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 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