04/25/08
By Dawn Haas Rhude

Happy 50th, West Side Story

The musical West Side Story celebrated its 50^th anniversary just this past September. It opened on Broadway at The Winter Garden Theatre on September 26, 1957. It was conceived, directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins. Robbins, who began his career in 1939 as a Broadway chorus dancer, continued on to become a classical ballet dancer, choreographer and director of many well know productions. Robbins won his second Tony Award for Best Choreography of West Side Story. WSS was nominated for Best Musical, but was over-shadowed by The Music Man. With music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, the musical West Side Story is from the book by Arthur Laurents, which is based on Shakespeare’s story of Romeo and Juliet.

Romeo and Juliet’s counterpart characters are Tony and Maria who live in Manhattan’s Upper West Side and belong to opposite ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Their forbidden loves plays out through song and dance, as does the tension of their rival gangs. While the musical does end in tragedy, the producers opted to change the ending by keeping Maria alive, as preview audiences found the parallel ending to be too depressing for the theatre.

The production ran in New York for 732 performances, toured, and then returned to New York in 1960 for another 253 performances. It premiered in Europe in 1958. There have been a few revivals in New York over the years; the most recent one in 1980, with a most recent national tour in 2002. Jerome Robbins co- directed a film version in 1961 which won 10 Academy Awards. Schools and local theaters produce West Side Story frequently. Jerome’s classic choreography is often imitated; like the prologue dance between the rival gangs The Sharks and The Jets. Bernstein’s timeless music lives on, as in Barbra Streisand’s 1985 award winning version of “Somewhere”. To keep this legend alive, author Arthur Laurents says he will direct a revival of West Side Story in December of this year with a Broadway run scheduled in January of 2009.

Bibliography
www.wikipedia.org
www.playbill.com/news/article/115605.html