SYNOPSIS

Star-crossed lovers Tony and Maria fight to keep their forbidden love alive in this reimagining of Romeo and Juliet set in 1950’s New York. One of the most celebrated musicals of all time, this production commemorates composer Leonard Bernstein’s 100th birthday and recreates Jerome Robbins’ award-winning choreography.

ABOUT THE CREATORS

JEROME ROBBINS (1918-1998) originally born Jerome Rabinowitz, Robbins was the son of Polish immigrants. He began his career as an apprentice under Senya Gluck-Sandor, a veteran dancer trained in ballet, modern dance, burlesque, and vaudeville. Robbins also studied ballet with Ella Daganova. In 1937, he began dancing and choreographing at the Tamiment Movement Resort in Pennsylvania. Much of his work at the time was rooted in burlesque or was dramatic work with socio-political content.

After working at various companies in and outside of New York, Robbins finally had the opportunity to devise a piece of his own. In 1944, he sought the help of then-unknown composer Leonard Bernstein and opened Fancy Free, a ballet about three sailors leaving New York City, at the Metropolitan Opera. Later that year, he opened On the Town, with music by Bernstein and a libretto by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, on Broadway.

With his career taking off, Robbins became the Associate Artistic Director of the newly founded New York City Ballet. He also continued his work on Broadway with Billion Dollar Baby, Miss Liberty, The King and I, and Two’s Company. Shockingly, in 1953,

History and

Background Based on the concept by Jerome Robbins

Book by Arthur Laurents

Music by Leonard Bernstein, Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Robbins in the studio (Martha Swope)

Robbins appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee to admit he was a member of the Communist Party during the 1930’s. Many people denounced his testimony, but Robbins refused to justify his remarks. He later explored this part of his life in The Poppa Piece, which he workshopped in the early 1990s.

In 1957, Robbins once again collaborated with Leonard Bernstein and the playwright Arthur Laurents on a concept he had been developing for years—a musical retelling of Romeo and Juliet that married choreography with action and explored contemporary politics. The product of his concept was West Side Story. It was directed by Robbins, and shifted how stories are told though music and dance.

After West Side Story, Robbins formed Ballets: USA. He also choreographed and/or directed the Broadway hits Gypsy, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Fiddler on the Roof. He spent the bulk of the next three decades focusing on ballet, until staging Jerome Robbins’ Broadway in 1989.

From 1994-1996, Robbins battled a variety of health issues. The last production he staged was Les Noces for City Ballet in 1998, just months before his death. Throughout his life, Robbins won 5 Tony Awards, 2 Academy Awards, 1 Emmy Award, and the Kennedy Center Honors, among other accolades.

ARTHUR LAURENTS (1917-2011), originally named Arthur Levine, was a playwright, screenwriter, and stage director. He grew up in a middle-class Jewish family in Brooklyn and later attended Cornell University. Laurents first found success writing radio dramas for CBS in the late 1930s. His earliest titles include Now Playing Tomorrow as well as various scripts for Lux Radio Theater and Armed Service Force Presents.

He wrote the plays Home of the Brave (1945), The Bird Cage (1950), and The Time of the Cuckoo (1952) as well as the films The Snake Pit, Rope, Tom Curtain, and Topaz. Much of Laurent’s body of work concerns leftist, gender, and sex politics. Because of this, he had to appear before the House Un-American Activates Committee in the early 1950s and was

Robbins on the West Side Story film set

(The Robbins Rights Trust)

barred from obtaining an American passport because of his views. He immediately fled to Paris with his lover, actor Farley Granger, theatre director Harold Clurman, and his wife, actress Stella Adler. They stayed abroad for about 18 months.

