New York City Broadway Theater Guide

West Side Story

Broadway Musical

Previews  February 23 2009
Opened  March 19 2009

Running Time  2 hours 40 mins | 1 intermission

Tickets  $46.50 to $121.50 | Holiday pricing higher

Lottery  $26.50 day of performance tickets available | Lottery entries 2 1/2 hours before curtain | Drawing 90 minutes before curtain  | One lottery entry per person | 2 tickets per entry | Valid ID required | Subject to availability | Subject to change

Prices do not include any taxes, service charges or other charges

Order at  Ticketmaster 212-307-4100

Restrictions Children under 4 years of age not permitted

Performances

No Performances

Added Performances 

Curtain Changes 

Producers

Kevin McCollum, James L Nederlander, Jeffrey Seller, Terry Allen Kramer, Sander Jacobs, et al

Creative

Arthur Laurents book
Leonard Bernstein music & orchestrations
Stephen Sondheim lyrics

Jason Moore director
Jerome Robbins choreographer
Joey McKneely reproduction choreographer

David C Woolard costume design
Howell Binkley lighting design
James Youmans scenic design
Dan Moses Schreier sound design

Note Jeremy Jordan plays Tony at Wednesday evening and Sunday matinee performances

Synopsis

It's 1957 and Manhattan's West Side is hot, very hot. Two gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, coexist, barely, in a neighborhood divided along ethnic lines. The Jets are second- and third-generation Irish-Americans and see the West Side as their territory. The Sharks, newcomers from Puerto Rico, are trying find a sense of place and identity in a new country

The grudging tolerance is broken when two young people, Maria, a worker in her sister's bridal shop, and Tony, an ex-Jet trying to make it in the world, meet at a school dance and become entranced with each other. Amidst outrage from both sides, a war council is called, a rumble ensues, two young men die

Based on William Shakespeare's Rome and Juliet, this version is an updated look at how prejudice, misunderstanding, fear and runaway emotions can combine and ignite, destroying lives, shattering dreams

Broadway Show History

West Side Story made its Broadway premiere on Thursday evening, September 26, 1957, at the Winter Garden Theater. Produced by Robert E Griffith and Hal Prince, the production had a 732-performance run. Jerome Robbins directed and choreographed

Carol Lawrence and Larry Kert were star-crossed lovers Maria and Tony, Chita Rivera played Anita, Mickey Calin played Riff and Ken Le Roy appeared as Bernardo

The show opened to critical acclaim, much of it concerning the way it might change American musical theater. Instead of a bunch of actors breaking into song or dance for no seeming reason, the songs and dances of West Side Story moved the plot; they were critical to the understanding of the story, not simply appendages

Nominated for six 1958 Tonys®, the show won two, Mr Robbins for choreography and Oliver Smith for scenic design

The show was a bit peripatetic. It closed at the Winter Garden Theater February 28, 1959, and reopened at the Broadway Theater two days later. After about two months, it closed at the Broadway May 10, 1959 and (again) reopened at the Winter Garden May 11th, closing there on June 27, 1959

But it didn't stop there. The show reopened at the Winter Garden on April 27, 1960, running for 249 more performances before finally closing on Dec 10th of that year. Though many people consider this run the show's first revival, we consider it a return engagement as its the same production and creative team. And, though the remainder of the cast had changed, Larry Kert and Carol Lawrence reprise the lead roles of Tony and Maria

Apart from a 31-performance revival staged by the New York City Center Light Opera Company in the spring of 1964, the only other major revival was in 1980. Opening at the Minskoff Theater on February 14, 1980, the revival's "name" star was Debbie Allen, in the role of Anita. Much of the rest of the cast was unheralded at that time: Ken Marshall (Tony), Jossie de Guzman (Maria), Hector Jaime Mercado (Bernardo), and James J Mellon (Riff). Though this production would be the only Broadway appearances for Messrs Marshall and Mellon, the very popular Brent Barrett made his Broadway debut in the role of Diesel. The show closed after 333 performances on November 30, 1960

The show received three 1980 Tony® nominations, Ms Allen and Ms de Guzman for best featured actress in a musical, and the production itself for "Reproduction." (We believe they since went back to the word "Revival")

In the Movies

The 1961 film adaptation of West Side Story was directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. Heading the cast were Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer as Tony and Maria, Russ Tamblyn (Riff), Rita Moreno (Anita), and George Chakiris as Bernardo

The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, taking home 10 of the Oscar statuettes. It won for best picture, best direction, best original score, best supporting actor and actress (Mr Chakiris and Ms Moreno). It also won for art direction, cinematography, costume design, film editing and sound

Tidbit Many of the street scenes in the movie were filmed in a neighborhood then called San Juan Hill. The boarded up tenements were part of an urban renewal area upon part of which Lincoln Center was built

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