Stephen Sondheim In 1957, "West Side Story" opened; directed by Jerome Robbins, it ran for 732 performances. Sondheim has expressed dissatisfaction with his lyrics, saying that they do not always fit the characters and are sometimes too consciously poetic. While Bernstein was working on "Candide", Sondheim reportedly wrote some of "West Side Story"s music; Bernstein's co-lyricist credit disappeared from "West Side Story" during its tryout, possibly as a trade-off. Sondheim insisted that Bernstein told the producers to list him as the sole lyricist. He described the division of the royalties, saying that Bernstein received three percent and he received one percent. Bernstein
Stephen Sondheim They spent the rest of the day going over the musical, and Sondheim later said, "In that afternoon I learned more about songwriting and the musical theater than most people learn in a lifetime." Hammerstein designed a course of sorts for Sondheim on constructing a musical. He had the young composer write four musicals, each with one of the following conditions: None of the "assignment" musicals was produced professionally. "High Tor" and "Mary Poppins" have never been produced: The rights holder for the original "High Tor" refused permission, and "Mary Poppins" was unfinished. Sondheim began attending Williams College, a liberal