‘West Side Story’ (1961)

With a score by Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein, the Natalie Wood starrer won 10 Oscars — a record for a musical — but none for Sondheim.
With a score by Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein, the Natalie Wood starrer won 10 Oscars — a record for a musical — but none for Sondheim.
“Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” one of Sondheim’s most famous lyrics, came from this tale of Mama Rose (Rosalind Russell, center), the dance mom from hell.
Set in ancient Rome, it’s the first Sondheim score with both his words and music.
Elizabeth Taylor warbled through “Send in the Clowns” in this critically panned version of the 1973 musical, itself inspired by an Ingmar Bergman film.
Sondheim’s only Oscar is for “Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man),” performed by Madonna’s Breathless Mahoney in the Warren Beatty comic strip movie.
Tim Burton introduced us to Sondheim’s darkest work — about a serial-killer barber and the cannibal piemaker who loves him — and Johnny Depp’s singing, too.