‘West Side Story’ opening at Smith Center

In 1957, Americans watched as President Dwight D. Eisenhower took his second oath of office. The Soviet Union launched Sputnik, triggering the space race.

The Supreme Court, in its landmark Brown vs. Board of Education ruling, struck down “separate but equal” schools — and President Eisenhower ordered federal troops to Arkansas to enforce integration at Little Rock’s Central High School.

Television networks beamed such newcomers as “Wagon Train,” “Perry Mason,” “Leave It to Beaver” and “American Bandstand” into living America’s rooms, while everything from “The Bridge on the River Kwai” to “Jailhouse Rock” hit the silver screen.

And on Broadway, two very different musicals — both destined to become classics — made their debuts.

“The Music Man’s” homey charms focused on a footloose con artist transformed by small-town, turn-of-the-century Iowa.

“West Side Story,” by contrast, shifted Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” to the gritty streets of New York, the warring families of Renaissance-era Verona becoming street gangs whose deadly rivalry dooms the starry-eyed romance of all-American Tony and Maria, a recent arrival from Puerto Rico.

At the 1957-’58 Tony Awards, “Music Man” bested “West Side Story,” capturing five top honors, including outstanding musical and best score. “West Side Story” won for its sets — and Jerome Robbins’ choreography.

But in the more than half-century since, “West Side Story” has emerged as the true theatrical landmark.

A breakthrough fusion of dynamic dance, a lush yet propulsive score and topical drama, it united the singular talents of Robbins, playwright Arthur Laurents, composer Leonard Bernstein and a young lyricist making his Broadway debut: future legend Stephen Sondheim.

For proof of “West Side Story’s” drawing — and staying — power, look no further than the fact that the show’s eight-performance Smith Center run, which begins Tuesday, has been sold out for weeks.

(A few on-hold seats may be released on a day-to-day basis, according to Suzanne Chabre , The Smith Center’s marketing vice president; to check ticket availability, call the box office at 749-2000.)

“West Side Story’s” sold-out status qualifies as “a new paradigm,” says Smith Center President Myron Martin — especially in a town where the usual rule is “if you wait long enough, you can get two-for-one tickets.”

And though it’s been 56 years since its stage debut (and 52 since the 1961 movie adaptation, which racked up 10 Academy Awards, including one for best picture), this “West Side Story” carries a link to the ground-breaking stage original.

That’s because it’s inspired by the 2009 revival — directed by none other than Laurents .

Then 91, Laurents injected new realism into the show by adding some Spanish dialogue for the Puerto Rican characters. (Laurents, who also wrote another musical classic, “Gypsy,” and hit movies including “The Way We Were,” died last year at 93.)

Reinforcing the Laurents link, David Saint — director of this “West Side Story” tour — was a Laurents student and friend who was assistant director on the 2009 revival.

As such, “it felt like we had a hotline to Arthur Laurents” during rehearsal, says MaryJoanna Grisso , the tour’s Maria, in a telephone interview from shivery Madison, Wis.

“We’ve been so fortunate to get such incredible history and bits of information” from the original production, she says, noting that Saint had letters from the show’s creators to provide background and insight.

“It was incredible to hear it,” Grisso says. “It feels like we’re very much involved” in the history of “a project that’s still so very much alive.”

Similarly, choreographer Joey McKneely is “one of the sole people ordained by Jerome Robbins’ estate” to re-create Robbins’ dynamic dances, points out Addison Reid Coe , who plays Tony.

In addition to the original influences, this “West Side Story” also retains a key element of the 2009 revival: some Spanish dialogue for the Puerto Rican characters.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, writer of the Tony-winning musical “In the Heights,” translated some of Sondheim’s lyrics (with Sondheim’s blessing) for the revival.

For example, half of Maria’s buoyant “I Feel Pretty” becomes “Siento Hermosa,” which “adds a lot of flavor, a lot of authenticity,” in Grisso’s view.

Although audiences see the rival Jets and the Sharks gangs, complete with colors (orange and purple, respectively), in the show’s original 1950s setting, “West Side Story’s” essential conflict could be between any two groups, Coe says.

“In the story, it’s about Puerto Ricans and Americans,” he says, but it could be about Sunnis and Shiites,” two Muslim sects, “or blacks and whites.”

That universality amplifies “West Side Story’s” timeless qualities, Grisso says.

“It’s still very relevant, with the political subjects and the personal subjects,” she says. “The message can come through at any time.”

And though “there will always be two groups of people who disagree to the point of violence,” Coe says, “love and understanding transcends” such hatred and pain.

“It’s a universal story that will never end,” he concludes.

And neither, it seems, will “West Side Story’s” hold on audiences.

After all, “it’s an American classic,” Coe says. “It’s our own creation.”

Contact reporter Carol Cling at ccling@
reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272.