Stephen Sondheim suggested evening the percentage at two percent each, but Sondheim refused because he wanted the credit. Sondheim later said he wished "someone stuffed a handkerchief in my mouth because it would have been nice to get that extra percentage". After "West Side Story" opened, Shevelove lamented the lack of "low-brow comedy" on Broadway and mentioned a possible musical based on Plautus' Roman comedies. When Sondheim was interested in the idea he called a friend, Larry Gelbart, to co-write the script. The show went through a number of drafts, and was interrupted briefly by Sondheim's next project. In 1959, Sondheim was
Somewhere (song) track on Side 2. This is rectified on the CD as "Somewhere" is correctly placed in sequence to the film between "The Rumble" and "Cool." In 1964, P. J. Proby released his version of "Somewhere", which reached number 6 on the British singles chart and 7 on the Australian singles chart. The song also charted well in various European countries. In 1965, the Supremes recorded the song for their album, "There's a Place for Us", though it went unreleased until 2004. They also used it for their debut appearance at the Copacabana nightclub in New York City and it eventually