Book by Arhtur Laurents, Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Music by Leonard Bernstein
Directed by Arthur Laurents
Synopsis: The show transports Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to the turbulent streets of the Upper West Side in 1950's New York City. Two star-crossed lovers, Tony and Maria, find themselves caught between the rival street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds, the "Jets" and the "Sharks."
NEW YORK TIMES:
"He (Laurents) has said that with “West Side Story” he hoped to achieve an authentic grittiness that the theater of the 1950s didn’t allow. (He has also had many of the lines and lyrics translated into Spanish, an only partly successful experiment. Yet the show seems haloed in a softening mist of compassion, turning its sidewalk Romeo and Juliet — and most of its young characters — into imperiled babes in the woods."
Read the whole review HERE.
NEW YORK POST:
"What do we remember of this production, then? Laurents may not like the answer, but it's precisely what the original was about: the singing and the dancing. "West Side Story" had not been seen on Broadway in almost three decades. For a new generation to discover it live is almost good enough."
Read the whole review HERE.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS:
"Forget the Sharks' and Jets' bad boys. It's the girls who rule in this uneven new Broadway production of "West Side Story," which manages only intermittently to take us "somewhere" special."
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THEATERMANIA:
"But although Laurents dilutes the ending of his own work, he nonetheless retains the heated theatrical magic that always was and always will be West Side Story. "
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VARIETY:
"So it's rewarding to report that after nearly three decades' absence from Broadway, this masterwork has been given the revival it deserves. Under the knowing direction of Arthur Laurents, the 1957 show remains both a brilliant evocation of its period and a timeless tragedy of disharmony and hate."
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NEWSDAY:
"But except for the statuesque Karen Olivo as a spectacular space-eating Anita, the casting is just all right. The physical production is surprisingly conventional - modest in imagination if not in budget."
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NEW YORK MAGAZINE:
"Does it work? Not quite, though not for lack of trying. The production has its strong moments, particularly in the early dance numbers. "
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BACKSTAGE:
"Just as he returned the sweat and sex to Gypsy last season, Laurents has made West Side Story once again fresh, alive, and, most important, scary. "
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AMNY:
"“West Side Story” is a dated but great show. Little else can compare with its incredible integration of song, movement and dialogue. And the ingredients and production values necessary to make an outstanding production were definitely present. Unfortunately, Arthur Laurents’ ego ruined it for everyone."
Read the whole review HERE.
WALL STREET JOURNAL :
"...but no amount of tough-guy retouching can make "West Side Story" into anything other than what it is, a starry-eyed group portrait of a bunch of basically nice kids who find themselves caught up in an unforgiving world of violence and hate. To pretend otherwise, as this staging mostly does, is to get wrong what Mr. Laurents and his collaborators got so gloriously right a half-century ago."
Read the whole review HERE.
