Overture Magazine - 2018-19 Season FINAL_BSO_Overture_May_June | Page 29
MOVIE WITH ORCHESTRA:
WEST SIDE STORY
About the Artists
JOSEPH MEYERHOFF SYMPHONY HALL
Thursday, June 13, 2019, 8 pm
Friday, June 14, 2019, 8 pm
Sunday, June 16, 2019, 3 pm
Marin Alsop
For Marin Alsop’s bio, please see pg. 7.
About the Concert
MUSIC CENTER AT STRATHMORE
Saturday, June 15, 2019, 8 pm
WEST SIDE STORY (FILM VERSION: 1961)
Composed by
Leonard Bernstein
Marin Alsop, conductor
Born in Lawrence, MA, August 25, 1918;
died in New York City, NY, October 14, 1990
WEST SIDE STORY® ASSOCIATES SM
PRESENTS
In 1989, the year before he died, Leonard
Bernstein complained to a musician in the
Israel Philharmonic: “I don’t feel happy
that people will remember me because
of West Side Story, even though I love the
piece. I would rather people remembered
me for my serious compositions.”
These are strange words from a
composer who earlier in his career had
proselytized for the breaking down
of artificial barriers between popular
music and “serious” art music. In West
Side Story, he had triumphantly proven
that the two can be fused together
successfully. Many a composer of
symphonies and concertos would give his
eyeteeth to be remembered as the creator
of West Side Story!
And with his extraordinary creative
team of Jerome Robbins (director and
choreographer), Arthur Laurents (book)
and the young Stephen Sondheim (lyrics),
Bernstein had defied the rules for a
Broadway musical by tackling a grim
story with a tragic ending set in the mean
streets of 20th-century New York City.
Years later, Robbins defined what they
had set out to achieve: “The aim in the
mid-50s was to see if all of us— Lenny
who wrote ‘long-hair’ music, Arthur who
wrote serious plays, myself who did serious
ballets, Oliver Smith [the set designer]
who was a serious painter—could bring
our acts together and do a work on the
popular stage.” Their joint creation forever
transformed what a Broadway musical
could aspire to be, while still being an
immense popular success.
West Side Story opened at the Winter
Garden Theater on September 26,
1957, but its genesis went back more
WEST SIDE STORY
MIRISCH PICTURES Presents
“WEST SIDE STORY”
A ROBERT WISE Production
Starring NATALIE WOOD
RICHARD BEYMER RUSS TAMBLYN
RITA MORENO
GEORGE CHAKIRIS
Directed by ROBERT WISE & JEROME ROBBINS
Screenplay by ERNEST LEHMAN
Associate Producer SAUL CHAPLIN
Choreography by JEROME ROBBINS
Music by LEONARD BERNSTEIN
Lyrics by STEPHEN SONDHEIM
Based upon the Stage Play Produced by ROBERT E. GRIFFITH
and HAROLD S. PRINCE
Book by ARTHUR LAURENTS
Play Conceived, Directed and Choreographed by JEROME ROBBINS
Film Production Designed by BORIS LEVEN
Music Conducted by JOHNNY GREEN
Presented by MIRISCH PICTURES, INC.
In Association with SEVEN ARTS PRODUCTIONS INC.
Filmed in PANAVISION® TECHNICOLOR®
Film screening of West Side Story courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.
WEST SIDE STORY © 1961 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Tonight's program is a presentation of the complete film West Side Story with live performance of the film’s entire
score. The program runs 2 hours and 34 minutes, plus an intermission. It also includes the underscoring played by
the orchestra during the Saul Bass-designed End Credits. We ask that, out of respect for the music, for the musicians
playing it and for your fellow audience members, you remain in your seats until the End Credits are completed.
The intermission will last 20 minutes. The concert will end at approximately
11 pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 6 pm on Sunday.
PRESENTING SPONSOR:
M AY– J U N 201 9 / OV E R T U R E
27