Music and Lyrics

Clips from the career of librettist John Weidman ’68, including a Sesame Street sketch, excerpts from Assassins, and Weidman's reflections on works staged at Lincoln Center

For John Weidman ’68, a career as a librettist began with writing a Hasty Pudding show in 1966, and later included work on Sesame Street and collaborations with Stephen Sondheim. (Read more in "Storytelling with Sondheim," from the January-February 2011 issue.)

For the occasion of Lincoln Center's twenty-fifth anniversary, the venue filmed interviews with creators who'd done a significant amount of work there over the years. In one clip, Weidman discusses Anything Goes; in another, he discusses the development of Contact and Happiness.

View a Sesame Street clip written by Weidman—the children's show's take on the musical Oklahoma.

View a clip from the musical Assassins, a collaboration between Weidman and Sondheim that resulted from a mutual fascination with the men who have tried to kill U.S. presidents.

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