West Side Story Revival 2009
Run Time:
2 hours and 40 minutes, with one intermission
2 hours and 40 minutes, with one intermission
Ages: 12+
Opened: March 19, 2009Closing: January 02, 2011
West Side Story - 2009 Broadway History , Info & More
Palace Theatre (Broadway)
1564 Broadway New York, NY
More than fifty years ago, a show about New York City changed musical theatre forever. Now, it's coming home to make history once again. This spring, WEST SIDE STORY returns to Broadway in a groundbreaking new production directed by its legendary librettist, Tony Award® winner Arthur Laurents.
From the first notes to the final breath, WEST SIDE STORY is one of the most memorable musicals and greatest love stories of all time. Mr. Laurents' book remains as powerful, poignant and timely as ever. The score by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim -- a collection of standards that includes "Tonight," "America," "Maria," "I Feel Pretty" and "Somewhere" -- is widely regarded as one of the best ever written. And the extraordinary, Tony-winning winning choreography by Jerome Robbins completely changed the language of Broadway dance. This production will offer a bold new design that builds on the show's raw power and emotion to create a fresh experience unlike any that came before it.
Don't miss this thrilling presentation of a matchless work of art.
West Side Story - 2009 - Broadway Cast
FEATURED REVIEWS FOR West Side Story
Turf Wars
10 / 10
Now the ninety-one-year-old Laurents is laying his claim to ownership: in this bold makeover, the story rules. From the musical’s first beats—which tone down the finger-snapping thrust of Bernstein’s signature prologue with pauses that allow us to take in the individual gang members—Laurents announces his intention to leave his fingerprints on the classic. They don’t smudge its beauty; in fact, his attempts to heighten the show’s realism only enhance it. In his version, the gang members actually look like teen-agers; the Latina chorus girls are not Broadway beautiful; the costumes (by David C. Woolard) and set designs (by James Youmans) explore the subtle, shadowy ranges of a color palette that takes the show away from glitzy spectacle and toward a grittier, more muted stylization. By eliminating blackouts between scenes, Laurents also adds to the story’s tension. The evening as a whole feels sculpted—no gesture, no word, no visual choice is arbitrary or wasted. Laurents’s most innovative touch is to have the Puerto Ricans sometimes speak and sing in Spanish. Fifty years on, in a multicultural America, this decision makes the production feel fresh,
Come Again?
7 / 10
But even though Laurents has taken some steps to modernize the book—chiefly by enlisting Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights) to translate some of the dialogue and two of the songs into Spanish, ostensibly to impart a more realistic vibe to the proceedings—the show too often comes off as perfunctory, a cursory sprucing up of a touchstone that may have been better off left dusty and authentic. And in the end, the play’s dramatic power has nothing to do with contemporary relevance and everything to do with the songs and Robbins’s choreography. In fact, this production exposes too baldly the central flaw of the libretto: Tony and Maria, the Romeo and Juliet stand-ins (played here by Matt Cavenaugh and Josefina Scaglione), may be nice kids, but they’re also the show’s least interesting characters; Tony, in particular, is something of a drip.
West Side Story History
Other Productions of West Side Story
| 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 |
West Side Story - 2009 Broadway Awards and Nominations
Note: Award winners will appear on a background
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Featured Actress in a Musical | Karen Olivo |
| 2009 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Karen Olivo |
| 2009 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Musica | Pal Joey |
| 2009 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Matt Cavenaugh |
| 2009 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Josefina Scaglione |
| 2009 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Musical | Arthur Laurents |
| 2009 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Karen Olivo |
| 2009 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Musical | 0 |
| 2009 | Theatre World Awards | Performance | Josefina Scaglione |
| 2009 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Musical | Howell Binkley |
| 2009 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical | Karen Olivo |
| 2009 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical | Josefina Scaglione |
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