Paris' Theatre du Chatelet to Present West Side Story

West Side Story, with an American cast, will be performed in English at the historic Theatre du Chatelet in Paris. 

The Theatre du Chatelet and Michael Brenner for BB Promotion in collaboration with Paul Szilard Productions, Inc. are presenting this 50th Anniversary Production that opens on November 20th for a four week engagement. The show will be directed by Joey McKneely (The Boy from Oz).  West Side Story is based on conception of Jerome Robbins, with book by Arthur Laurents, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and music by Leonard Bernstein.  The show opened on Broadway on September 26th, 1957 and played for 732 performances.  The film version directed by Robbins won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1961 and earned a total of ten Oscars.

Szilard produced the first Japanese tour of West Side Story with an American cast rehearsed by Jerome Robbins.  It was the first English language Broadway show from New York to appear there. The entire company (cast and musicians) came from New York.

A former leading dancer, Szilard has performed throughout the world with such leading dancers as Nora Kaye, Colette Marchand, Sonia Arova and others.  As a world-renowned impresario, he has presented such prestigious dance companies as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (for which he served as the exclusive international representative for over 37 years), New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theater, the Martha Graham Dance Company and others.  He produced / presented the Bavarian National Ballet of the Munich State Opera at the New York State Theater; American Ballet Theater at the Nouveau Festival International de Danse Paris; the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Paris at the Les Etes de la Danse de Paris.  His autobiography, Under My Wings: My Life as an Impresario, was published in 2002.

In 1987 Michael Brenner founded BB Promotion, The Art of Entertainment. With its team of more than 60 employees, BB Promotion is one of the largest and most prominent companies for producing live entertainment in Europe and around the world.  He has booked Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov, as well as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Hubbard Street Dance.  He has presented Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, Ballet Nacional de España and others. He also presented the Broadway shows Tango Argentino and Fosse, and booked Diana Ross, Sarah Brightman, Shirley MacLaine, Marcel Marceau, "The Harlem Gospel Singers" starring Queen Esther Marrow, now in its fifteenth year. 

Visit www.chatelet-theatre.com for more information on the Theatre du Chatelet (please note that the website is in French).