The work
A modern reimagining of a familiar tragedy.
West Side Story relocates the central conflict of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to New York City, where two young people find themselves caught between competing neighbourhood groups.
The project began as a proposed musical about a relationship divided by religion and community background. After several years away from the idea, its creative team returned to it with a different setting and a more immediate social frame. Leonard Bernstein wrote the music, Arthur Laurents developed the book, and Stephen Sondheim—then early in his career—provided the lyrics.
Its plot retains the broad tragic architecture of Shakespeare's play: a hopeful relationship is overtaken by hostility around it, and an attempt to prevent further conflict leads to an irreversible loss. The musical brought an unusually serious dramatic focus to Broadway while pairing that focus with Bernstein's wide-ranging score and Jerome Robbins's influential choreography.
West Side Story opened at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1957 and ran for 732 performances before touring. A 1961 film adaptation introduced the work to an even wider audience, with Richard Beymer, Natalie Wood, George Chakiris, and Rita Moreno among its principal performers.
