NCSA Celebrates West Side Story's 50th Anniversary

The North Carolina School of the Arts (NCSA), one of the premier arts conservatories in the United States, will present a new production of West Side Story to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the work. NCSA's production of West Side Story will receive its world premiere in a fully staged, Broadway-caliber performance at the Roger L. Stevens Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on May 3, 2007. A special Gala Benefit performance will be presented on May 5. The North Carolina production will continue through May 13, and then extend the run for one performance at Chicago's Ravinia Festival on June 8.

West Side Story will be directed by NCSA Drama Dean Gerald Freedman, who was assistant director of the original 1957 Broadway production, as conceived by Jerome Robbins, and co-director of the 1980 Broadway revival. As part of the team that created the original Broadway production, Freedman worked closely with West Side Story producer Harold Prince, author Arthur Laurents, composer Leonard Bernstein, lyricist Stephen Sondheim, and choreographer and director Jerome Robbins. In 2006, Laurents was the commencement speaker at and received an honorary doctorate from NCSA.

The musical director of this 2007 production will be internationally-renowned conductor John Mauceri. Maestro Mauceri, the new Chancellor of the North Carolina School of the Arts, worked closely with Leonard Bernstein for 18 years -- from 1972 until Bernstein's death in 1990.

In addition, the School has enlisted Guest Artist Kevin Backstrom, one of the few dancers certified to stage Jerome Robbins' choreography.

The West Side Story cast, orchestra, and crew will consist of approximately one hundred students chosen from all five of NCSA's professional training schools: Dance, Design and Production, Drama, Filmmaking, and Music. The all-school cast will be led by NCSA Senior Drama students Paul Baswell and Jordan Brown as Tony and Katharine Elkington and Anna Wood as Maria.

The North Carolina School of the Arts, located in Winston-Salem ("The City of the Arts"), was the first state-supported, residential school of its kind in the nation. Established in 1963, NCSA opened in Winston-Salem in 1965 and became part of the University of North Carolina system in 1972. More than 1,100 students from middle school through graduate school train for careers in the arts in five professional schools: Dance, Design and Production (including a Visual Arts Program), Drama, Filmmaking, and Music.

Tickets for the NCSA performances and Gala can be purchased by calling the NCSA Box Office at 336.721.1945. Tickets for the Ravinia Festival can be purchased by calling 847.266.5100. 

Photo by Michael Divito