West Side Story

West Side Story is a musical with book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. It was inspired by William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. As in Romeo and Juliet, the love between members of two rival groups in West Side Story leads to violent confrontations "and a tragic ending with an underlying message: Violence breeds violence, so make peace and learn to share turf." Among the social themes explored in the musical are "bigotry, cultural misunderstanding and the social failure to fully integrate and empower young people in constructive ways."

The story is set in the Upper West Side neighborhood in New York City in the mid 1950s, an ethnic, blue-collar neighborhood (in the early 1960s, much of the neighborhood was cleared in an urban renewal project for Lincoln Center, which changed the neighborhood's character). The musical explores the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds. The members of the Sharks, from Puerto Rico, are taunted by the Jets, a white gang. 

The young protagonist, Tony, a former member of the Jets and best friend of the gang's leader, Riff, falls in love with Maria, the sister of Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks. The dark theme, sophisticated music, extended dance scenes, and focus on social problems marked a turning point in American musical theatre. Bernstein's score for the musical includes "Jet Song", "Something's Coming", "Maria", "Tonight", "America", "Cool", "One Hand, One Heart", "I Feel Pretty", "Somewhere", "Gee, Officer Krupke" and "A Boy Like That". The cast is set to include Shereen Pimentel as Maria, Isaac Cole Powell as Tony, Amar Ramasar as Bernardo, Thomas Jay Ryan as Lt. Schrank, Yesenia Ayala as Anita and Ben Cook as Riff; the latter two are also set to appear in the upcoming film remake. Scenic and lighting design are by Jan Versweyveld, with costumes by An d'Huys.

West Side Story

Broadway Theatre on Broadway

First Preview 10, Dec 2019

Opening Night 06, Feb 2020

Get Tickets Here

Cast

Yesenia Ayala - Anita/Bernardo's Girl
Shereen Pimentel - Maria/Bernardo's Sister
Isaac Powell - Tony/Riff's Friend
Amar Ramasar - Bernardo/ The Leader, The Sharks
Ben Cook - Riff/ The Leader, The Jets
Kevin Csolak - A-Rab/ A Jet

Creative

Book by Arthur Laurents
Based on a Conception by Jerome Robbins
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Music orchestrated by Jonathan Tunick
Musical Director: Alexander Gemignani
Directed by Ivo van Hove
Choreographed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker
Scenic Design by Jan Versweyveld
Costume Design by An D'Huys
Lighting Design by Jan Versweyveld
Sound Design by Tom Gibbons
Video Design by Luke Halls

The Broadway Theatre

The Broadway Theatre (formerly Universal’s Colony Theatre, B.S. Moss’ Broadway Theatre, Earl Carroll’s Broadway Theatre, and Ciné Roma) is a Broadway theatre located in midtown-Manhattan. It has a large seating capacity of 1,761, and unlike most Broadway theaters, it is literally located on Broadway, at number 1681.Designed by architect Eugene De Rosa for Benjamin S. Moss, it opened as B.S. Moss’s Colony Theatre on Christmas Day 1924 as a venue for vaudeville shows and motion pictures. The theater has operated under many names and owners. It was renamed Universal’s Colony Theatre, B.S. Moss’ Broadway Theatre, and Earl Carroll’s Broadway Theatre before becoming a legitimate theater house simply called Broadway Theatre on December 8, 1930. In 1937, known as Ciné Roma, it showed Italian films. For a short time during the 1950s it showed Cinerama films.

Full 2019 - 2020 Cast

Yesenia Ayala - Anita/Bernardo's Girl
Shereen Pimentel - Maria/Bernardo's Sister
Isaac Powell - Tony/Riff's Friend
Amar Ramasar - Bernardo/ The Leader, The Sharks
Ben Cook - Riff/ The Leader, The Jets
Kevin Csolak - A-Rab/ A Jet
Zuri Noelle Ford - Broadway Debut - Anybodys/A Jet
Jacob Guzman - Chino/ Bernardo's Friend
Matthew Johnson - Broadway Debut/Baby John/A Jet
Dharon E. Jones - Broadway Debut/Action/A Jet
Daniel Oreskes - Doc/One of the Adults
Pippa Pearthree - Glad Hand/One of the Adults
Thomas Jay Ryan - Lt. Schrank/ One of the Adults
Ahmad Simmons Diesel - A Jet
Danny Wolohan - Officer Krupke/One of the Adults
Gabi Campo - Ensemble
Daniel Ching - Broadway Debut - Ensemble
Gino Cosculluela - Broadway Debut - Ensemble
Marc Crousillat - Broadway Debut - Ensemble
Stephanie Crousillat - Broadway Debut - Ensemble
Roman Cruz - Broadway Debut - Ensemble
Alexa De Barr - Broadway Debut - Ensemble
Tyler Eisenreich - Broadway Debut - Ensemble
Armando Eleazar - Broadway Debut - Ensemble
Marlon Feliz - Broadway Debut - Ensemble
Satori Folkes-Stone - Broadway Debut - Ensemble
Constance François - Broadway Debut - Ensemble
Carlos Gonzalez - Ensemble
Jennifer Gruener - Broadway Debut-Ensemble
Jarred Manista - Broadway Debut - Ensemble
Michaela Marfori - Broadway Debut - Ensemble
Michelle Mercedes - Broadway Debut - Ensemble
Michael Seltzer - Broadway Debut - Ensemble
Corey John Snide - Ensemble
Sheldon True - Broadway Debut - Ensemble
Ricky Ubeda - Ensemble
Madison Vomastek - Broadway Debut - Ensemble
Tony Ward - Ensemble
Bridget Whitman - Broadway Debut - Ensemble
Kevin Zambrano - Broadway Debut - Ensemble

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