Before he was blacklisted, Laurents collaborated with Jerome Robbins on the Broadway musical Look Ma, I’m Dancin’!. Once he returned from abroad, he once again worked with Robbins on an idea they began to develop years earlier with Leonard Bernstein—a musical about two rival gangs in New York City. He joined the West Side Story creative team as its book writer. In his 2009 memoir Original Story, Laurents wrote, “What we really did stylistically with West Side Story was take every musical theater technique as far as it could be taken…scene, song and dance were integrated seamlessly; we did it all better than anyone ever had before.” Two years later, Laurents wrote the book for the hit musical Gypsy, which was directed and choreographed once again by Robbins, with music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Sondheim. Like West Side Story, Gypsy was nominated for the Best Musical Tony Award. He collaborated again with Sondheim by writing the book for the musicals Anyone Can Whistle and Do I Hear a Waltz.

Laurents also had a lengthy directing career, including I Can Get It for You Wholesale, Anyone Can Whistle, the 1974 revival of Gypsy, La Cage aux Folles (Tony Award, Best Direction of a Musical), the 2008 revival of Gypsy, and the 2009 revival of West Side Story. Laurents wrote three memoirs throughout his life: Original Story, Mainly on Directing, and The Rest of the Story. He died at age 93 of pneumonia.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918-1990) was a prolific American composer, conductor, and pianist. He was one of the first American born and educated composers to receive international acclaim and respect. He was born Louis Bernstein in Lawrence, Massachusetts, to Ukrainian Jewish parents. As a child, Bernstein attended the Boston Latin School but fostered a

passion for playing the piano in addition to his studies. He attended Harvard University

Stephen Sondheim with Arthur Laurents,

2008

(Getty Images)

Leonard Bernstein at the piano

(Don Hunstein, Sony Classical)

where he majored in music. Upon earning his degree, he continued his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

In 1940, Bernstein moved to New York City but spent his summer at the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer institute, Tanglewood. In New York, Bernstein lived with his friend and fellow composer, Adolph Green. During this time he also grew close to composers Aaron Copland and Dimitri Mitropoulos, boosting his career significantly. Bernstein made his major conducting debut as a composer when he acted as a last minute substitute for a nationally broadcasted New York Philharmonic Orchestra performance. Bernstein served as the Music Director of the New York City Symphony from 1945-1947.

In 1944, Bernstein composed the score to Jerome Robbins’ ballet Fancy Free, which was later adapted into the musical On the Town by Comden and Green. In 1956, he collaborated on his first theatre production, Candide, with playwright Lillian Hellman. One year later, West Side Story premiered on Broadway. To this day, it is Bernstein’s most popular score.

In addition to his compositions and conducting, Bernstein was also known for his political views and passion for social justice. For example, his opera, Trouble in Tahiti, criticized the American ideal of the suburban upper class. Like Robbins and Laurents, Bernstein was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee and was blacklisted by the US State Department and CBS. In 1970, he gained considerable media attention for hosting an event to raise money for the defense of detained Black Panther Party members.

Bernstein spent decades conducting, composing, and touring the world. After a series of canceled concerts, he announced his retirement from conducting in October of 1990. He died five days later of a heart attack, brought on by mesothelioma.

STEPHEN SONDEHIM (born 1930) is a composer and lyricist. He was born to Jewish parents in New York City, but moved to a farm in Pennsylvania after their divorce. He grew up away from his parents, and eventually became estranged from mother. While he was about ten years old, Sondheim befriended the child of lyricist and playwright Oscar Hammerstein II. Hammerstein became Sondheim’s mentor and taught him how to construct a musical. He also introduced Sondheim to theatre practitioners like Hal Prince, who would go on to direct many of Sondheim’s musicals.

After studying music at Williams College, Sondheim spent a few years living in his father’s dining room while writing for the television series Topper. At 22, Lem Ayers commissioned Sondheim to write a musical, Saturday Night. It was set to open on Broadway, but was delayed when Ayers died of leukemia. The show did not continue to

production after his death, but opened off-Broadway in 2000.

Although Saturday Night didn’t make it to opening night, a few key artists were involved in the early stages. Arthur Laurents, who has seen some of the auditions for Saturday Night, invited Sondheim to audition to be Leonard Bernstein’s lyricist for a musical adaptation of Romeo and Juliet the two were working on. In 1957, West Side Story marked Sondheim’s Broadway premiere.

