36. "It's so hard to think of Stephen Sondheim as aging, because his words and his music never do. That could be because part of his genius as a composer and as a lyricist is how startling and original all of his work is. He didn't comply with styles. He created them. He was never 'like' anyone else. He and his work were and will always remain Stephen. I thought of this 10 years ago when I led 18,000 people at the Hollywood Bowl in the loudest rendition of 'Happy Birthday' I ever heard. And now you tell me he's 85. I don't believe it." —Barbra Streisand, performer

37. "I had about five years in N.Y. to develop into a worthy audience member (and to be imprinted by Broadway as my life teacher) before the '70s, when Sondheim flooded our streets with a simply unbelievable string of masterpieces, five huge Broadway musicals in 10 years flat. Thus at 37, my sense of what life's experience was, or could be, had been shaped by that essential Stephen Sondheim, and since then, everything from him has been awaited with thirst for my own expansion. In a recent Sunday in the Park revival, I remember sitting in the dark with Jack O'Brien — in the last minutes, we clutched each other's arms in ravishment as the final chords of Sunday solemnized our work, indeed our lives, as people trusting themselves to the human need for art — be it a death-defying aria or a bum's deft flip of a cigarette into the night." —Holland Taylor, performer

38. "Shakespeare gives emotional clues to the actor through iambic pentameter like Sondheim does through difficult melodies and complex rhythms. Not unlike Shakespeare's famous advice to the players in Hamlet ('Speak the speech ... trippingly on the tongue'), Sondheim speaks to the artist: 'Having just the vision's no solution, everything depends on execution.'" —Wesley Taylor, performer

39. "Well, he's 'God'! That's the Act II opening song he wrote for Sondheim on Sondheim, which we sang to him each night of the run. It's a perfect representation of his brilliance. What a pleasure to study his work as a musical theater student and then to have the opportunity to work with, laugh with, and learn from this extraordinary man. I sang for him on his 75th and 80th birthdays and wish him all the best on his 85th." —Vanessa Williams, performer (The Witch in Into the Woods, Performer in Sondheim on Sondheim)

40. "Stephen Sondheim is a genius and simply the best of everything. Follow his template, sing the song as written, wait for the response — and for a brief exhilarating moment, you think you're a genius too!" —Chip Zien, performer (The Baker in Into the Woods, Charley in Merrily We Roll Along)