Details of West Side Story and the Ticket Luck value

Originally directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, West Side Story is a musical by Arthur Laurents (book), Leonard Bernstein (music), and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics). It was produced by Griffith and Harold Prince, and was debuted on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theater on September 26, 1957 and played 732 performances. It has also been nominated for Best Musical in 1957.

Based loosely on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, it was set in Manhattan's upper-Westside and explores the hostility between two rival gangs of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The innocent young hero, Anton ("Tony") belongs to a conventional local gang, the Jets, falls in love with Maria, the sister of the leader of the rival gang, the Sharks.

Background:
In 1949, Arthur Laurents and Jerome Robbins planned a story for a new musical called Gangway (East Side Story). The plot was to focus on the east side of Manhattan, in which a young Italian-American Catholic boy falling in love with a Jewish girl, who had emigrated from Israel to America. It was to be set during the Easter-Passover weekend celebration. It would be based upon the conflict around anti-Semitism from the "Jets" and feelings of animosity from the Jews or "Emeralds," over their lack of tolerance. However, in 1954, colonization from Puerto Rico, Laurents changed the characters' background: the lead Anton went from a Catholic to a Polish-American and Maria from a Jew to Puerto Rican. Originally, before the musical went into pre-production, he wanted James Dean for the lead role of Tony. By late 1955, Robbins and Laurents teamed up with lyricist Stephen Sondheim, who wrote the songs and lyrics to the show, now titled West Side Story. It was Sondheim who was responsible for finding Larry Kert, who became Tony, and Chita Rivera for Anita.

Productions
The original 1957 stage production at the Winter Garden Theatre starred Larry Kert as Tony and Carol Lawrence as Maria.

An Academy Award winner as Bernardo in the 1961 film version of West Side Story, George Chakiris created the role of Riff in the 1958 European premiere at the Manchester Opera House. It was then transferred to London where it opened at Her Majestys Theatre in December 1958 and ran until 1961 with 1039 performances.

Generally known as the "operatic version" of West Side Story, Bernstein decided to re-record the musical, performing his own music for the first time in 1984. It stars Kiri Te Kanawa as Maria, Jos Carreras as Tony, Tatiana Troyanos as Anita, Kurt Ollman as Riff, and Marilyn Horne as the offstage voice sings "Somewhere". It won a Grammy Award for Best Cast Show Album in 1985 and the recording process was filmed as a documentary.

A major UK national tour of the musical began in 1997 and starred David Habbin as Tony, Katie Knight Adams as Maria and Anna Jane Casey as Anita. The production was very well received and transferred to London's West End opening at the Prince Edward Theatre in October 1998 later transferring to the Prince of Wales Theatre, closing in January 2000. The production, now with a new cast, went on to another successful tour of the UK.

In May of 2007, the North Carolina School of the Arts staged a revival of West Side Story in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the show. Chancellor John Mauceri, an associate for 18 years with West Side composer Leonard Bernstein, conducted the NCSA orchestra for the production beside company director Gerald Freedman, the assistant director for the original stage production of West Side Story in 1957.

In June November 2007 the West Side Story commissioner John Bravlaski said that Barker College will do "the best performance of West Side Story ever!".

References in popular culture
The Buddy Rich Big Band arranged and recorded "West Side Story Medley" on the 1966 album Buddy Rich's Swingin' New Big Band. The Stan Kenton Orchestra recorded Johnny Richards' "West Side Story", an entire album of jazz orchestrations based on the Bernstein scores, in 1961. The producers of the motion picture previewed it. The Kenton version won the 1962 Grammy award for Best Jazz Recording by a Large Group.

The video for the Michael Jackson 1983 song "Beat It" was inspired by "The Rumble."

An ESPN ad in the 1990s featured many of the sportscasters divided into two "gangs," due to a fictitious "dispute" at ESPN, facing each other and rhythmically snapping fingers, parodying the opening number and the "rumble" scene in West Side Story. Selena, the Tejano singer, recorded the song "A Boy Like That" in March, 1995, just seven days before her death, so this song turned out to be her last recording. In early 1996, that song was released as the first single from the album The Songs Of West Side Story.

