The plan is to have one of Broadway’s most influential artists pull up a chair and intimately discuss his captivating career with Nancy Melich, former Salt Lake Tribune theater critic and current literary seminar director at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Sondheim will illuminate his own creative process, his ambitious efforts to help modernize Broadway theater, the stories behind such successful works as Sweeney Todd, collaborations with the likes of Hal Prince and what it all actually means to be a living American icon. If you’re lucky, Sondheim might even take just a moment to explicate the genius that is his 1975 Grammy-winning song “Send in the Clowns.” 

An Evening with Stephen Sondheim @ Kingsbury Hall, 1395 E. Presidents Circle, University of Utah, 801-581-7100, Feb. 1, 7:30 p.m., $20.50-$39.50. KingTix.com