Matching Minds with Sondheim: The Podcast
Matching Minds with Sondheim: The Podcast
Podcast Description
Matching Minds with Sondheim: The Podcast in an open invitation into the puzzle-loving, game-designing mind of Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim. Based on the acclaimed book by Barry Joseph, each episode uncovers the hidden world of Sondheim’s lifelong passion for treasure hunts, cryptic crosswords, parlor games, and more. Join Barry and his guests—puzzle-makers, game designers, and Sondheim aficionados—as they explore how Sondheim's playful designs delivered moments of clarity and connection for friends, colleagues, and anyone who's ever been captivated by his genius. Whether you’re a musical theater fan, a puzzlehead, or just Sondheim-curious, this series invites you to match minds with Sondheim. Make sure to get the book everywhere books are found, or click here.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
Focuses on Sondheim's passion for puzzles and games, examining topics such as the influence of games in his musicals and his interest in escape rooms. Episodes include discussions on the cultural significance of escape rooms and how Sondheim's clever uses of games are evident in shows like 'Company' and 'Sweeney Todd.'
Matching Minds with Sondheim: The Podcast in an open invitation into the puzzle-loving, game-designing mind of Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim. Based on the acclaimed book by Barry Joseph, each episode uncovers the hidden world of Sondheim’s lifelong passion for treasure hunts, cryptic crosswords, parlor games, and more. Join Barry and his guests—puzzle-makers, game designers, and Sondheim aficionados—as they explore how Sondheim’s playful designs delivered moments of clarity and connection for friends, colleagues, and anyone who’s ever been captivated by his genius. Whether you’re a musical theater fan, a puzzlehead, or just Sondheim-curious, this series invites you to match minds with Sondheim. Make sure to get the book everywhere books are found, or click here.
Our latest episode focuses on Stephen Sondheim’s fascination with puzzle boxes, featuring guest David Staller, founding artistic director of the Gingold Theatrical Group. Staller describes his Shaw-inspired connection to Sondheim through Hermione Gingold, their friendship and correspondence, and Sondheim’s attraction to puzzles as finite, controllable structures that offered relief from the chaos of human relationships and creative pressures. The episode includes rare audio from Sondheim’s Games Magazine interview about collecting and admiring puzzle boxes, plus excerpts from Barry’s interview with puzzle-box designer Kagen Sound (on learning Sondheim was a client and seeing his boxes in the film Six by Sondheim). Staller recounts gifting Sondheim puzzle boxes (including Japanese artisan-made boxes), treasure-hunt parties and movie-themed murder mysteries, a final unopened birthday box returned after Sondheim’s death, and finding a hidden note during the 2024 Doyle auction. He also describes Sondheim’s love for, and association with the boy-star of, the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes.
00:00 Everything Is A Puzzle
01:44 Meet Guest David Staller
02:55 Shaw Connection To Sondheim
05:11 Why Games Felt Safe
07:54 Discovering Puzzle Boxes
08:46 What Puzzle Boxes Are
10:37 Sondheim On Puzzle Boxes
12:47 Voice Memories And Boxes
16:59 Japanese Artisan And Last Box
19:40 Opening The Box Onstage
21:53 What Was Inside The Box
23:25 Treasure Hunts And Movie Trivia
26:04 Thin Man Roleplaying Games
26:44 Movie Roleplay Mystery
28:34 Home Treasure Hunt
30:30 Sondheim Grammar Patrol
32:16 Puzzle Boxes Meaning
33:49 Kagen Sound Spotlight
36:04 Boxes On The Piano
38:04 Auction Hidden Note
39:42 Objects And Legacy
42:22 Calvin And Hobbes
47:31 Life As A Puzzle
Special Links:
Thanks to everyone who contributed behind the scenes to this episode: the Musical Stingers composed by Mateo Chavez Lewis, our line producer Dennis Caouki, and the theme song to our podcast with lyrics and music by Colm Molloy and sung by the one only Anne Morrison, currently on the road starring in Kimberly Akimbo.
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