Links:

Ticket information here.

Cast list here.

Publicity photos here.

Rehearsal photos here.

Music Theatre International info page here.

Information from Wikipedia here.

Musical Heaven information here.

July 13-22, 2007

West Side Story
Based on Conception of Jerome Robbins

Book by Arthur Laurents
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Originally produced, choreographed, and directed
by Jerome Robbins

West Side Story, one of the most famous and familiar shows in the history of American theater, celebrates its 50th birthday this year. It was an important turning point in American musical theater, because it explored social problems in a slum of New York, with the plot revolving around the activities of members from two rival gangs. Perhaps because of its dark themes and the extreme sophistication of the music, it lost the Tony for Best Musical that year to the also brilliant but more easily digested The Music Man, by Meredith Wilson. But it played 732 performances before going on tour, a successful run at the time, and has been performed constantly by professional and non-professional theaters, schools, and even opera companies, ever since.

The plot and main characters of West Side Story are loosely based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The story has been modernized and Americanized with the introduction of a racial theme - Tony, a member of an established white gang (the Jets) falls in love with Maria, whose brother is a member of the rival Puerto Rican gang (the Sharks). The Jets are contemptuous of the Sharks and look down on them as foreign newcomers. The Sharks wish to establish themselves as Americans and defend their new territory. As in Romeo and Juliet, the rivalry escalates and leads to great tragedy.

The music by Leonard Bernstein, and lyrics by a young Stephen Sondheim in his first big Broadway success, have become part of the national consciousness. Even people who have never seen the stage show or the Academy-award winning 1961 movie musical will remember many of the songs: Tonight, I Feel Pretty, Maria, One Hand One Heart, Somewhere.

West Side Story is produced by arrangement with Music Theatre International.