When the curtain rises on the second act, Maria is at home with her girlfriends, unaware that her beloved Tony has killed her brother, Bernardo, after Bernardo killed TonyвЂ™s best buddy, Riff. The first act ends with the rumble between the Jets and the Sharks that leaves two gang leaders dead. In the original musical, вЂњI Feel PrettyвЂќ was written to be sung at the start of the second act. The songвЂ™s diction still bothered him, but he also recognized a dramatic problem that had become more conspicuous in a streamlined production performed without an intermission. After years of voicing his misgivings about вЂњI Feel Pretty,вЂќ Sondheim feigned that he was broken up over the removal.Д«ut as he explained to вЂњ60 MinutesвЂќ correspondent Bill Whitaker, he was only kidding. In the most recent Broadway revival of вЂњWest Side Story,вЂќ Ivo van HoveвЂ™s kinetic multimedia production that was forced to close early last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number was cut. For those who have felt demeaned by the representation of Latino culture in a work that transforms ShakespeareвЂ™s вЂњRomeo and JulietвЂќ into a musical tale of warring New York City street gangs, the problem with вЂњI Feel PrettyвЂќ goes beyond verbal frippery.

вЂњWest Side Story,вЂќ a 1957 Broadway classic created by four white Jewish men who were artistic trailblazers, has been criticized for racial stereotyping.

The very question of what does or does not seem appropriate for Maria and the other Puerto Rican characters is itself a matter of controversy. They still do and it still doesnвЂ™t belong in the show.вЂќ Hardly what a Puerto Rican girl would sing, out of the style of the show, but the audience loved it. Arthur Laurents, never one to mince words when he was alive, delivered his stinging verdict on the song in his memoir вЂњOriginal StoryвЂќ: вЂњвЂI Feel PrettyвЂ™ was prototypical Hammerstein and a puzzle. In an advanced state of shock, I quickly rewrote the lyric to make it simpler and more in keeping with the way Maria and the girls expressed themselves in the rest of the score, but my collaborators would have none of it - they liked it the way it was. Sondheim concurred: вЂњI had been aware myself of this, and that the play on words in вЂpretty wonderful boyвЂ™ drew attention to the lyric writer rather than the character, but I had hoped no one would notice anything but the cleverness of it. He also noted that the phrase вЂњan advanced state of shockвЂќ sounds strained coming from MariaвЂ™s friends. In вЂњFinishing the Hat,вЂќ the first of his two-volume set of collected lyrics and attendant commentaries, Sondheim recounted how he came to see the flaw in вЂњI Feel Pretty.вЂќ After hearing the song at a run-through before the musicalвЂ™s out-of-town tryout, вЂњFiddler on the RoofвЂќ lyricist Sheldon Harnick pointed out to Sondheim that a line like вЂњItвЂ™s alarming how charming I feelвЂќ didnвЂ™t seem right for a young Puerto Rican woman still struggling with her English. But the prospect of collaborating with a heavyweight creative team, which also included book writer Arthur Laurents and director-choreographer Jerome Robbins, was an opportunity SondheimвЂ™s mentor, Oscar Hammerstein II, told him he shouldnвЂ™t pass up. He saw himself as a composer-lyricist and was initially reluctant to supply the words to Leonard BernsteinвЂ™s music. How do you solve a problem like MariaвЂ™s вЂњI Feel PrettyвЂќ number from вЂњWest Side StoryвЂќ? Stephen Sondheim, who wrote the lyrics for the musical, regretted his sprightly wordplay shortly after the song was put into the show.ДЄt the time, Sondheim, a prodigy in his mid-20s, was still a Broadway novice.

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