In 1949 the choreographer Jerome Robbins came up with the concept of translating Shakespeare's tragic
love tale Romeo and Juliet into modern day New York City. The tensions between the Montagu and Capulet
families would boil over between Jews and Catholics in NYC's upper East Side.
Robbins approached the playwright Arthur Laurents to write the book. After several scenes were completed
by Laurents, work was postponed due to the unending 'other' commitments faced by Bernstein and his
collaborators. It wasn't until 1955 however that work recommenced. Laurents and Bernstein abandoned the
Jewish and Catholic protagonists in favour of Puerto-Rican and 'American' gangs battling it out on the West
Side. This change catalysed the whole project with a young Stephen Sondhein being brought in as lyricist.
Sondheim had also wanted to write the music but had been persuaded by his childhood friend's father, Oscar
Hammerstein, to seize the opportunity to contribute on such a project.
Bernstein's attention veered towards Candide, which opened in December 1956; and he was appointed joint
principal conductor of the New York Philharmonic in November 1956. West Side Story was still waiting.
In April 1957 the producer Cheryl Crawford, who had the project for over a year, told the collaborators
that she was quitting. Frantic calls to the producer Roger Stevens proved positive. Harold Prince, a friend
of Sondheim's was also brought in to help produce the show. Work on West Side Story continued through
late spring and the summer of 1957. Everyone firmly believed they had a hit on their hands. After the
disappointment of Candide, Lenny was desperate for commercial and critical success.
The show opened in an out of town tryout at the National Theater, Washington D.C. on August 19th.
The reviews were all gushing ..... A Hit !
 

   Bernstein after the Washington Tryout
 

West Side Story opened at the Winter Garden, NYC on September 26th and received on the whole excellent
notices; there were a couple of reviews which were not positive. The show ran for 732 performances, closing
on June 6th 1959 and returned after a national tour for another 253 performances in 1960.
In 1961 the show was made into a successful film. Despite the excellence of the multi Oscar winning film,
Bernstein did not like the music treatment given by Johnny Green.
West Side Story has endured towards the end of the twentieth century better than most musicals and remains
amazingly fresh as it reaches its fortieth year. Its mixture of vibrant and superb dance, requiring classically trained
dancers, fantastic score, great songs and lyrics and ahead of its time translation of a classic love tale into youth
culture make it one of the classic creations of its type. West Side Story will proceed into the twenty first century
as one of the twentieth century's main musico-drama highlights.
 
 

Scene From the Original Production  

   Poster from the historic La Scala production in 2000.

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