The fantastic Richard Beymer and Natalie Wood.
On September 26 1957, West Side Story, composed by Leonard Bernstein, opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway. For the groundbreaking musical, Bernstein provided a propulsive and rhapsodic score that many celebrate as his greatest achievement as a composer.
West Side Story is a reinterpretation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet transposed onto New York's West Side. It tells the tale of a love affair between Tony, who is Polish American, and Maria, a Puerto Rican, set against an urban background of interracial warfare.
After its opening show, it made an impressive maiden run of 732 performances. In 1961, a film version starring Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer was an enormous hit, and took home 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The stage version of West Side Story was soon revived, and the musical is still performed today.
We're feeling a bit nostalgic about all this, so we've put together a list of the best West Side Story songs.
Have a listen, we hope you enjoy!
AMERICA
MARIA
I FEEL PRETTY
TONIGHT
COOL
MAMBO
PROLOGUE
A BOY LIKE THAT
