The Beginning
West Side Story is hailed as “one of the greatest musicals of all time.” AM-S “The appeal…lies in the way it integrates song, dance, and narrative, showing how the movie musical could still be relevant in a new decade.” TB
Choreographer and director Jerome Robbins first approached playwright Arthur Laurents with the idea of adapting Romeo and Juliet as a contemporary musical. A first draft called East Side Story focused on conflict between a Catholic family and a Jewish family living in Manhattan on the Lower East Side. It was shelved for its similarity to plays like Abie’s Irish Rose, WK but revived in 1955 when Laurents was approached to adapt the novel Serenade by James M. Cain. That project didn’t make it either, but it connected Laurents with Stephen Sondheim. Along with Bernstein and Robbins, they decided to return to the East Side Story. WK It became a “boisterous tale of a turf battle among young gangs in 1950s New York City.” TM
Bernstein and Sondheim
Laurents recruited Leonard Bernstein for the music and Stephen Sondheim for the lyrics in what would become his Broadway debut. “Work began in autumn 1955 and was completed in the summer of 1957, Bernstein having taken a six-month sabbatical in the middle to work on Candide.” TB
“The combination of young, thrusting…Sondheim and seasoned composer Leonard Bernstein was perfect. The music was almost entirely a joint venture.” TB Sondheim “doesn’t get bogged down in the details of the conflict,” TM instead “concentrating on the emotional undercurrents, and his tunes coalesce into a deeply moving portrait of kids who find romance and rivalry entertwined.” TM
Broadway
The musical faced understandably difficult challenges. Critics “said the score was too rangy for pop music” WK and with more dancing than any previous Broadway show WK it would be problematic to find a cast who could sing, dance, and act. Laurents wanted James Dean as Tony, but he died before even hearing about the role. WK
The eventual production was well received by audiences and critics. It “galvanized Broadway with its vivid reinvention as a parable of racial intolerance and generational conflict.” AZ-S “The story appealed to society’s undercurrent of rebellion from authority that surfaced in 1950s films like Rebel without a Cause” WK and “the musical also made points in its description of troubled youth and the devastating effects of poverty and racism.” WK
“The dark theme, sophisticated music, extended dance scenes, and focus on social problems marked a turning point in American musical theatre.” WK Musically, Bernstein “integrated Latin percussion and jazz into his electrifying score” AZ-C alongside “symphonic grandeur” AM-S “and a rarely heard (in Broadway) toughness.” AM-S Bernstein’s efforts “dazzlingly translating New York’s unique vitality into a musical idiom.” AZ-C
It opened on Broadway on September 26, 1957 at the Winter Garden Theatre. It “wasn’t a massive hit right away – it closed after a respectable 732 performances, and then immediately hit the road. After that, the album took off, creating demand for a return Broadway engagement and, eventually, the 1961 film.” TM It won Tonys for choreography and scenic design and became a favorite of “schools, regional theatres, and occasionally by opera companies.” WK
The Story
Set in the mid-1950s in New York City, the story explores the rivalry between two street gangs of different ethnicities. The Sharks are Puerto Rican and the Jets are working-class white. The protagonist, Tony, is a Jet and falls in love with Maria, who is the sister of Bernardo, the Sharks’ leader.
During a challenge dance (Dance at the Gym) between the Jets and the Sharks, Tony meets Maria. Bernardo breaks up their attempted kiss and sends her home, but Tony serenades her outside her bedroom (Maria) and they profess their love to each other (Tonight). WK
The next day at the bridal shop where Maria works, she asks Tony to stop a planned fight between the Jets and Sharks. Tony tries to stop the fight (The Rumble), but when Riff, the leader of the Jets, is stabbed by Bernardo, Tony kills Bernardo in a rage. Maria is devastated when she hears, but still decides to run away with Tony. “As the walls of Maria’s bedroom disappear, they find themselves in a dreamlike world of peace (Somewhere).” WK
After Maria’s friend Anita is nearly raped by the Jets, she claims Chino killed Maria in jealousy. When Tony hears, he decides he has nothing to live for. He confronts Chino, begging to die, and is shot by him just as he sees that Maria is actually alive. The Jets now move towards the Sharks, wanting to avenge the death of another friend. With Chino’s gun in her hand, Maria tells everyone that hatred is what killed Tony and the others and that now she too can kill because she hates. However, she drops the gun in grief and gradually the gang members on both side “assemble on either side of Tony’s body, showing that the feud is over.” WK
About the Cast Album
The cast album was recorded three days after West Side Story opened on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre on September 26, 1957. It was recorded in New York City at CBS 30th Street Studio. Leonard Bernstein oversaw the orchestration and the cast included Carol Lawrence as Maria and Larry Kert as Tony. The album spent nearly four years on the Billboard album chart.
About the Soundtrack
A film adaptation, directed by Robbins and Robert Wise, was released on October 18, 1961. As ground-breaking as the show was on Broadway, it became another animal entirely when transferred to film. It was the second highest-grossing film of the year in the United States and won 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Natalie Wood was cast as Maria and Richard Beymer as Tony. The singing was handled by Marni Nixon and Jimmy Bryant. The “lavish widescreen presentation broke fresh ground by taking the story to its most impressionable audience, the teenagers who could identify directly with Tony and Maria, and opened up Jerome Robbins’ kinetic choreography through bravura camera work.” AZ-S
While “the 1957 original Broadway cast recording still holds up today, …[it] isn’t as good as the movie soundtrack” AM-S which “was not merely a huge seller but a unique touchstone for an otherwise rock-oriented audience.” AZ-S It “spent more weeks at #1 in the charts (54) than any other album in history” AM-C and “made more money than any other album before it.” WK It also won the Grammy for Best Soundtrack or Cast Album. Like the cast album, the soundtrack spent almost four years on the Billboard album chart.
Notes: The 1998 reissue of the cast album added nine instrumental tracks.
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