West Side Story
West Side Story is a musical written by Arthur Laurents (book), Leonard Bernstein (music) and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics), and originally produced and directed by Jerome Robbins. West Side Story debuted on Broadway in 1957 and played 732 performances before going on tour - a very successful run for the time. In 1961, it was made into a motion picture, directed by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise, winning ten Motion Picture Academy Awards including Best Picture.
The story line is a reworking of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet set among Polish-American and Puerto Rican street gangs in New York City's Upper West Side. Tony and Maria fall in love, despite the fact that they are associated with rival gangs - Tony with the Jets, and Puerto Rican-born Maria with the Sharks.
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", "Tonight", "Gee, Officer Krupke", "I Feel Pretty", "One Hand, One Heart" and "Cool".
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.
Credits
Book by Arthur Laurents
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Directed and Choreographed by Jerome Robbins
Dramatis Personae
| The Jets |
The Sharks |
Riff, The Leader
Tony, His Friend
Action
A-Rab
Baby
Snowboy
Big Deal
Diesel
Gee-Tar
Mouth Piece
Tiger
|
Bernardo, The Leader
Maria, His Sister
Anita, His Girl
Chino, His Friend
Pepe
Indio
Luis
Anxious
Nibbles
Juano
Toro
Moose
|
| Their Girls |
Their Girls |
Graziella
Velma
Minnie
Clarice
Pauline
Anybodys
|
Rosalia
Consuelo
Teresita
Francisca
Estella
Margarita
|
| The Adults | |
Doc
Lt. Schrank
Officer Krupke
Glad Hand
| |
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
- Best Film Editing - Thomas Stanford
- Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture - Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Irwin Kostal, and Sid Ramin
- Best 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
External links
- http://www.westsidestory.com/
- http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/albm28.html
Referenced By
1957 in music | 1958 in music | 1961 | 1961 in film | 1961 in music | 1974 in music | 1980 in music | 26 September | 26th September | AcademyAwards/BestPicture | Academy Award: Best Art Direction | Academy Award: Best Costume Design | Academy Award for Best Art Direction | Academy Award for Best Cinematography | Academy Award for Best Costume Design | Academy Award for Best Picture | Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor | Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress | Academy Award for Costume Design | Academy Award for Directing | Academy Award for Film Editing | Academy Award for Sound | Academy Awards/Art Direction | Academy Awards/Best Picture | Academy Awards/Best Supporting Actor | Academy Awards/Best Supporting Actress | Academy Awards/Cinematography | Academy Awards/Costume Design | Academy Awards/Directing | Arthur Laurents | Best Supporting Actor | City of New York | City of New York, New York | Fugal | Fugato | Fughetta | Fugue | Fugue (music) | Fugues | G.I. Generation | Hal Prince | Harold Prince | Harold S. Prince | Harold Smith Prince | John Astin | Kettle drum | Leonard Bernstein | Link Wray | List of 'years in film' | List of 10 movies with most oscars | List of Broadway musicals | List of Golden Globe Awards: Film, Best Comedy/Musical | List of films preserved in the United States National Film Registry | List of movies/S-Z | List of movies: S | List of movies: S-Z | List of movies based on plays | List of movies based on stage plays or musicals | List of movies that are famous for being widely considered extremely good | List of movies that have been considered the greatest ever | List of movies that have won eight or more Academy Awards | List of musicals | Musical Film | Musical movie | Natalie Wood | New York, NY | New York, New York | New York (city) | New York City | New York City, New York | New York City, USA | North Shore Music Theatre | Orchestration | Orchestrator | Robert Wise | Romeo and Juliet | Romeo and Juliette | September 26 | September 26th | Stephen Sondheim | Takeshi Kaga | Timpani | Tony Award for Best Musical | Tony Award for Best Revival | Trouble in Tahiti | Upper West Side | Upper West Side, Manhattan
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