“Stephen Sondheim was a gigantic figure in American culture – one of our country’s greatest songwriters, a lyricist and composer of real genius, and a creator of some of the most glorious musical dramas ever written.”.

Posting on Twitter, Streisand said: “Thank the Lord that Sondheim lived to be 91 years old so he had time to write such wonderful music and GREAT lyrics,” while Miranda shared a recent Twitter exchange with Sondheim in which he had thanked the Broadway legend for mentoring other younger talent.

This weekend he added a public tribute to Sondheim’s talent: “Future historians: Stephen Sondheim was real.

In Britain, Andrew Lloyd Webber, the world’s best known and most successful musical theatre name, saluted Sondheim’s towering skill as a lyricist in particular, calling him “the musical theatre giant of our times, an inspiration not just to two but to three generations”.

Singer Elaine Paige, the original stage Evita and later exponent of Sondheim’s music, wrote on social media of her devastation at hearing of the death while the prominent British theatrical producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh said: “The theatre has lost one of its greatest geniuses and the world has lost one of its greatest and most original writers.” He added that Sondheim will “still be here as his legendary songs and shows will be performed for ever more.”.

Actor Vanessa Williams, who played the witch on Broadway in the 1994 revival of Sondheim’s Into the Woods, tweeted: “What a privilege to have soaked up the incredible aura of legendary Stephen Sondheim in person many times in my life.

“The theatre world is a smaller place tonight after the passing of Stephen Sondheim,” he said