Gold record presented to Stephen Sondheim for the soundtrack to West Side Story. Circa 1961. A gold Columbia Masterworks record of the soundtrack to the film West Side Story mounted above the printed text To Stephen Sondheim/In Commemoration of Sales/Over One Million Dollars/for the/Columbia Long Playing Record/West Side Story/Original Sound Track Recording." The overall display 22 x 18 inches. A fine presentation.

West Side Story was Stephen Sondheim's first major Broadway success in 1957 and this gold record was awarded to him following the release of the film version - and sales of over 1,000,000 LP records - in 1961. The opportunity to write the lyrics for West Side Story came after the librettist Arthur Laurents saw a preview of Sondheim's musical Saturday Night and thought he might be a candidate to write the lyrics for the show. Leonard Bernstein was writing the music for this adaptation of Romeo and Juliet and, while Betty Comden and Adolph Green were slated to write the lyrics, they were off in Hollywood and Sondheim was given a chance to audition for Bernstein, whom he impressed. At first, Sondheim was discouraged - he wanted to be a composer and librettist of musicals, but he asked the opinion of his mentor Oscar Hammerstein II who said: "Look, you have a chance to work with very gifted professionals on a show that sounds interesting, and you could always write your own music eventually. My advice would be to take the job." The rest is history.

West Side Story contains some of Stephen Sondheim's most memorable and beloved lyrics, from "When you're a jet, you're a jet all the way" to "Maria... I've just met a girl named Maria..." The United Artists film version starring Rita Moreno, Natalie Wood, and others was well received and considered one of the best musical films ever produced, winning 10 Oscars including Best Picture.

Along with the Gold Record received for the Broadway cast-recording, these are Stephen Sondheim's first gold records, presented to him at the outset of a legendary career.