In 1959, Laurents and Jerome Robbins approach Sondheim again to write the score for their next musical, Gypsy. Sondheim agreed, but Ethel Merman, the show’s star, insisted a more experienced composer had to write the score. They hired Jule Styne as the composer, but kept Sondheim as their lyricist once more. In 1962, two years after Hammerstein’s death, the first musical Sondheim wrote the score and lyrics for opened on Broadway; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Although the show received the Tony Award for Best Musical, Sondheim himself did not earn much praise.

Sondheim then recommitted himself to writing his own musicals. He then began his decade-long collaboration with producer and director Hal Prince. Their first project together was the 1970 concept musical Company. Finally, Sondheim won his first Tony Awards for Best Music and Best Lyrics, not to mention another win for Best Musical. He went on to write Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), Pacific Overtures (1976), Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), and Merrily We Roll Along (1981), which proved to be his final collaboration with Prince until 2003.

After a streak of success, Sondheim was greatly affected by the failure of Merrily We Roll Along. While searching for new collaborators, he found the playwright James Lapine. Together, Sondheim and Lapine wrote Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Into the Woods (1987), and Passion (1994).

Sondheim has continued to produce work well into this century with his musicals Bounce (2003), Assassins (Broadway premiere 2004), Road Show (2008) and a musical still in the works with playwright David Ives. Sondheim has won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (Sunday in the Park with George), an Academy Award, eight Grammy Awards, eight Tony Awards, a Kennedy Center Honors, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

CONCEPT HISTORY

When Jerome Robbins and Arthur Laurents set out to adapt Romeo and Juliet into a Broadway musical, their first thought was not about warring gangs. Initially, Robbins planned to write “East Side Story,” a musical about a clash between Catholics and Jews in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. It wasn’t until 1955 that Laurents and Robbins got the

idea for West Side Story from a newspaper article about gang violence in New York.

The creative team set off to research the landscape, culture, and music of Puerto Rican communities. They came to the conclusion, however, to not use real street slang in fear of dating the piece in future years. Instead, Sondheim and Laurents created their own vernacular that mirrored what might be heard in 1950s New York.

While in rehearsals, Robbins forbade the actors playing the Jets and the actors playing the Sharks to interact, something many have criticized since. Robbins also often posted articles about the actual violence happening only a few blocks away to keep the actors fully immersed in the world of the play.

When it opened in 1957, West Side Story received mixed critical responses. Coincidentally, it debuted only one day after the integration of Central High School in

The original New York Times review of West Side Story

Little Rock, and the musical story of racial conflict was too current to some. Even though it won just two Tony Awards (Best Choreography and Best Set Design of a Musical), West Side Story ran for 732 performances. But the film version found success, winning 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Since its premiere, theatre makers and audiences alike have raised concerns about the story of West Side Story. Although it has created opportunities for Latino performers, many have critiqued the characterization of the Puerto Rican characters, objecting that they are based on negative stereotypes. Additionally, the film version of the musical was infamously whitewashed, starring Natalie Wood as Maria and George Chakiris as Bernardo. Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the Spanish translations of the lyrics for the 2009 Broadway revival, once said West Side Story has been the Latino community’s “greatest blessing and our greatest curse.”

Selections from Leonard Bernstein's Journal:

Beverly Hills, 25 August, 1955

Had a fine long session with Arthur [Laurents] today, by the pool. (He's here for a movie; I'm conducting at the Hollywood Bowl.) We're fired again by the "Romeo" notion; only now we have abandoned the whole Jewish-Catholic premise as not very fresh, and have come up with what I think is going to be it: two teen-age gangs as the warring factions, one of them newly-arrived Puerto Ricans, the other self-styled "Americans." Suddenly it all springs to life. I hear rhythms and pulses, and -- most of all -- I can sort of feel the form.

New York, 6 Sept., 1955

Jerry [Robbins] loves our gang idea. A second solemn pact has been sworn. Here we go, God bless us!

New York, 14 Nov., 1955

A young lyricist named Stephen Sondheim came and sang us some of his songs today. What a talent! I think he's ideal for this project, as do we all. The collaboration grows.

