West Side Story

Locations
Call Number: DVD Musical West
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Malletts Creek Branch, Pittsfield Branch, Traverwood Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 1st Floor 1-week checkout	DVD Musical West	1-week checkout	On Shelf
Malletts Adult A/V 1-week checkout	DVD Musical West	1-week checkout	On Shelf
Pittsfield Adult A/V 1-week checkout	DVD Musical West	1-week checkout	On Shelf
Traverwood Adult A/V 1-week checkout	DVD Musical West	1-week checkout	On Shelf

Information from pre-release promotional materials; release date: April 1, 2003.
Originally produced as a motion picture in 1961.
Based on the stage play produced by Robert E. Griffith and Harold S. Prince and the book by Arthur Laurents; play conceived, directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins.
Special features: Disc 1: feature film; original film intermission music (option to play with or without intermission) -- Disc 2: "West side memories" retrospective documentary containing Natalie Wood's original vocal recordings and new interviews with cast and crew including Robert Wise and Stephen Sondheim; original film intermission music; storyboard-to-film comparison; original release trailers and behind-the-scenes photos -- Collectible scrapbook includes Ernest Lehman introduction; film script; original looby brochure reproduction; behind-the-scenes memos.
Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, George Chikiris.
This musical sets the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet against a backdrop of the rivalry of two street gangs, the Sharks and the Jets, in New York of the 1950s. A young woman who is sister to the Sharks leader has her first taste of love with the former head of the Jets.
DVD ; Widescreen ; Dolby digital 5.1 surround, Region 1 encoding.

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Favorite Musical submitted by lovetoread23 on July 15, 2011, 5:33pm My favorite musical of all time. The story is so moving and the music and dancing is incredible. If you love Broadway you HAVE to watch this!

west side story submitted by hcf on July 30, 2014, 8:40pm such a great musical

Puerto Rican, only a bit submitted by willow on August 31, 2015, 1:27pm West Side Story is seen as an urban Romeo and Juliet, with the rival "families" being the Puerto Rican Sharks and the white Jets. Russian-American actor Natalie Wood plays the Puerto Rican Maria, but Puerto Rican Rita Moreno won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Anita.

[Edit Jan 2017: As Rita Moreno discusses with Maria Hinojosa in episode 44 of "In the Thick" everyone, including her, was heavily made up to be quite dark. See http://www.inthethick.org/episodes/ .]

Also the songs were recorded by Marni Nixon (singing film role of Natalie Wood), Jim Bryant (role of Richard Beymer), Russ Tamblyn (in parts by Tucker Smith), and Betty Wand (role of Rita Moreno).

awesome movie submitted by maforbes on July 8, 2016, 6:01pm it is such a cool movie and is so moving...LITERALLY and the dancing is so professional with rival gangs trying to claim land. if you love cool movies, watch this!!!!!!!!

Cool submitted by leenajong on August 31, 2017, 7:49pm Can't believe it's 1960's movie!

Great Music submitted by allie0 on July 9, 2018, 7:42am This is one of the best musicals out there. Bernstein's music is remarkable.

Revolutionary musical submitted by FordAlpha on August 25, 2019, 9:30pm Though the film version is dated in some ways, it brilliantly showcases Bernstein's revolutionary, masterpiece musical. The choreography is amazing. There's some cool bonus material in this 2-disc set.

West Side Story dvd submitted by a2sue on August 26, 2019, 3:38am The West Side Story dvd is a tremendously enjoyable musical that stands the test of time.

Classic submitted by crp on August 29, 2019, 11:22pm Classic and good songs

Staging was always sharp submitted by ccrose on August 31, 2019, 3:41pm Watched with freshmen writing students. Some had never seen a musical. So there’s that. But it took about two minutes for a student to point out how seating was divided by race. And we were off and running. West Side Story struggled to get written and really came together on the heels of Brown vs Board of Education. Then with that piece, students could understand better what a struggle of our nation it was.

Fantastic musical submitted by rebecca.perreault on June 29, 2020, 11:14am This film has received countless accolades for good reason. The Romeo and Juliet story is timeless, and the modern spin on the tale reigns true still. Watching this film over I couldn't believe it was from the 60s - the racism and resistance to authority of the Sharks and Jets is similar to our current street politics. Beautiful costuming and dancing.

Preferred Edition submitted by kimberlina on June 17, 2022, 12:00pm After watching the updated version (2021) of this Musical, I prefer this edition. I like the feel, setting and characters. It all feels more authentic somehow. Worth watching

Good songs submitted by Abbie D. on July 25, 2022, 4:28pm I really didn't care for this movie. It's just romeo and juliet (which I've always felt was overrated) with gangs. The music is good though, so maybe just get the soundtrack

Classic film submitted by neit on August 27, 2023, 1:45pm The music, acting, choreography are all very good. It truly is a timeless film. Very entertaining!