West Side Story, one of the best-loved musicals of all time, will celebrate its 50th anniversary next month with the beautifully re-mastered release of ‘West Side Story Original Movie Soundtrack – 50th Anniversary Edition’ on 25 June 2012.
Released through Sony Music, the album of the iconic musical, written by Leonard Bernstein with accompanying lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, will bring a new lease of life to classic tracks such as Maria, America, I Feel Pretty and Somewhere.
Released in 1961, the film’s Original Soundtrack won numerous prestigious awards including a Grammy for ‘Best Sound Tracks Album – Original Cast’. The album reached no.1 in both the UK Album Chart and Billboard Album Chart where it spent 54 weeks at no. 1.
‘West Side Story’ is the film adaptation of the classic 1957 Broadway musical. Set in New York City in the late 1950s the film is based on Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet and tells the story of two youngsters from rival NYC gangs who fall in love. The original film, directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, starred Hollywood superstar Natalie Wood in the role of ‘Maria’, Richard Beymer as ‘Tony’, Russ Tamblyn as ‘Riff’, leader of the Jets, George Shakiris as ‘Bernardo’, leader of the Sharks and Rita Moreno as ‘Anita’. The film went on to win ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
The 50th anniversary release coincides with a series of special presentations of the film at the Royal Albert Hall on 22, 23 and 24June 2012. These high definition screenings of the original film will feature Leonard Bernstein's electrifying score played live throughout the movie by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra
Published on 22 May 2012 by Wayne Feltham
