STORY AND LINKS: "West Side Story" to screen at Hollywood Bowl July 8 and 9 accompanied by Los Angeles Philharmonic

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News

Jerome Robbins brilliant choreography was an integral part of the 1961 movie version of "West Side Story," which will be screened July 8 and 9 at Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic playing Leonard Bernstein's iconic score.
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When the Los Angeles Philharmonic announced that it would screen the 1961 movie version of West Side Story next weekend (July 8 and 9) at Hollywood Bowl with the LAPO playing Leonard Bernstein’s iconic score live while the entire motion picture — including the vocals — is projected on a giant screen above the Bowl stage, the most obvious question was “How could they do that?”

Screening movies with live orchestras playing the sound track has been done many times and the synchronization of those two elements is a challenge. For example, on August 18 and 19, John Mauceri will return to the Cahuenga Pass amphitheatre to conduct the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra playing the score for the Walt Disney’s 1940 classic Fantasia during a screening of the movie (LINK). The program also marks the 20th anniversary of the HBO (Mauceri was the founding director).

However, stripping out the orchestral music and leaving the existing vocals, as is being done with West Side Story, is an entirely different animal. Barbara Isenberg reports on how it’s being done for WSS in yesterday’s Los Angeles Times HERE.

As Isenberg reports, the Bowl concerts mark the first time that the entire WSS film score will have been played live since the movie was made, although the movie music has been released several times in recorded form and there are a couple of symphonic suites of the music. Several recordings of the stage version have also been made. Moreover, in 1984, Bernstein himself recorded the original score in an operatic-style recording that included Kiri Te Kanawa as Maria and and José Carreras as Tony. However, the movie contains somewhat a somewhat different arrangement of Bernstein’s music than the stage play.

With a script by Arthur Laurents, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, choreography by Jerome Robbins and, most importantly, Bernstein’s score, West Side Story became one of the 20th century’s landmark musicals when it opened on Broadway in 1957. As most everyone knows, the musical is a retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, with the setting placed in New York City during the 1950s. The movie won 10 Academy Awards (the most by any musical), including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (George Chakiris), Best Supporting Actress (Rita Moreno) and Best Director (Robbins and Robert Wise).

The film and live performance package is already booked at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall for Sept. 7 and 8 with composer David Newman (who is leading the Bowl performances) conducting the New York Philharmonic. Newman will also conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at its Symphony Center from Nov. 25 to 27. The project's European premiere will be at Royal Albert Hall in London with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra in June 2012.

For information on the Bowl West Side Story concerts, click HERE.
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(c) Copyright 2011, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.