Steven Spielberg, West Side Story Cast Honor Stephen Sondheim at Premiere

Filmmaker Steven Spielberg and the cast of his West Side Story adaptation couldn’t go into the New York City premiere without saying a few words about Stephen Sondheim, the legendary composer who died on November 26 at 91 years old. Sondheim wrote the lyrics to the original musical that inspired the film, and its debut on Broadway in 1957 made the nine-time Tony winner one of the most acclaimed composers in history.

Sondheim’s career and works were remembered by Spielberg, who attended the premiere with his cast members Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose, and Mike Faist. Also present was EGOT winner Rita Moreno, who starred in the 1961 film adaptation of the musical and produced the new version. Zegler revealed to Variety that Sondheim told her personally she sang “like a nightingale.”

Spielberg had already taken part in a massive tribute among artists who mourned the loss of Sondheim all across social media over the weekend, but this time he took a moment to eulogize the composer to the audience who showed up for the New York premiere.

stephen-sondheim-the-colbert-report-social-featured — Image via Comedy Central

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The director spoke about how he felt about Sondheim’s passing, the composer’s legacy, and the fact that his impact lives on:

“This can’t be the night we’ve long anticipated, because of the absence of Stephen Sondheim. His amazing lyrics for West Side Story first put him on the map and launched a career that would completely redraw that map, reinvent the musical and theater, and create a body of work that beyond any doubt is as immortal as anything made by a mortal could be. Like everyone else on the planet who cares about words and music, I’m heartbroken at this sudden loss. But Steve is here with us tonight, in the form of his great, abiding genius in the glorious musical he helped to bring into the world 64 years ago, and he’s also here in our gratitude for all the art and culture he left behind.”

Aside from West Side Story, Sondheim also wrote lyrics and composed the score of several other famous musicals such as Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Gypsy, A Little Night Music, Into the Woods, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. He was recently portrayed by Bradley Whitford in the Netflix movie tick, tick… BOOM!, that centers around theater playwrights and composers.