West Side Story Goes West

You know the hit songs and probably saw the award winning movie. You may even own the soundtrack but have you ever seen a stage production of West Side Story? Many critics rank it among the best American musicals of all time but the opportunities to see the production performed live have been few and far between.

That is why the opening of West Side Story at Fair Park Music Hall this week is such an opportunity for hard core musical fans and those who want to experience what they can only imagine on their television screen.

West Side Story was conceived by Jerome Robbins in 1949 when he brought the composer Leonard Bernstein and playwright Arthur Laurents together to modernize the story of Romeo and Juliet through a stage musical. The project was first called East Side Story and focused on the romance between a Jewish boy and Italian-Catholic girl set on New York City’s lower east side. The project floundered and was delayed for six years. By that time the storyline seemed dated and it was rewritten to reflect gang conflicts between Puerto Rican and Polish gangs on New York’s west side. A young lyricist named Stephen Sondheim was added to the team and the rest is history.

As a youngster I had no idea what the musical was about but the familiar red and black album sat in my parent’s stack of records. I would skip over the ballads (mushy songs) and drop the needle on sing-alongs like Gee Officer Krupke, America, the Jet Song and Cool. I eventually saw the movie starring Natalie Wood and made some sense out of the storyline. I’ve seen it many more times since then but caught my first live performance of West Side Story at Fair Park this week. It was amazing.

To understand why West Side Story was so big from the start, you have to consider the year 1957. Up to and including that year, musicals were happy sing-alongs that followed a standard formula. With the possible exception of Rogers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma, musical theater was very predictable in the 50’s. West Side Story shared the spotlight in 1957 with The Music Man and while both are golden era musicals, they couldn’t be more different.

For starters, The Music Man is a musical with dance. West Side Story is a dance production made even better with a memorable score. The current national touring production that opened on Tuesday is an amazing display of dance from the big production numbers to the choreographed fight scenes. Numbers such as The Rumble could best be described as ballet with a switchblade.

Fans of the 1961 West Side Story movie won’t be disappointed and stage musical purists will find this current production to be an excellent revival of the original musical. Either way, it is memorable show to close out the Dallas Summer Musical season.

West Side Story is playing through October 23 at the Fair Park Music Hall as part of the Dallas Summer Musical series. The show is concurrent with the Texas State Fair so parking is a challenge but a ticket to the show is also good for admittance to the fair. For more information about tickets, visit www.dallassummermusicals.org or call 800-982-2787.