West Side Story is a timeless classic, but despite six decades of history, you've never seen a production like this one. Under the direction of the innovative Ivo van Hove, the beloved story of star-crossed lovers and rival gangs takes on a more urgent and modern context. Featuring original choreography by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and a stage and video design by Jan Versweyveld, this West Side Story offers a radical, thrilling new interpretation of this iconic work, featuring 33 young performers making their Broadway debuts. Don't miss this opportunity to see a landmark in musical theater history as if for the very first time.
By pushing back against what we remember from the Oscar-winning 1961 film, a musical that many can recite line-by-line becomes newly suspenseful and gripping. It's still the 'Romeo and Juliet'-inspired story of Tony (Isaac Powell) of the Jets gang, and Maria (Shereen Pimentel), the sister of the rival Sharks gang leader, Bernardo (Amar Ramasar). The couple meets during a dance at the gym and, at great risk to themselves, fall in love. But every step in this well-worn plot comes as a startling surprise, starting with the gangs themselves. As we watch during Leonard Bernstein's booming 'Prologue,' when a camera pans across the cast's faces, the racially specific animus (Puerto Ricans versus the Polish and Irish) is largely gone. It's still there in Arthur Laurents' book and Stephen Sondheim's lyrics, but in an effort to reflect modern-day New York and its evolving conflicts, the casting is totally diverse - and devastatingly young.
I'm all for reimagining the classics through a modern lens, but Ivo van Hove took the notion literally when he added cameras to his staging of West Side Story, and transformed the Jerome Robbins/Leonard Bernstein/Arthur Laurents/Stephen Sondheim masterwork into an audacious hybrid of performance art. Gone is Jerome Robbins iconic choreography - the finger snaps, the ingenious mesh of ballet and modern dance - replaced by the geometric movements of choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker. In this shortened version, we don't know if Maria feels all that pretty, the song is dropped along with the intermission. Rest assured though, Bernstein's magnificent score is mostly intact.
1957 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
1958 | West End |
London Production West End |
1959 | US Tour |
National Tour US Tour |
1960 | Broadway |
Return Engagement [Broadway] Broadway |
1964 | Broadway |
City Center Revival Broadway |
1968 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
1980 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
1991 | Milburn, NJ (Regional) |
Paper Mill Production Milburn, NJ (Regional) |
1992 | Regional (UK) |
Regional Revival Regional (UK) |
1998 | West End |
London Revival West End |
2006 | Houston, TX (Regional) |
Theatre Under the Stars Production Houston, TX (Regional) |
2009 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
2010 | US Tour |
National Tour US Tour |
2015 | Washington, DC (Regional) |
Signature Theatre Production Washington, DC (Regional) |
2018 | Washington, DC (Regional) |
National Symphony Orchestra Concert Revival Washington, DC (Regional) |
2018 | Regional (US) |
100th Birthday Celebration Revival Production Regional (US) |
2020 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Choreography | Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker |
2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Yesenia Ayala |
2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Orchestrations | Jonathan Tunick |
2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Projection Design | Luke Halls |
2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Musical | West Side Story |
2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Sound Design for a Musical | Tom Gibbons |
2020 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Isaac Powell |
2020 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Musical | West Side Story |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Isaac Powell |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Shereen Pimentel |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Musical | Ivo van Hove |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Projection Design | Luke Halls |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Musical | West Side Story |
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