American composer Stephen Sondheim was BOTD in 1930. Born in New York to an affluent family, he was raised in Pennsylvania after his parents’ divorce, attending a series of private schools. He had a co-dependent relationship with his mother, whom he later accusing her of psychological and sexual abuse, becoming estranged from her as an adult. As a child, he was mentored by composer James Hammerstein, who nurtured his love of musical theatre. He studied music at Williams College, and had spectacular early success writing the lyrics for hit Broadway musicals West Side Story (forming a quarter of gay luminaries with Jerome Robbins, Leonard Bernstein and Arthur Laurents) and Gypsy, again with Laurents and Jule Steyn. His first musical as both composer and lyricist, the Ancient Rome-set A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, was also a huge hit. He dominated 1970s musical theatre with the phenomenally successful musical drama Company, the chamber piece A Little Night Music (featuring the hit song Send In the Clowns) and the Victorian murder tale Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. After the initial failure of his musical Merrily We Roll Along, he found success in the 1980s with the musical Georges Seurat biopic Sunday in the Park with George and Into the Woods, an amusing retelling of classic fairy tales. Later in life, he collaborated on film adaptations of his musicals, winning an Oscar for Best Original Song for Dick Tracy. Renowned for his witty, sophisticated lyrics, complex atonal music and disturbing subject matter, his work was hugely influential on 20th century musical theatre. One of the most garlanded composers in history, he won multiple Tonys, Emmys, Grammys and the Pulitzer Prize, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. Discreetly gay, he came out publicly in his 40s, though rarely spoke about his personal life. Though never explicitly gay-themed, his work resounds with queer subtext, particularly his rejection of happy endings and interest in outsiders and anti-heroes. His song Somewhere from West Side Story was informally adopted as a gay anthem, and his work is regularly performed by LGBTQ choirs worldwide. Sondheim died in 2021, aged 91, survived by his husband Jeff Romley.