Context on West Side Story

West Side Story
The stage version of West Side Story opened previews on August 20, 1957 in Washington D.C. The musical opened on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theater, September 26 1957. The film version was released on October 18, 1961.


West Side Story is based on a conception by Jerome Robbins.


Book by Arthur Laurents
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Entire Original Production Directed and Choreographed by Jerome Robbins
Orchestrations by Leonard Bernstein with Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal


Film Version:
Directed by: Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins
Screenplay: Ernest Lehman
Choreography: Jerome Robbins


These are the people that wrote West Side Story. Arthur Laurents produced a book on West Side Story and was published in 1955 and a year and a half later rehearsals began for the Broadway premiere of West Side Story.
West Side Story is set in the mid 1950s, when many Puerto Ricans moved to NYC which is where they got the idea from to create West Side Story. It takes place on the west side of Manhattan, NYC.
They ran 732 performances before going on tour.
West Side Story is performing at the Sadler's Wells Theatre which is London's Dance House.
Jerome Robbins picked West Side Story because he initially proposed a story of tensions between Jews and Catholics, but when Bernstein and the playwright Arthur Laurents became involved, it developed into a clash between white and Puerto Rican street gangs, the Jets and Sharks.

It all began in the early '50s, when an actor friend was preparing for the part of Romeo. Finding the character too passive, he asked Robbins if he had any clues about how to bring it alive. "I tried to imagine Shakespeare's story in terms of today," says Robbins.
The musical theme is street gangs and violence among modern youths.