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"West Side Story"
opened on September 26, 1957 at the venerable Winter Garden Theatre
on Broadway and ran for 732 performances. The show starred Larry
Kert as Tony, Carol Lawrence as Maria and Chita Rivera as Anita. The
production was directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins. Arthur
Laurents wrote the book, and the score was written by Leonard
Bernstein (music) and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics). Irene Sharaff did
the costumes.
For those unfamiliar with "West Side Story," the show is a
contemporary take-off on Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" about
rivaling street gangs on New York's Upper West Side (the Jets and
the Sharks) and two star crossed lovers, Tony and Maria. The show
was nominated for a Tony (but lost out to "The Music Man"). However,
it did go on to win an astonishing ten Academy Awards, including
Best Picture, when the film version came out in 1961.
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The
Barbra Connection |
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 In
1955, West Side Story opened at the Winter Garden Theatre
in New York. Nine years later, Barbra Streisand would find herself
at home there, eight times a week, performing in her own landmark
musical, Funny Girl.
The score from West Side Story has been a favorite of
countless singers throughout the years, and Barbra herself has
performed several of the numbers from the show. Her immensely
successful 1985 record, "The Broadway Album" contains two
memorable renditions from "West Side Story." "Something's Coming"
appears on the album along side "Somewhere." Barbra's performance
of "Somewhere" revived the popularity of what is arguably the
show's most famous ballad and became something of a Streisand
signature song during the 80s. Today, "Somewhere" remains one of
Barbra's most popular songs and is included in nearly every one of
her live performances. In July of 1994, her performance of
"Somewhere" at Madison Square Garden was simulcast live on the
Sony Jumbotron in Times Square. New York viewers at home had the
chance to see the live simulcast on local television stations.
On her follow-up recording of "Back To Broadway," Barbra performed
a duet from "West Side Story" with Johnny Mathis, "I Have A Love /
One Hand, One Heart." Barbra's only live performance of this duet
occurred at the 1992 APLA benefit. The evening's theme was "West
Side Story" and the show's highlight was a live Streisand-Mathis
performance of the duet. At the benefit, Barbra closed the show
with "Somewhere." |
Stephen Sondheim
 Sondheim's
connection with Streisand goes way beyond the songs she recorded from
"West Side Story." One of the most successful musical collaborations
of all time took firm root during recording sessions for "The Broadway
Album." On that recording, Barbra performed several Sondheim classics
in addition to the "West Side Story" tracks : "Putting It
Together" (from Sunday in the Park with George), "Not While I'm
Around" (from Sweeney Todd), "Being Alive" (from Company),
"Send In The Clowns" (from A Little Night Music) and the
medley, "Pretty Women" (from Sweeney Todd) & "The Ladies Who
Lunch" (from Company). An HBO television special was even
created from the recording sessions. Barbra and Stephen Sondheim are
seen collaborating in "Putting It Together: The Making of The Broadway
Album." At a New York Times sponsored seminar we attended a few years
ago, Sondheim acknowledged Barbra as the singular artist responsible
for turning his obscure "Putting It Together" into a popular hit.
For her sequel recording "Back to Broadway," Barbra once again dipped
into Sondheim's musical pool to deliver two additional memorable
performances: "Children Will Listen" (from Into The Woods) and
"Move On" (from Sunday in the Park with George).
Sondheim's influence on Barbra's song choices continues to flourish.
In 1994, she performed rousing renditions of "I'm Still Here" (from
Follies) and "Everybody Says Don't" (from "Anyone Can Whistle")
and wove both into the autobiographical fabric of her show, Barbra,
The Concert. Her album "Christmas Memories" contains the song, "I
Remember Sky" from the lesser known Sondheim musical, Evening
Primrose. On "Just For The Record" you can also hear Barbra
perform Sondheim's "There Won't Be Trumpets" (from Anyone Can
Whistle) in tandem with Kander & Ebb's "A Quiet Thing."
In 1992, it was Stephen Sondheim who was selected to make a very
special presentation of the Grammy Legend award to Barbra during the
live network telecast. In 2005, Barbra reciprocated by making a
non-singing appearance at the Hollywood Bowl birthday bash for
Sondheim.
Arthur Laurents
Arthur Laurents wrote the book for "West Side Story." Beyond that, his
connection to Barbra Streisand is well documented and he has figured
in some of Barbra's most successful career choices.. Laurents directed
Barbra on Broadway in "I Can Get It For You Wholesale." For the
screen, Arthur Laurents wrote the book for one of the most successful
Streisand films of all time, "The Way We Were."
Leonard Bernstein
 Leonard
Bernstein not only wrote the music for "Somewhere" and "Something's
Coming," but also "Song Cycle for Soprano", performed by Barbra as the
title song of her television special, "My Name Is Barbra." Another of
Bernstein's most dynamic compositions was recorded by
Barbra. It's "Make Our Garden Grow" (from
Candide) and contains
perhaps the longest note Barbra
has ever held. She recorded it for "Back to Broadway" but chose to
exclude it from the album's selections. It's one of her most brilliant
vocal performances, and will hopefully be made commercially available
someday.
Leonard Bernstein was on hand for
Barbra's one and only performance at Carnegie Hall. The date was June
26, 1968 and the occasion was a political benefit for presidential
hopeful Eugene McCarthy. The evening would go down in musical history
as Barbra Streisand performed Bernstein's "So Pretty" with the maestro
himself accompanying her on the piano!
Irene Sharaff
Not a musical connection per se,
but worth mentioning is the fact that Irene Sharaff did the costumes
for the original production of "West Side Story." Sharaff was also on
hand years later to outfit Barbra for her first two films, "Funny
Girl" and "Hello, Dolly!" Sharaff also created the costumes Barbra
wore during the Broadway run of "Funny Girl" along with her outfits
for Barbra's legendary concert in Central Park.
More Information About "West Side Story"
Official West Side Story web site
Official Leonard Bernstein Website
The Sondheim Review
YouTube - An Interview with Stephen Sondheim
YouTube - Leonard Bernstein conducts Candide
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