The west side story book is famously lean its one of the shortest. Westside stories used books we have decided to permanently close westside stories after 8 years of serving the buffalos west side. The story is based on shakespeares play romeo and juliet, featuring starcrossed, or illfated, lovers from opposite sides of the tracks. Interesting facts about the creation of west side story. The musical explores the rivalry between the jets and the sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds. This year marks the sixtieth anniversary of west side story, which opened in 1957, on broadway, with music by leonard bernstein, a libretto by arthur laurents, and lyrics by stephen sondheimit was sondheims broadway debut oscar hammerstein convinced sondheim to give it a go. Even with overhead shots of the dancers in writhing formation, they tend to blur into. West side story is a tragic love story set in new york city in the mid1950s on the west side of the city. The feuding families become two warring new york city gangs the white jets led by riff and the puerto rican sharks, led by bernardo. The 1957 musical west side story was a collaboration among composer leonard bernstein, lyricist stephen sondheim, and choreographer jerome robbins. Welcome to the dollhouse west side story was a collaboration among composer leonard bernstein, lyricist stephen sondheim, and choreographer jerome robbins. The members of the sharks, from puerto rico, are taunted by the jets, a white gang.
He has written the books for the musicals west side story 1957. West side story film still pretty, and witty, at 50. An archive of our own, a project of the organization for transformative works. What is the meaning of the song tonight which is sung by tony and maria.
Can you think of a famous music video which used the same dance formation triangle and a similar setting. Theres a lot of plot in west side story but its scenes are probably the shortest of any book musical thats ever existed. First performed around 1596, romeo and juliet has been adapted as a ballet, an opera, the musical west side story, and a dozen films. While it seems only natural now, the idea of filming on actual city streets took some time in forming. An analysis of the success of west side story by howard goodall, extracted from the tv show twentieth century greats. West side story movie souvenir programme program on. West side story opened at the winter garden theatre on sept. O n the opening night of west side story in 1957, us supreme court justice felix frankfurter collared the composer leonard bernstein. In addition to the storyform, youll also find any additional analysis or media related to the story in question more analysis whale rider. How do i get started on researching more information about west side story. Interesting facts about the creation of west side story message board.
Manhattan, where he lived for much of his life, formed the setting for. Van hove had admired west side story since he saw the movie as a teenager growing up in rural belgium. West side story is the awardwinning adaptation of the classic romantic tragedy, romeo and juliet. Whenever i see a movie or stage production of a play, i am always interested to read the actual book to have a different perspective on the characters and overall plot.
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