West Side Story: A Retrospective

In anticipation of the Steven Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story, this lecture will discuss the creation, history and legacy of the original Broadway play, covering the inception and development of the original score and script. When we think of West Side Story, we think of Leonard Bernstein. However, the play was a collaborative effort of 5 brilliant men: Arthur Laurents, Jerome Robbins, Hal Prince, Stephen Sondheim, and Leonard Bernstein. We will look at what influenced Bernstein, and the compositional techniques that he employed to make the music so powerful, effective, beautiful and timeless.