Bernstein's copy of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet,

with his annotation "An out and out plea for racial

tolerance" at the top of the first page

New York, 17 March, 1956

"Candide" is on again; we plunge in next month. So again "Romeo" is postponed for a year. Maybe it's all for the best: by the time it emerges it ought to be deeply seasoned, cured, hung, aged in the wood. It's such a problematical work anyway that it should benefit by as much sitting-time as it can get. Chief problem: to tread the fine line between opera and Broadway, between realism and poetry, ballet and "just dancing," abstract and representational. Avoid being "messagy." The line is there, but it's very fine, and sometimes takes a lot of peering around to discern it.

FOCUS ON PUERTO RICO: THE AFTERMATH OF HURRICANE MARIA

On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria ripped through Puerto Rico, tearing apart countless trees, downing thousands of powerlines, and destroying the homes of an island just 980 miles south of Miami. According to Time Magazine, Maria may have been the most destructive Atlantic storm on record: “Research by the Climate Impact Lab suggests that no larger area has been hit so comprehensively anywhere in the world in the past 60 years.”1

Today, much of West Side Story feels pertinent to our culture and political climate, and few lyrics continue to resonate as clearly as “nobody knows in America that Puerto Rico’s in America.” Although Puerto Rico has been a United States territory since 1898, one poll found that, at the time of Hurricane Maria, only about half of Americans knew that Puerto Ricans are US citizens (notably, however, Puerto Ricans living on the island are not represented by any voting member of Congress and cannot vote for President).2 And while the official death toll of Hurricane Maria is 64 people, numerous politicians and social scientists believe the true number is

1 Vick, Karl. “Puerto Rico Photos: Aftermath of Hurricane Maria.” Time, Time, 2018, time.com/a-land-they-no-longer-recognize/. 2 Ibid.

Downed power lines near the beach in Puerto Rico

(Carol Guzy/National Georgraphic)

over 1,000.3 One study conducted by the New England Journal of Medicine estimated the total may be closer to 4,600 deaths since the storm.4

Unlike Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Maria destroyed most of Puerto Rico’s infrastructure in addition to wiping out power for the entire island. As of May 2018, 98.86 percent of Puerto Rico Electric

Power Authority customers had electricity, but 16,723 remained without power, marking this the longest blackout in U.S. history.5 Sporadic power outages continue to occur, however, and mostly affect rural and poor areas. Additionally, many have critiqued the US Government’s response to the disaster. While a number of troops were already on the ground to mitigate the damage of the less-severe Hurricane Irma, only 7,200 military personnel made it to the island two weeks after Maria. On the Government’s response to the storm, Karl Vick of Time Magazine wrote, ”the storm somehow managed to reinforce one thing: the historically paternalistic relationship between mainland and island. The inequity became more pronounced with the passing of each muggy day in the storm’s aftermath. The federal government’s response was markedly slower and less attentive to

3 Hoyos, Joshua. “8 Months after Hurricane Maria, the Death Toll in Puerto Rico Remains a Mystery.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 20 May 2018, abcnews.go.com/US/months-hurricane-maria-death-toll-puerto-rico-remains/story?id=55308995. 4 Guzy, Carol. “Puerto Rico Still Struggling in the Dark.” National Geographic, 20 Apr. 2018,

www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/03/puerto-rico-after-hurricane-maria-dispatches/. 5 Giusti, Carlos, and Michael Weissenstein. “Army Corps of Engineers to Leave Puerto Rico with Hurricane Recovery

Unfinished.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 18 May 2018, www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/army-corps-of-engineers-to-leave-puerto-rico-with-hurricane-recovery-unfinished.

Wilmair Flores, 55, on her bed at home

(Andres Kudacki/TIME)

Damage in San Isidro, outside San Juan

(Andres Kudacki/TIME)

Puerto Rico after Maria than to Texas after Harvey and Florida after Irma.”

