West Side Story: Encyclopedia - West Side Story

West Side Story

West Side Story is a musical written by Arthur Laurents (book), Leonard Bernstein (music), and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics), and was originally produced, choreographed, and directed by Jerome Robbins. West Side Story debuted on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theater on September 26, 1957 and played 732 performances before going on tour - a very successful run for the time.

The plot borrows from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, in that the brother of a gang leader falls in love with the sister of a rival gang's leader.

The dark theme, sophisticated music, and focus on social problems marked a turning point in English language musical theatre, which had previously (with rare exceptions) tended toward light and fluffy themes. West Side Story is still produced frequently by local theatres and is occasionally produced by classical opera companies.

Bernstein's score for the musical has been extremely popular. Some of the songs include "Something's Coming," "Maria," "America," "Somewhere," "Tonight," "Gee, Officer Krupke," "I Feel Pretty," "One Hand, One Heart," and "Cool." Some music he wrote but did not use later became integrated into the Chichester Psalms.

In 1984, Bernstein decided to re-record the musical, conducting his own music for the first time. Generally known as the "operatic version" of West Side Story, it stars Kiri Te Kanawa as Maria, José Carreras as Tony, Tatiana Troyanos as Anita, Kurt Ollman as Riff, and Marilyn Horne who sings "Somewhere" as an anonymous character. It won a Grammy award in 1985.

The original 1957 stage production starred Larry Kert as Tony and Carol Lawrence as Maria.

A 1980 Broadway revival starred Debbie Allen as Anita. A 1987 tour starred Jack Wagner as Tony. A 1995 tour starred Marcie Harriell as Maria and H.E. Greer as Tony. A 1998 tour starred Rikki Lee Travolta as Tony. A 2002 tour starred Natasha Harper as Maria.

George Chakiris, who won an Academy Award as Bernardo in the 1961 film version of West Side Story, originated the role of Riff in the 1958 London stage premier.

West Side Story - Film

In 1961, it was made into a motion picture and released on October 18 by United Artists, directed by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise. The film won ten Motion Picture Academy Awards including Best Picture, the most Oscars received by any movie musical.

The film was #41 on American Film Institute's 100 Years, 100 Movies and #3 on its 100 Years, 100 Passions, and has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. On AFI's 100 years, 100 songs, "Tonight" was #59, "America" was #35, and "Somewhere" was #20.

West Side Story - Credits

Book by Arthur Laurents
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Directed and Choreographed by Jerome Robbins

West Side Story - Academy Award wins and nominations for the movie

Wins (10)

• Academy Award for Best Picture - Robert Wise, producer
• Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor - George Chakiris
• Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress - Rita Moreno
• Academy Award for Best Art Direction- Set Decoration, Color - Victor A. Gangelin, and Boris Leven
• Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Color - Daniel L. Fapp
• Academy Award for Costume Design, Color - Irene Sharaff
• Academy Award for Directing - Jerome Robbins, and Robert Wise
• Academy Award for Film Editing - Thomas Stanford
• Academy Award for Original Music Score, of a Musical Picture - Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Irwin Kostal, and Sid Ramin
• Academy Award for Sound - Fred Hynes (Todd-AO SSD), and Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD)

Nominations (1)

• Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium - Ernest Lehman

West Side Story - Dramatis Personae

Riff, The Leader
Tony, His Friend
Action
A-Rab
Baby John
Snowboy
Big Deal
Diesel
Gee-Tar
Mouth Piece
Tiger

Graziella
Velma
Minnie
Clarice
Pauline
Anybodys

Bernardo, The Leader
Maria, His Sister
Anita, His Girl
Chino, His Friend
Pepe
Indio
Luis
Anxious
Nibbles
Juano
Toro
Moose

Rosalia
Consuela
Teresita
Francisca
Estella
Margarita

Doc
Lt. Schrank
Officer Krupke
Glad Hand

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "West Side Story", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki