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,
Samuel Byck musical written by Stephen Sondheim. The "9/11 Commission Report" also mentioned Byck's attempt to fly a plane into the White House. On page 561 in note 21, it says: Byck is one of the (failed) assassins portrayed in Stephen Sondheim's and John Weidman's 1991 musical "Assassins". His role in the musical is built largely around his tapes sent to Leonard Bernstein and other famous public figures, which he is depicted recording during two scene-length monologues, the first addressed to Bernstein and the second to Nixon himself. A movie based on his story, "The Assassination of Richard Nixon", was released in