Tonight (1956 song) Tonight (1956 song) "Tonight" is a popular song with music written by Leonard Bernstein and the lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and was published in 1956. It was introduced in the Broadway musical "West Side Story." The movie version, featuring vocals by Marni Nixon (dubbing Natalie Wood) and Jimmy Bryant (dubbing Richard Beymer), finished at #59 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema. The song was revived in 1961 on single records in versions by Ferrante & Teicher (#8 pop, #2 easy listening) and Eddie Fisher, whose version narrowly missed the Top 40. Shirley Bassey recorded
Stephen Sondheim took the stage during an encore of his song, "Old Friends". In November 2015, Sondheim was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in a ceremony at the White House. Sondheim founded Young Playwrights Inc. in 1981 to introduce young people to writing for the theatre, and is the organization's executive vice-president. The Stephen Sondheim Center for the Performing Arts, at the Fairfield Arts and Convention Center in Fairfield, Iowa, opened in December 2007 with performances by Len Cariou, Liz Callaway, and Richard Kind (all of whom had participated in Sondheim musicals). The Stephen Sondheim Society was