrote it in 1979 on the same stationary as your written many years later. The typo and the subject of West Side Story make it special to me. 

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Permalink Reply by Luke Iovenitti on July 3, 2021 at 4:29pm

Hi! Thank you for sharing your letter. I didn’t know he stopped signing. Was this a recent decision? I wrote to him again in 2017 when I was music directing a high school production of Sweeney Todd and he graciously signed a photo to our cast which went in our playbill. He included a very nice letter that time as well. I’m glad to have written to him at a time he was still replying and signing. You’ve got a great letter there too. It amazes me how he’s always able to get so much across in so little. Congrats on the fine addition to your collection :)

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Permalink Reply by PSPoolside on July 3, 2021 at 6:57pm

There was a passing moment in a recent tribute (90th birthday?) where he mentioned his irritation with autograph trading and selling mentioning eBay in particular. I don’t recall the exact program but it made a real impression on me as I was attempting to built up the nerve to write. I never did after that as it made me feel I was being a little stalky. I don’t have many heros but he’s right up there. He jokes about it but it’s true… genius.

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Permalink Reply by JK on July 3, 2021 at 5:17pm

I got him a year and a half ago on a quotation and he also sent a letter.

He has been iffy for a while due to eBay, etc,  but some got through. A recent attempt of mine was returned unsigned with no explanation.

Great letters above, by the way.

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Permalink Reply by PSPoolside on July 3, 2021 at 7:06pm

You were so lucky to get a response when he was still engaging with, dare I say, fans. At 91 he seems to still be going strong but his decades of smoking has me concerned. After Sondheim I can’t imagine there still being musical theater. 

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Permalink Reply by JK on July 3, 2021 at 8:00pm

Just a short time ago I read on another site that recenrly people have been getting typed rejection letters.  So I guess the crackdown is intensifying.

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