WEST SIDE STORY Sets New Box Office Record at Palace Theatre; Tour to Start Fall 2010

The producers of the smash hit Broadway production of West Side Story announced today that the show has shattered the Palace Theatre box office record for highest weekly gross for two consecutive weeks. The record was held previously by LEGALLY BLONDE for the week ending 12/30/07 (Christmas week) with $1,219,488. For the week ending 4/5/09, West Side Story broke that record with $1,234,652 and then last week, for the week ending 4/12/09, shattered its own record with an impressive weekly gross of $1,308,787.

The producers have also announced today that the national tour of this production will begin in the fall of 2010. Tour route, dates and casting will be announced shortly.

West Side Story is directed by its two-time Tony Award winning librettist Arthur Laurents and was created by three theatrical luminaries: two-time Tony Award winner Arthur Laurents (book) and multiple Tony and Grammy Award winners Leonard Bernstein (music) and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics) in his Broadway debut. This production opened at the Palace Theatre (1564 Broadway) on Thursday, March 19, 2009 and began previews on Broadway Monday, February 23, 2009, following a pre-Broadway engagement December 15, 2008 through January 17, 2009 at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C., where the musical made its world premiere in 1957. The original Jerome Robbins choreography is restaged by Tony Award nominee Joey McKneely (The Boy from Oz, The Life).

West Side Story is produced by Kevin McCollum, James L. Nederlander, Jeffrey Seller with Terry Allen Kramer, Sander Jacobs, Roy Furman / Jill Furman Willis, Freddy DeMann, Robyn Goodman / Walt Grossman, Hal Luftig, Roy Miller, The Weinstein Company and Broadway Across America.

West Side Story features scenic designs by James Youmans (Gypsy), costumes by Tony Award nominee David C. Woolard (The Farnsworth Invention, The Who's Tommy), lighting by Tony Award winner Howell Binkley (Gypsy, Jersey Boys), hair by Mark Adam Rampmeyer (The Farnsworth Invention) and sound design by Tony Award nominee Dan Moses Schreier (Gypsy, A Catered Affair).

Tickets for the Broadway production of West Side Story at the Palace Theatre (1564 Broadway) are currently on sale at www.tickemaster.com, by calling 212-307-4100 or visiting the Palace Theatre box office. West Side Story plays Tuesday at 7 p.m., Wednesday - Saturday at 8 p.m., Wednesday and Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Broadway ticket prices are $121.50 - 46.50.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.