West Side Story Celebrates 50th Anniversary in Paris

West Side Story celebrates its 50th anniversary at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris. Opening on November 20, the production of the celebrated 1957 show revives Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's score and Jerome Robbins' conception and choreography, with a book by Arthur Laurents-who will attend the full dress rehearsal on November 18.

Sean Attebury as Tony and Ann McCormack as Maria will alternate with the internationally acclaimed opera talents David Curry and Davinia Rodriguez, who will open as Tony and Maria. Lana Gordon opens as Anita, a role she shares with Vivian Nixon (Kalimba in Maurice Hines' 2006 Broadway production Hot Feet). Nixon performs the role that earned her mother, Debbie Allen, a Drama Desk Award and a Tony nomination in 1980. 

The six-week run of the Paris production is presented by the Theatre du Chatelet and Michael Brenner for BB Promotion and Paul Szilard, in association with Sundance Productions, New York. The show is directed by Joey McKneely (The Boy from Oz, Smokey Joe's Cafe, George C. Wolfe and Michael John LaChiusa's Wild Party,) and conducted by the famous West Side Story specialist Donald Chan. The production also visits Vienna, Zurich, Leipzig and Baden-Baden before opening at Sadler's Wells in London in the summer of 2008. For tickets and theatre information, please visit www.chatelet-theatre.com or www.bb-promotion.com.

Founded in 1987 by Michael Brenner, BB Promotions is one of the largest and prominent European producers of live entertainment. It has developed a great reputation for staging innovative, high-quality dance and theatre performances such as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Hubbard Street Dance, Fosse, and Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake. BB Promotion has also introduced to Europe large numbers of original productions such as Grease, Saturday Night Fever, Chicago, The Original Broadway Swing!, Rent, Tanguera and the Queen musical We Will Rock You, which is currently playing in Cologne, Zurich and Vienna, as well as unique live shows like STOMP!, Yamato-The Drummers of Japan, Tap Dogs and The Harlem Gospel Singers.