West Side Story is a timeless classic, but despite six decades of history, you've never seen a production like this one. Under the direction of the innovative Ivo van Hove, the beloved story of star-crossed lovers and rival gangs takes on a more urgent and modern context. Featuring original choreography by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and a stage and video design by Jan Versweyveld, this West Side Story offers a radical, thrilling new interpretation of this iconic work, featuring 33 young performers making their Broadway debuts. Don't miss this opportunity to see a landmark in musical theater history as if for the very first time.
However, most shockingly, van Hove's West Side Story is not shocking; it is tame and impatiently brisk, having ejected songs like 'I Feel Pretty.' It is also a strange mélange of the good, bad, and baffling-especially in what it seeks to coherently say (or sing, when it comes to 'Gee, Officer Krupke') about the hot-button issues of 2020 it zeroes in on, like racism, immigration, and police brutality. Its engagement with those issues-more on this below-comes to feel lazy and manipulative, rather than shocking or shattering.
Long ago, I was enthralled by Van Hove's deconstructions of Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams and Henrik Ibsen at New York Theatre Workshop. But since this iconoclastic director won a Tony for his staging of 'A View From the Bridge,' he has been operating less like a daring artisan than a factory for a multinational company. But this intrepid reworking of 'West Side Story' marks more than a return to form for Van Hove. The production, which set its official opening for Thursday at the Broadway Theatre, restores the vitality to a musical that can seem ersatz and lumbering when treated like a museum piece.
| 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 |
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Choreography | Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker |
| 2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Yesenia Ayala |
| 2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Orchestrations | Jonathan Tunick |
| 2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Projection Design | Luke Halls |
| 2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Musical | West Side Story |
| 2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Sound Design for a Musical | Tom Gibbons |
| 2020 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Isaac Powell |
| 2020 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Musical | West Side Story |
| 2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Isaac Powell |
| 2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Shereen Pimentel |
| 2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Musical | Ivo van Hove |
| 2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Projection Design | Luke Halls |
| 2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Musical | West Side Story |
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