Three days after the storm, news outlets reported that the entire island’s communication infrastructure was knocked out, and Puerto Rican officials began communicating by radio. That same day, 1.6 million gallons of water, 23,000 cots, and dozens of generators arrived at the main port in San Juan. Six days after landfall, 1.53 million citizens lacked access to clean drinking water, and only fifteen percent of the island’s hospitals were functional.6 About ten days after the storm, acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke had called the response “really, a good

news story.” San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz responded, “This is not a good news story. This this is a ‘people are dying’ story...When you're drinking from a creek, it's not a good news story. When you don't have food for a baby, it’s not a good news story. When you have to pull people down from buildings—I’m sorry, that really upsets me and frustrates me.”

By November, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) gave more than $230

million in assistance to families and set aside more than $464 million for reimbursing local authorities to rebuild public buildings and infrastructure. However, FEMA administrator Brock Long estimated it will take at least $50 billion to completely rebuild the infrastructure destroyed by Maria. According to a PBS report, “2,758 families are in FEMA-sponsored short-term housing across 34 states and Puerto Rico. Of the families, 966 are in Florida and 711 are in Puerto Rico…FEMA has appropriated nearly $2 billion for the U.S. Virgin Islands in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Texas and Florida have received more than $5.2 billion and about $2.5 billion from FEMA’s disaster fund since hurricanes hit them, monthly FEMA reports show.” In April, it was announced that 283 public schools would be closed for the next school year7 and Professor Domingo Marqués from Albizu University in San Juan estimated 30 to 50 percent of Puerto Rico’s population will experience post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, or anxiety as a result of the disaster.8

6 Ibid. 7 Holmes, Ryan Connelly. “It's Been 10 Weeks since Hurricane Maria Hit Puerto Rico. Here's Where Recovery Stands.” PBS,

Public Broadcasting Service, 30 Nov. 2017, www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/its-been-10-weeks-since-hurricane-maria-hit-puerto-rico-heres-where-recovery-stands. 8 Ibid., National Georgraphic.

Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz

(Getty Images)

While recovery has been slow, politicians are finding hope in the rebuilding process. Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rosselló said the relief process “shows a way forward, to make of this catastrophe in the long term a story of rebuilding, rethinking and putting Puerto Rico in the vanguard.” Mayor Cruz said, “If we’re going to rebuild and reconstruct, it has to be for the right reasons. We have to reshape our society. As awful as this has been, it’s an opportunity.”

If you are interested in learning more about the relief effort in Puerto Rico, we recommend looking into the following organizations:

The Hispanic Federation: https://hispanicfederation.org/

The Hispanic Federation UNIDOS Program: https://hispanicfederation.org/unidos/

United for Puerto Rico: http://www.unidosporpuertorico.com/en/

Save the Children: https://www.savethechildren.org/

Direct Relief: https://www.directrelief.org/place/puerto-rico/

OUR WESTON PRODUCTION

With 27 cast members, West Side Story is one of the biggest shows to ever cross the Weston Playhouse MainStage. This epic musical is set in a larger-than-life world, with a plot that transports the audience on, around, and above the streets of Manhattan. Take a look at how the set and costume designers took on the challenge of creating a setting an extraordinary world in an intimate space.

Cast and Creatives

Above: set model picture

Below: Rendering of the dance hall scene

Images courtesy of set designer Russell Parkman

Above: costume renderings courtesy of costume

designer Ilona Somogyi

AN INTERVIEW WITH ACTRESS EVY ORTIZ Compiled by Rachel Liff, Artistic and Administrative Assistant

RACHEL LIFF: When did you first encounter West Side Story?

EVY ORTIZ: I first encountered West Side Story when I was a child. I come from a Puerto Rican family and the movie was very popular with them. They would sing the music all the time. I have many memories of women in my family randomly bursting out singing “A Boy Like That.” I didn’t see the stage version until I was cast in the show after college.

RL: How many times have you played Maria? What makes this character exciting to play more than once?

EO: I have been very fortunate to play Maria 7 times and I’ve sung her music in numerous concerts. She’s one of the best written female roles and her music is among the most beautiful in the musical theater canon for a soprano. I trained as a classical soprano and with this show I’m able to use my voice in a way I love. I get to use all of my skills as a performer and her story arc is huge. As an actress and singer it’s a very fulfilling role. Every time I have played her I have found more depths to her and I’ve shaped my own unique portrayal of her. She’s an iconic character so my goal is to always make her a real person and not an ingenue stereotype.

