120887bk West Side Story:MASTER 3+3 29/6/09 11:29 AM Page 2 C M Y 5 8.120887 6 8.120887 K 120887bk West Side Story:MASTER 3+3 29/6/09 11:29 AM Page 1 horrifying, the workmanship is admirable,” said music from the 1954 film, On the Waterfront, West Side Story The New York Times, while the Herald Tribune, which also dealt with the savage milieu of the Music by Leonard Bernstein • Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim meaning to be laudatory, used words like Manhattan streets, only this one seen from the “radioactive fallout … savage … blasted apart.” point of view of organized labour rather than Original Cast, 1957 All of this meant that the show’s initial run street gangs. was a solid, but not overwhelming 734 Despite winning the Oscar for best motion West Side Story now seems so firmly enthroned center on the rivalry between two gangs in performances and that – at that year’s Tony picture score, only a small portion of the original as one of the major classics of the musical Manhattan: one made up of Irish and Italian Awards – the crowd-pleasing The Music Man soundtrack appeared on record, as filler to an theatre that it’s fascinating to remind ourselves Catholics, the other of Jewish immigrants. swept all the major awards except for obscure musical two years after the fact. It’s of some things: Robbins saw it all happening on one of those choreography and set design, which went to included here along with two English pop It almost was a totally different project infrequent occasions when the religious festivals West Side Story’s Robbins and Oliver Smith. versions of the main theme, one with poetic altogether. of Easter and Passover coincided, to up the But musical theatre history is often written lyrics by John Latouche and a haunting The show nearly didn’t get produced. mythic and religious quotient even further. with the hour hand, not the minute hand, and performance by Eve Boswell. The original reaction to the project wasn’t The title they came up with was ‘East Side subsequent revivals – as well as the Oscar Bernstein always was the man in 20th ecstatic. Story’. winning bonanza that was the 1961 film version century music, but the mid-1950s were certainly It all started with Jerome Robbins – which is Bernstein was immediately the most – have seen to it that this is a show which will his moment. why this was the first production ever that enthusiastic and, supposedly, some of the never leave our consciousness. carried an ‘Entire production conceived, directed musicals themes he created in 1949 remained An appropriate bonus to this recording is Richard Ouzounian and choreographed by …’ credit attached to it. with the show all along. Robbins had long been drawn to the story of But Laurents found it tough going. “It all Romeo and Juliet, especially in its balletic started to seem sort of stale, sort of Abie’s Irish Also available in the Naxos Musicals series ... version, but in 1949 he was having an affair with Rose,” he said, evoking the spirit of the wildly the actor Montgomery Clift and Clift was having popular 1922 pot-boiler by Anne Nichols that trouble handling the role of Romeo in an acting outlined the misadventures of a Jewish boy and class assignment. his Irish love in the New York of the 1920s. Together, he and Robbins evolved the idea And the mercurial Robbins, overloaded with that it might be more relevant to think of the work and quick to bridle at any lack of Montagues and Capulets as New York City street enthusiasm, went elsewhere, but he began gangs, but Robbins, with his deeply rooted working out some of these themes in his 1949 Jewish heritage and sense of being an outsider, ballet, The Guests, which dealt with romantic took it further. couples divided by ethnic diversity. Before long, he was pitching composer But then, in 1955, fate struck again. Laurents Leonard Bernstein and librettist Arthur Laurents and Bernstein found themselves on different on the idea of a new kind of musical, serious in assignments in Hollywood and one day, sitting intent, heavily driven by dance, that would outside at the pool of the Chateau Marmont, 2 8.120887 3 8.120887 4 8.120887 120887bk West Side Story:MASTER 3+3 29/6/09 11:29 AM Page 1 they started exploring works they might do was having troubles with his own musical, New horrifying, the workmanship is admirable,” said music from the 1954 film, On the Waterfront, West Side Story together. Girl in Town. But hearing the sound of fellow The New York Times, while the Herald Tribune, which also dealt with the savage milieu of the Music by Leonard Bernstein • Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Laurents noted the headline on the morning artists in pain, Prince and his partner, Bobby meaning