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 Nathanael West's "A Cool Million" with James Lapine around 1982. Sondheim worked with William Goldman on "Singing Out Loud", a musical film, in 1992, penning the song "Water Under the Bridge". According to the composer, Goldman wrote one or two drafts of the script and Sondheim wrote six-and-a-half songs when director Rob Reiner lost interest in the project. "Dawn" and "Sand", from the film, were recorded for the albums "Sondheim at the Movies" and "Unsung Sondheim". Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein wrote "The Race to Urga", scheduled for Lincoln Center in 1969, but when Jerome Robbins left the project it was