Estaban Sondheim: An Elaboration

lindalavinOne of LemonWade’s regular readers, James Bassi, emailed me to elaborate on my “West Side Story” posting from earlier today. Since the show’s current Broadway-bound revival is performed partly in Spanish, I joked that Stephen Sondheim, the lyricist, would now have to be known as Estaban Sondheim. Bassi said: “[Sondheim] wrote the lyrics (with Mary Rodgers’ music) for the song, ‘The Boy From…’, under the pseudonym, Estaban Ria Nido.” Further research reveals that the song debuted in a 1966 off-Broadway revue called “The Mad Show,” and was performed by Linda Lavin (pictured). More on the song here.

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