“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 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 the song in 1962, where it peaked at #21 on the UK charts, becoming the only recording of this song to chart on the UK charts. Jay and the Americans also released a cover version of the song. Sergio Franchi recorded the song in his 1963 RCA Records Red Seal album, Broadway, I Love You. We Five released the song on their 1966 album, You Were on My Mind. Many of the pieces in “West Side Story” experiment with different melodic tricks. This song is notable for its prominent perfect fourth intervals, and a theme that starts on a pentatonic scale but develops into a western key. Jenna Ushkowitz sang the song on Glee, on the episode Preggers. The song also was a plot device in the episode. When Tina (Ushkowitz) gets the part, Rachel (Lea Michele) says that she thought all West Side Story material goes to herself, also with both her and Natalie Wood being Jewish. At the end, when Tina still gets the song, Rachel quits Glee Club to star as Sally Bowles in the school production of Cabaret. Tonight was featured again in the fifth episode of the third season of the show, “The First Time,” this time sung by Lea Michele and Darren Criss.

West Side Story is an American musical with a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and conception and choreography by Jerome Robbins. It was inspired by William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. The story is set in the West 50s and West 60s of the Upper West Side neighborhood in New York City in the mid-1950s, an ethnic, blue-collar neighborhood. (In the early 1960s much of the neighborhood would be cleared in an urban renewal project for Lincoln Center, changing the neighborhood character.) The musical explores the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds. The members of the Sharks from Puerto Rico are taunted by the Jets, a white working-class group. The young protagonist, Tony, one of the Jets, falls in love with Maria, the sister of Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks. The dark theme, sophisticated music, extended dance scenes, and focus on social problems marked a turning point in American musical theatre. Bernstein’s score for the musical includes “Something’s Coming”, “Maria”, “America”, “Somewhere”, “Tonight”, “Jet Song”, “I Feel Pretty”, “A Boy Like That”, “One Hand, One Heart”, “Gee, Officer Krupke”, and “Cool”. The original 1957 Broadway production, directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins and produced by Robert E. Griffith and Harold Prince, marked Sondheim’s Broadway debut. It ran for 732 performances before going on tour. The production was nominated for five Tony Awards including Best Musical in 1957, but the award for Best Musical went to Meredith Willson’s The Music Man; it won a Tony Award for Robbins’ choreography. The show had an even longer-running London production, a number of revivals and international productions. The play spawned an innovative 1961 musical film of the same name, directed by Robert Wise and Robbins, starring Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris and Russ Tamblyn. The film won ten Academy Awards out of eleven nominations, including Best Picture.

By Ferrante & Teicher

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_QffCZs-bg

Lyrics