West Side Story, 1957

The run closed June 27, 1959

Opened

September 26, 1957

Closed

June 27, 1959

Performances

732

Previews

Unknown

Theatre

Winter Garden Theatre

Of the 706 productions we hold that opened in the 1950s and carry a performance count, this is the 21st longest. That is a rank within what we hold, not within everything that was staged.

Other stagings of West Side Story 4 more that season

Who was in it95 named

Larry Kert1930–1991

Carol Lawrenceb. 1932

Chita Rivera1933–2024

Art Smith1899–1973

M

Mickey Calin1935–2022

K

Ken LeRoy

L

Lee Becker Theodore1933–1987

D

David Winter

T

Tony Mordente1935–2024

E

Eddie Rollb. 1901

M

Martin Charnin1934–2019

G

Grover Daleb. 1935

D

David Winters1939–2019

H

Hank Brunjes

Marilyn Cooper1934–2009

G

Gene Gavin

C

Carmen Alvarez

J

Jerome Dempsey

Lee Becker
Arch Johnson
Tommy Abbott
William Bramley
Erne Castaldo
Wilma Curley
Carole D Andrea
Al de Sio
Marilyn D Honau
Frank Green
Reri Grist
Carmen Gutierrez
John Harkins
Lowell Harris
Ronnie Lee
George Marcy
Jack Murray
Jay Norman
Julie Oser
Liane Plane
Nanette Rosen
Lynn Ross
Jamie Sanchez
Noel Schwartz
Elizabeth Taylor
Sonya Wilde
Lenny Dale
Eliot Field
Vince Baggetta
Barry Burns
Richard Corrigan
Ethelyne Dunfee
Eliot Feld
Julius Fields
Roger Franklin
Bill Guske
Ross Hertz
Harvey Hohnecker
Bob Kole
Ed Kresley
Ed Kressley
Sandy Leeds
Ann Marisse
Eddie Miller
Carmen Morales
Albert M Ottenheimer
Genii Prior
Bea Salten
Tucker Smith
Gus Trikonis
Gina Trikonos
Gus Tritchonis
Myrna White
Don Zema
Devra Korwin
Lynn Bowin
Jose de Vega
Barbara Doherty
Ed Dutton
Tracy Everitt
Audrey Hays
Gloria Lambert
Lee Lewis
Leila Martin
Anna Marie Moylan
Jerry Norman
Sue Ostrowsky
Stan Papich
Danii Prior
Barbara Richman
Gary Scharff
Susan Silo
Carmine Terra
Kent Thomas
Ella Thompson
Camille Valle
Ben Vargas

20 of these 95 names have a person record behind them and link to one. The other 75 are set from the identifier in the cast list, which is a slug of the name, so hyphens and full stops are lost and a few come out wrong. We hold nothing else about them. Nobody here is matched to a character: the cast list records who was in the company and not what they played.

Creative team

Director

Jerome Robbins

Choreographer

Jerome Robbins

Producer

Robert Griffith & Harold Prince

A producer is one string on this record, however many people or companies it names. Directors and choreographers are held both as text and as identifiers; where an identifier exists the name links to a page.

Tony Awards 2 from 6 nominations

Recordings 94 held for the work

None of these is attributed to this staging. They are filed against West Side Story, and nothing says which production any of them documents. Closing that join is the point of this catalogue and it is not closed yet.

Around this production

The original concept was "East Side Story" about Jewish and Catholic families on the Lower East Side. Laurents and Bernstein shelved it for years until the headlines about gang violence gave it new urgency.

• 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… Broadway Musicals Show By Show Seventh Edition Stanley Green Cary Ginell, p. 13
• 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. Broadway Musicals Show By Show Seventh Edition Stanley Green Cary Ginell, p. 170
• 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. Broadway Musicals Show By Show Seventh Edition Stanley Green Cary Ginell, p. 360
• 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… Broadway Musicals Show By Show Green Stanley Green Kay 5th Ed Rev and Updated By, p. 131
• 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. Broadway Musicals Show By Show Green Stanley Green Kay 5th Ed Rev and Updated By, p. 199

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

What this page does not know

• No photograph of this staging.
• No character names. We can say who was in the company and not who they played.
• Which of the 94 recordings of West Side Story document this run, if any.
• Reviews, box office, running order, understudies and designers: none of it is held for any production.