Maria (West Side Story song) Maria (West Side Story song) "Maria" is a song from the Broadway musical "West Side Story", sung by the lead character Tony. The music was written by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The song was published in 1956. "Maria" is sung by the male lead Tony when he learns the name of the girl he's fallen in love with is "Maria". The name "Maria" is spoken or sung in the song 29 times. It begins in B major and then modulates to E-flat major. The song is widely known for its use of the melodic interval of a
Stephen Sondheim needed money for rent. The network disliked the title and Sondheim's alternative, "A Little Night Music". After Sondheim finished "Evening Primrose", Jerome Robbins asked him to adapt Bertolt Brecht's "The Measures Taken" despite the composer's general dislike of Brecht's work. Robbins wanted to adapt another Brecht play, "The Exception and the Rule", and asked John Guare to adapt the book. Leonard Bernstein had not written for the stage in some time, and his contract as conductor of the New York Philharmonic was ending. Sondheim was invited to Robbins' house in the hope that Guare would convince him to write the