broadway

West Side Story was an acclaimed and popular Broadway musical in 1959 and then Hollywood film in 1961.  Based on the story of Romeo and Juliette, it is the story of an ill-fated and impossible love between Tony and Maria whose families and communities are at war with each other.

The conflict in this story is encapsulated in this song, an argument between Maria and her best friend, Anita.  Maria had fallen in love with Tony, a boy from the rival gang.  Maria's brother, Bernardo, was also Anita's boyfriend.

West Side Story was an acclaimed and popular Broadway musical about an ill-fated and impossible love between Tony and Maria. This story is about a recording of the Broadway score in 1984, 25 years later. Bernstein records the songs with a new generation of performing artists, renown singers who learned to act in the opera rather than Broadway actors who learned to sing in the theater. It's a remarkable documentary that captures the dynamic between the maestro and these superstars. Perhaps because Bernstein is conducting his own piece as an old man, music that he composed many years earlier as a much younger man, you can talk about aging in this context. What does it mean to return to a work from your youth?

West Side Story was an acclaimed and popular Broadway musical in 1959 and then Hollywood film in 1961.  Based on the story of Romeo and Juliette, it is the story of an ill-fated and impossible love between Tony and Maria whose families and communities are at war with each other.

The conflict in this story is encapsulated in this song, an argument between Maria and her best friend, Anita.  Maria had fallen in love with Tony, a boy from the rival gang.  Maria's brother, Bernardo, was also Anita's boyfriend.