Theatre Register
West Side Story

West Side Story

Shows · West Side Story

In 1949, Jerome Robbins brought together composer Leonard Bernstein and playwright Arthur Laurents (his first experience as a librettist) to work on a modern musical version of Romeo and Juliet. Called East Side Story, it was about a Jewish boy’s star-crossed romance with an Italian Catholic girl set against the clashing street gangs on New York’s lower East Side. Heavy schedules, however forced the trio to suspend t…

Opened
1957
Performances
732
Type
Musical
Era
Golden Age
Music: Leonard BernsteinLyrics: Stephen SondheimBook: Arthur Laurents

Productions5 on Broadway

1957 Winter Garden Theatre Original. September 26, 1957 · Jerome Robbins 732 performances · 2 Tony wins
1960 Winter Garden Theatre Return-Engagement. April 27, 1960 · Jerome Robbins 249 performances
1980 Minskoff Theatre Revival. February 14, 1980 · Jerome Robbins 333 performances
2009 Palace Theatre Revival. March 19, 2009 · Joey McKneely 748 performances
2020 Broadway Theatre Revival. · Ivo van Hove 24 performances

Every Broadway staging held in broadway-data, sourced to IBDB. West End runs are not yet held.

Licensing 1 entry

US Music Theatre International West Side Story matched on title alone — a lead, not a confirmed licensor

Read from the licensor's own pages and catalogues. Rights move, and an empty row means we have not confirmed a publisher, not that the show cannot be licensed.

In the literature32 passages

Another hopeful sign is the number of opera companies that have added musical theatre works to their repertoires. Not only does this help break down artificial barriers, it also creates new audiences for such notable examples as the Kern-Hammerstein Show Boat , the Gershwin-Heyward Porgy and Bess , the Rodgers-Hammerst… book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-seventh-edition-stanley-green-cary-ginell#p13

With its galvanic choreography, compelling music and lyrics, and unflinching look at contemporary street life, West Side Story was a jolting work, not alone for its theme but for its advanced use of dance within the framework of a musical play. book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-seventh-edition-stanley-green-cary-ginell#p170

Green Day leader Billie Joe Armstrong designed the album with a story in mind that linked the songs together; for this, he drew inspiration from Broadway shows like Britain’s Rocky Horror Show and America’s West Side Story. book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-seventh-edition-stanley-green-cary-ginell#p360

West Side Story (1957) and Sensations(1970), both from Romeo and Juliet; Kiss Me, Kate (1948), from The Taming of the Shrew; Swingin'the Dream (1939) and Babes in the Wood(1964), both from A Midsummer Night's Dream; Love and Let Love (1968), Your Own Thing (1968), and Music Is (1976), all from Twelfth Night; Two Gentle… book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-green-stanley-green-kay-5th-ed-rev-and-updated-by#p131

After cutting short its initial Broadway run to go on tour, the company returned to New York ten weeks later for an additional 249 performances. book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-green-stanley-green-kay-5th-ed-rev-and-updated-by#p199

Leonard Bernstein’s Candide (1956) and West Side Story (1957). book:complete-book-of-1950s-broadway-musicals-the-dan-dietz#p4

Passages naming this show, found by keyword across 178 books. Where this show turns up in the literature, not curated trivia about it.

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