America (West Side Story song) America (West Side Story song) “America” is a song from the musical "West Side Story". Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics and Leonard Bernstein composed the music. In the original stage version, Anita – the most important female character after Maria and the girlfriend of Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks – praises America while a fellow Puerto Rican immigrant, Rosalia, supports Puerto Rico. This version of the song deprecates the island and highlights the positive qualities of American life ("I’ll drive a Buick through San Juan/If there’s a road you can drive on"). The irony of this supposedly pro-American number,
The Sondheim Review The Sondheim Review The Sondheim Review was a quarterly magazine published in Chicago, United States, by Ray Birks starting in 1994. Per its tagline, it was "Dedicated to the work of the Musical Theatre's foremost composer and lyricist," Stephen Sondheim. It was originally edited by Paul Salsini; starting in 1994, Cincinnati theatre critic Rick Pender became its managing editor; its editorial board included Chicago theatre columnist John Olson, drama critic and university professor Eric Grode, university professor Paul M. Puccio, and theater journalist Russell M. Dembin. Sondheim wrote occasional short items for the magazine, although he was not formally connected