GROSS: You know, that actually really fits into what you were talking about wanting rules and structure in music.
SONDHEIM: Yeah. Order out of chaos. Order out of chaos. That’s why I like crossword puzzles – order out of chaos.
GROSS: Right. Right. Right.
SONDHEIM: I think that’s what art’s about anyway. I think that’s why people make art.
GROSS: To create order in…
SONDHEIM: To – out of chaos. Yeah.
GROSS: …In a world that’s chaotic? (Laughter).
SONDHEIM: The whole – the world has always been chaotic. Life is unpredictable. It is – there is no form. And making forms gives you solidity. I think that’s why people paint paintings and take photographs and write music and tell stories and – that have beginning, middles and ends, even when the middle is at the beginning and the beginning is at the end.
‘Fresh Air’ remembers Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim (Part 1)