With the Broadway premiere of West Side Story on the 26th September 1957 at the Winter Garden Theater in New York the story of the American musical theater reached a turning point: a stage show whose actors are required to give their best in acting, dancing and singing, setting new standards musically and dramatically, it defined a whole new genre. Now the Broadway classic with Jerome Robbins’ original choreography is on show again at renowned international theatres, in the production celebrating the show’s fifty-year anniversary that mesmerized audience and critics in sold-out shows at Sadler‘s Wells Theatre in London, in Sydney, Tokyo, Beijing, Vienna and, most recently, in 2012, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. In 2009 in the British capital, the show was awarded two Theatregoers‘ Choice Awards and nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for the Best Revival.
With the film adaptation of the masterpiece, West Side Story, penned by the first „creative team“, consisting of the four brilliant minds, Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Arthur Laurents and Stephen Sondheim, won ten Oscars a few years after the Broadway premiere and became known to millions. The musical West Side Story became one of the most famous stage shows of all time and was groundbreaking for the American musical theatre. The show has lost nothing of its original urgency and timeliness until today.
Timeless songs like „Tonight,“ „Maria,“ „America“ and „Somewhere“, composed by Leonard Bernstein, together with the haunting and deeply moving story make this a classic masterpiece.
West Side Story combines the incomparably powerful music, the compelling drama and the burning actuality of a masterpiece in a lavish production with 36 performers and a total of 80 participants. Furthermore, this show is marked by something that is essential for the authentic presentation of this masterpiece and yet is unique in the world at present: Jerome Robbins‘s incomparable, breathtaking dance language, choreographed by Joey McKneely. For it was not only Bernstein who opened new musical theatre territory with his brave composition: Robbins did the same on the dramaturgical level, by making his choreography a substantial part of the story. Without the original choreography the play would lose a vital part.
After acclaimed international guest shows this prestigious production continues its success story at theatres such as the Dresden Semper Opera House, Sadler‘s Wells Theatre in London and at the Opera in Tel Aviv. The Production is also to be seen all over UK, e.g. in Liverpool, Oxford, Manchester, Glasgow, etc.
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