to be laudatory, used words like Manhattan streets, only this one seen from the paper: ‘More Mayhem From Chicano Gangs’. Griffith, listened to the score and agreed to put “radioactive fallout … savage … blasted apart.” point of view of organized labour rather than Original Cast, 1957 Suddenly, their project from 1949 acquired the show on the stage. All of this meant that the show’s initial run street gangs. new life, with Bernstein hearing Latin rhythms in Then the hard part started. was a solid, but not overwhelming 734 Despite winning the Oscar for best motion his head and Laurents realizing that a whole new Robbins had always been known as a performances and that – at that year’s Tony picture score, only a small portion of the original level of social awareness could be added to the combination of great artist and horrible human Awards – the crowd-pleasing The Music Man soundtrack appeared on record, as filler to an show. being, but both those qualities seemed to swept all the major awards except for obscure musical two years after the fact. It’s Robbins came out shortly to work on a film intensify as he worked on West Side Story. He choreography and set design, which went to included here along with two English pop and agreed the idea was a sound one; they kept split the cast into groups, according to the gangs West Side Story’s Robbins and Oliver Smith. versions of the main theme, one with poetic it in Manhattan, but just moved it across town to they were playing, and encouraged personal But musical theatre history is often written lyrics by John Latouche and a haunting where the troubled Hispanic gangs were duking antipathy. with the hour hand, not the minute hand, and performance by Eve Boswell. it out with the whites who had lived there for He drove individual performers so brutally subsequent revivals – as well as the Oscar Bernstein always was the man in 20th years. And so, West Side Story was conceived. and so hard that one day, while giving notes, winning bonanza that was the 1961 film version century music, but the mid-1950s were certainly Notice, I didn’t say ‘born’, because that nearly Robbins began walking backwards towards the – have seen to it that this is a show which will his moment. didn’t happen. The creation of the work went as orchestra pit and nobody warned him of his never leave our consciousness. smoothly as one could expect with such three trajectory. He suffered a humiliating fall. An appropriate bonus to this recording is Richard Ouzounian egotists, although things got a little smoother But all of that energy, all of that tension paid when a 25 year old named Stephen Sondheim off in the end and you can hear it on the original was brought in to co-write the lyrics with the cast recording. The gangs snarl and snap like few Also available in the Naxos Musicals series ... overworked Bernstein. (After the Washington have ever done since and the anger underneath opening, Bernstein removed his name, leaving the love comes through. Sondheim sole lyricist, an honour the latter has Larry Kert was a last minute choice as Tony considered a mixed blessing over the years, (“They were looking for a big blond Polish guy regarding his feelings about some of the show’s and they got a short dark Jewish one,” quipped more simplistic lyrics.) Kert at the time) but his voice soars gloriously, But when the work was completed, they had especially in the song added for him during trouble raising money for such an edgy project. rehearsals, Something’s Coming. And lead producer Cheryl Crawford increasingly Carol Lawrence sings with purity and beauty, lost hope, finally pulling out and abandoning the making her numbers a clear standout and Chita project a month before it was to go into Rivera sizzles in the style she embodies to this day. rehearsals. But when it opened on Broadway on Sondheim called his good friend, Hal Prince, 26 September 1957, the reviews were admiring on the phone in Boston, where the producer but not hit-making. “Although the material is 3 8.120887 120887bk West Side Story:MASTER 3+3 29/6/09 11:29 AM Page 1 they started exploring works they might do was having troubles with his own musical, New horrifying, the workmanship is admirable,” said music from the 1954 film, On the Waterfront, West Side Story together. Girl in Town. But hearing the sound of fellow The New York Times, while the Herald Tribune, which also dealt with the savage milieu of the Music by Leonard Bernstein • Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Laurents noted the headline on the morning artists in pain, Prince and his partner, Bobby meaning to be laudatory, used words like Manhattan streets, only this one seen from the paper: ‘More Mayhem From Chicano Gangs’.