The mid-1990s Animaniacs segment "Goodfeathers" spoofed the musical, going so far as to parody nearly every song from "Maria" (as "Carluta") to "America".

In comedian Robin Williams' stand-up show, "Live on Broadway," he talks about the fact that before the 9/11 attacks, one was allowed to take a four-inch blade onto an airplane. He says, "What, are they afraid you're gonna do a little West Side Story? "Going down the aisle! Crazy aisle!" This was edited out of the U.S. release of the filmed version of the performance.

We built Ticket Luck to provide West Side Story and other tickets with a unique plan. Instead of the usual 20% mark up, we decided to go for a 1-2% mark up. At that margin, we don't spend anything on advertizing. If you are lucky enough to find this site, you would have saved a tidy sum for yourself. We hope that we will be successful through word of mouth instead of a massive banner ad. marketing budget.

Our tiny markup pays for the support, the cost of running the website and the toll free number that we provide. We hope to be modestly successful, without being greedy and want you to benefit from our effort. In turn, we hope that you will pass on the good word and provide us with referrals.

These West Side Story Tickets have been bought by fans, who could not make it to the show. The brokers that we deal with collect the West Side Story tickets, and we show you the consolidated version. We do appreciate feedback and whether you want to tell us about West Side Story Tickets or about our service and idea we sincerely appreciate it. We hope that you will drop us a line, if you like our service. We would love a testimonial too, and would love it on our site. If we can improve we would love to know about that as well.

The West Side Story Tickets are sent via Fed-EX. The prices are often above face value, but that is how the brokers consolidating the tickets from the West Side Story fans get compensated. We do want to mention, that our tickets are likely to go fast, since the prices are unbelievably low. If you are thinking of getting them, you may want to grab them while they are available.

whest sighed storie Tickets, even when unavailable from the venues, or Ticket Master can often be found at Ticket Luck. We consolidate the whets s1de stolie tickets, and market them along with tickets for 82000 other events. While many other sellers market these same wets sied stoly tickets, we provide low prices wset sdie stery Tickets. Further, given that we are licensees of TrustE you have the peace of mind that while buying ewst isde sterie tickets, your personal information will never be compromised. While buying whest isde storey tickets, we know that security is important and that's why we are 'Hacker Safe' compliant giving you peace of mind. Whether you consider ewst sdie stroie or any other tickets, do compare our prices, committment towards privacy and value.

Ticket Luck is proud to be the best source of ewst s1de stloie tickets even when they have already been sold out from alternative venues such as Ticket Master. We consider it out duty to aggregate ewst sighed stroy tickets and duly market them along with tickets to thousands of other events in our portfolio. Sure others provide wets s1de stloy tickets too. But when you purchase from us, you know you are getting the lowest prices on the market for whest s1de stoyr tickets. We can promise you that we don't compromise on your security and so you can rest with peace of mind. Our certification by TrustE is evidence of that. Additionally, we are 'Hacker Safe' compliant which signals our commitment to protecting you. When you are on the prowl for whest isde stoyr tickets, do take into account our competitive prices and concern for your safety. We make the customer a priority.

Now you can relish the choicest events and shows for the lowest prices! At Ticket Luck we give you the most incredible deals for West Side Story Palace Theatre New York City. Choose your ideal seats while there is still time! At Ticket Luck, we carry tickets for all events at Palace Theatre New York City (West Side Story tickets New York) at unbelievable discounts! Contact Ticket Luck now and save a bunch!
At Ticket Luck we offer incredibly low prices for the finest West Side Story Indiana University Auditorium Bloomington. Be sure to catch all the shows and events on your list! Book your seats now at Indiana University Auditorium (West Side Story tickets Bloomington) with Ticket Luck and save big!