Send in the Cake: Sondheim turns 77

Musical theater legend (and openly gay man) Stephen Sondheim turns 77 today (yowzah!), and we wanted to wish him the very best.

If you're not familiar with Sondheim (don't ... say ... anything ... bitchy ...), he's the man responsible for creating the music or lyrics (or both) for some of the best musicals of all time. I know that earlier I noted that I'm not a huge musical theater fan, but Sondheim's the berries: his work broke rules, barriers, and box office records, and he's probably more responsible for reinventing the form than anyone else in the last 40 years.

Works on his unparalleled resume include West Side Story, Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George, Company, Sweeney Todd, Assassins, Follies, Gypsy, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and A Little Night Music (which featured what is probably his best-known song, "Send in the Clowns").

Sondheim also made a hilarious cameo in the teen-actor comedy Camp, which featured a gay kid who was obsessed with the man as though he were Elvis. Which, to some people, he kind of is.

On the occasion of his 75th birthday, a tribute was aired that contained this clip of various Desperate Housewives characters naming their favorite Sondheim song. It's cute: