Stephen Sondheim & Chita Rivera Recall Creating a Classic, WEST SIDE STORY

How did the classics come to be? Broadway legends Stephen Sondheim and Chita Rivera try to explain their experience creating West Side Story in a recent piece in the Guardian.

Sondheim, who wrote the lyrics, writes: "The simplest songs, like Maria, were the hardest to write. Gee, Officer Krupke was easier. I wanted to be the first guy to use a four-letter word in a musical. I did but the line became "krup you" instead. The record couldn't have been shipped over the state line if I'd used an obscenity."

Original Anita, Rivera, recalls of her time in the rehearsal room: "We desperately wanted to please our choreographer - that's how dancers should think. We expected things to be hard and we liked it that way. But Jerry Robbins only allowed me to do the taunting scene - in which Anita is tormented by the Jets - once a day because he wanted to keep it as fresh as possible."

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West Side Story is a musical with a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and conception and choreography by Jerome Robbins. It was inspired by William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet.

The story is set in the Upper West Side neighborhood in New York City in the mid-1950s, an ethnic, blue-collar neighborhood. The musical explores the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds. The members of the Sharks, from Puerto Rico, are taunted by the Jets, a white gang.[4] The young protagonist, Tony, a former member of the Jets and best friend of the gang's leader, Riff, falls in love with Maria, the sister of Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks. The dark theme, sophisticated music, extended dance scenes, and focus on social problems marked a turning point in American musical theatre.

Bernstein's score for the musical includes "Something's Coming", "Maria", "America", "Somewhere", "Tonight", "Jet Song", "I Feel Pretty", "A Boy Like That", "One Hand, One Heart", "Gee, Officer Krupke", and "Cool".