Broadway Rewind: WEST SIDE STORY Rumbles Back to Broadway in 2009!

As Broadway braces for a month of darkness, BroadwayWorld wants to make sure that you still get your theatre fix each and every day until April 13. In our daily series Broadway Rewind, we're uncovering footage from the depths of our archives so that you can relive magical moments of Broadway past!

Just last month, Broadway celebrated the return of West Side Story- a daring new interpretation from director Ivo van Hove. In 2009, Broadway was celebrating the opening of a different West Side Story. This version, which opened March 19 at the Palace Theatre, starred Matt Cavenaugh, Josefina Scaglione, and Tony winner Karen Olivo, and new Spanish lyrics from Lin-Manuel Miranda. The revival would go on to play 748 performances, running just under two years.

BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge looks back on the opening night: "The show's original Maria, Carol Lawrence, was in attendance and told me how much this new version affected her. 'Well, it was like seeing something in a time capsule. Only it was not a time capsule of the past, it was what the future would have brought to West Side Story, because 50 years ago, culturally, America was very different. It was far more protected. Today, the violence and the gangs and the bilingual thing that Arthur brought to it was brilliant. So, I applaud what they did'."

watch as we take you back to 2009 and give you an inside look at two other shows from the same season, Blithe Spirit featuring Angela Lansbury, and Neil LaBute's Reasons to Be Pretty.