RL: How does your process differ when playing a character you’ve already played before, rather than a new character?

EO: With each production comes a new cast and that effects how I play her. I'm responding and playing with new energy and characterizations so each production brings out a new side to my Maria. A positive of having played her before is that I don’t have to worry so much about the basic logistics of doing a show like learning new lines and music. I can get right into the character and work with the director, music director and choreographer on their visions. Every director has his/her own ideas about the show and I love that collaboration.

RL: What makes you most excited about working on this production?

EO: I’m excited to do the show in the intimate stage setting at Weston Playhouse. I think it’s going to feel more like a play then a musical this time, which I love. Since the audience is so close they’re going to be very involved in the action. Also, the entire Weston team has been so open and kind and I’m looking forward to doing this show for the Weston audience!

RL: Why is it important to perform West Side Story today?

EO: It’s important because the conflict in the story keeps occurring. This show is relevant because the themes in the show are timeless. Unfortunately, there is always conflict somewhere and it often starts with people being afraid of the unknown, being afraid of the “other.” Most humans want the same things in life – a place of their own, understanding, acceptance, love, family. I hope the show inspires people to be more empathetic and open to meeting people who may be different from them. Ultimately we are all the same at our core. My grandfather came to NY from Puerto Rico in the 1950’s as a teenager. He worked hard to live the “American Dream” while also honoring his culture, and I personally do this show in honor of him.

AN INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR TIM FORT Compiled by Rachel Liff, Artistic and Administrative Assistant

RACHEL LIFF: Why did you, Steve, and Mal decide to produce West Side Story in your last season at Weston?

TIM FORT: Steve, Mal, and I wanted our final season to serve as both a celebration of Weston’s past and a chance to look at the company’s ongoing potential as an arts leader. We were looking for shows that could demonstrate the diversity of talent and the power of intimate storytelling that has developed here and what it means for the community. West Side Story has been on our “must do again” list since its first, and only, previous production here in 1973 (the first season for Steve and me). Its size, scope, and artistic challenges make it daunting, but given that we are all fans of Sondheim (the show’s lyricist), given that we had Leonard Bernstein’s hundredth birthday to celebrate, given that we were eager to once again illustrate the company’s

unique ability to make epic stories more accessible, and given that this was our last season to play here – we knew it was time.

RL: Why did you choose to direct West Side Story?

TF: I don’t know whether I chose to direct West Side Story or it chose me. I have taught the show to my musical theatre students for over thirty years as one of the foundational pieces of modern musical theatre. I admire its structure, musical complexity, and themes. In addition, I thought that this would be a show where we could feature both the new and former members of our Young Company program (more than 10 of them, in fact). It’s a program that I care deeply about as representing one of the core educational strengths of the Playhouse and this production has allowed us to celebrate its growth and development over the past eighteen years.

RL: The choreography if West Side Story is integral to the storytelling. Does this affect your approach as a director?

TF: Absolutely – any sensible director who approaches West Side Story needs to find an extraordinary choreographer to partner with. In Felicity Stiverson, I have been lucky enough to work with one of the best – who (with the help of her Jerome Robbins’s sensibility) has made “storytelling through dance” into job one for this

production. Several other things make this choreographic storytelling possible: our wonderful music director (Larry Pressgrove); our smart scenic designer (Russell Parkman) who has made our intimate stage seem big enough to contain most of NYC, and our company blessed with a cast of superb triple threat performers and one of the most inventive production teams in all New England.

RL: What about this production challenges you the most?

TF: What would normally be challenges, I try to see as opportunities. We have 27 performers to move through a stage which has roughly 23 feet of open space - making the staging questions ever present. But the “close up” nature of our work makes the storytelling potential amazing – and we have taken full advantage of that.

RL: Why is it important to perform West Side Story today?

