West Side Story Revival
2 hours and 40 minutes, with one intermission
West Side Story - 2009 Broadway History , Info & More
Palace Theatre (Broadway)
1564 Broadway New York, NY
More than fifty years ago, a show about New York City changed musical theatre forever. Now, it's coming home to make history once again. This spring, WEST SIDE STORY returns to Broadway in a groundbreaking new production directed by its legendary librettist, Tony Award® winner Arthur Laurents.
From the first notes to the final breath, WEST SIDE STORY is one of the most memorable musicals and greatest love stories of all time. Mr. Laurents' book remains as powerful, poignant and timely as ever. The score by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim -- a collection of standards that includes "Tonight," "America," "Maria," "I Feel Pretty" and "Somewhere" -- is widely regarded as one of the best ever written. And the extraordinary, Tony-winning winning choreography by Jerome Robbins completely changed the language of Broadway dance. This production will offer a bold new design that builds on the show's raw power and emotion to create a fresh experience unlike any that came before it.
Don't miss this thrilling presentation of a matchless work of art.
West Side Story - 2009 - Broadway Cast
FEATURED REVIEWS FOR West Side Story
'West Side' Puts a Better Foot Forward
7 / 10
But even with its invigorated Tony, the production remains erratic. It has not adequately addressed an imbalance in the acting ranks that muffles one of the turbulent centers of the show: the trigger-happy hatred between the gangs, the white-ethnic Jets and Puerto Rican Sharks. To put it plainly, the Jets, those angry, sneering products of America's social breakdown, have been miscast. They come across in this version as if they were the kinds of classroom scamps who were candidates for detention rather than three-to-five in the state pen. Sure, it's a challenge, embodying a thug while singing Leonard Bernstein's satiny music and leaping gazelle-like to Jerome Robbins's balletic choreography. And yet, they don't for a minute allow us to believe that they could sow violence at the slightest provocation.
Come Again?
7 / 10
But even though Laurents has taken some steps to modernize the book—chiefly by enlisting Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights) to translate some of the dialogue and two of the songs into Spanish, ostensibly to impart a more realistic vibe to the proceedings—the show too often comes off as perfunctory, a cursory sprucing up of a touchstone that may have been better off left dusty and authentic. And in the end, the play’s dramatic power has nothing to do with contemporary relevance and everything to do with the songs and Robbins’s choreography. In fact, this production exposes too baldly the central flaw of the libretto: Tony and Maria, the Romeo and Juliet stand-ins (played here by Matt Cavenaugh and Josefina Scaglione), may be nice kids, but they’re also the show’s least interesting characters; Tony, in particular, is something of a drip.
West Side Story History
Other Productions of West Side Story
| 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 |
West Side Story - 2009 Broadway Awards and Nominations
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Featured Actress in a Musical | Karen Olivo |
| 2009 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Karen Olivo |
| 2009 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Musica | Pal Joey |
| 2009 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Matt Cavenaugh |
| 2009 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Josefina Scaglione |
| 2009 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Musical | Arthur Laurents |
| 2009 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Karen Olivo |
| 2009 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Musical | 0 |
| 2009 | Theatre World Awards | Performance | Josefina Scaglione |
| 2009 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Musical | Howell Binkley |
| 2009 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical | Karen Olivo |
| 2009 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical | Josefina Scaglione |
Videos