TF: This show is a beautifully written plea for tolerance and understanding – asking us to see, hear, and be receptive to the needs and viewpoints of all cultures, genders, ages, and ethnicities. Although it was written sixty years ago, sadly, this musical’s message feels more relevant today than ever. Whenever we want to remind ourselves of what is important about being loving and human, it will always be important to perform West Side Story.

AN INTERVIEW WITH CHOREOHRAPHER FELICITY STIVERSON Compiled by Rachel Liff, Artistic and Administrative Assistant

RACHEL LIFF: How many times have you worked on West Side Story?

FELICITY STIVERSON: I've worked on West Side Story a number of times as a performer - I first did the European Tour, and in the years after that I also did the 50th anniversary tour and several regional productions. I've set the choreography for the show once before at another regional theater.

RL: What are you most looking forward to about this production?

FS: I'm most looking forward to working with this incredibly talented cast at one of my favorite theaters of all time. The stage is smaller than any that I've worked on for a production of West Side Story, but I'm looking at that as a great challenge to have, and looking forward to seeing how staging this choreography in a more compressed space brings the story into clearer focus, and creates new and different dynamics.

RL: What is the most challenging part of teaching the original choreography? What is the most exciting part?

FS: One of the most challenging parts of teaching the original choreography is counting the incredibly beautiful and complicated music in the Bernstein score. The time signatures sometimes change multiple times in just one page of sheet music, so making sure I'm clear with the counts when I'm teaching is always a challenge. It's also a challenge (but a great one) to balance the technical skill required by this choreography with the Robbins' unique style, and also the pedestrian movements that he incorporated throughout the piece.

The most exciting part of this choreography is getting to revisit some of my favorite choreography ever, which I've gotten to perform so many times myself, and teach it to this group of amazing artists.

RL: How did you become a choreographer?

FS: I've been a dancer since I was four years old, and I moved to New York City when I was 17 to be a dancer. But along that path, I've assisted many choreographers, and over the past six or seven years have started choreographing more of my own work. It's been a natural progression from performing to choreography.

RL: Why perform West Side Story today?

FS: West Side Story is still a story that is incredibly important to tell, and the story resonates today as much as it ever has. In terms of the political and social climate in the United States and in the world today, many of the themes of the show are still incredibly pertinent - themes of immigration, racism, the idea of "otherness," police corruption and brutality, and more. So many of the ideas in the musical are ones that we are discussing in society now with a new urgency.

Other Works by Arthur Laurents

Gypsy (also with Stephen Sondheim)

Anyone Can Whistle (also with Stephen Sondheim)

Do I Hear a Waltz?

Home of the Brave

Other Works by Leonard Bernstein

On the Town

Wonderful Town

Trouble in Tahiti

Candide

Other Works by Stephen Sondheim

Into the Woods

Sweeny Todd

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Company

Sunday in the Park with George

Filmography

West Side Story directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, 1961

The Making of West Side Story directed by Christopher Swan, 1985

Discography

West Side Story (Original Broadway Cast Recording), Columbia, 1957

Reading List

West Side Story New Broadway Cast Recording, Sony Music Entertainment, 2009

Further Reading

Something's Coming, Something Good: West Side Story and the American Imagination by Misha Berson, Applause Theatre and Cinema, 2011

A Place for Us: West Side Story and New York by Julia L. Foulkes, University of Chicago Press, 2016

Leonard Bernstein: A Life by Meryle Secrest, Alfred A. Knopf, 1994

Finishing the Hat by Stephen Sondheim, Alfred A. Knopf, 2010

Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins by Amanda Vaill, Broadway Books, 2006

Original Story By: A Memoir of Broadway and Hollywood by Arthur Laurents, Alfred A. Knopf, 2000

Puerto Rican Arrival in New York: Narratives of The Migration, 1920-1950 by Juan Flores, Markus Wiener Pub, 2005

The Puerto Rican Nation on the Move: Identities on the Island and in the United States by Jorge Duany, The University of North Carolina Press, 2002

Online Resources

https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2018/01/leonard-bernstein-jerome-robbins-and-the-road-to-west-side-story