Place for Us: Fifty Years of West Side Story, A

Synopsis: Radio documentary hosted by Scott Simon, on the show West Side Story. Members of the original creative team and cast discuss the show’s birth, members of the movie cast discuss the show’s translation from stage to screen and critics and artists talk about the impact of the show and its score on popular culture. Interviewees include lyricist Stephen Sondheim, bookwriter Arthur Laurents, original cast members Carol Lawrence and Chita Rivera, producer Harold Prince, movie cast members Rita Moreno and Marni Nixon, New York Times columnist Frank Rich, jazz artist Bill Charlap, among others. Composer Leonard Bernstein, director/choreographer Jerome Robbins and original cast member Larry Kert are heard in archival audio. The documentary also includes classical, jazz and pop interpretations of the score. The programme features selections from foreign productions of West Side Story, a recent high school production at a yeshiva in the Bronx, and a production performed by inmates at Sing-Sing prison.
Language: English
Country: United States
Medium: Radio
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Notes: Audio slideshow from the programme available at www.npr.org (accessed 3/2009).
Subjects: Drama; Music
Keywords: musicals; prisoners; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Director: Jeff Lunden
Producer: Margaret Low Smith
Writer: Jeff Lunden
Contributor: Arthur Laurents; Bill Charlap; Carol Lawrence; Chita Rivera; Frank Rich; Harold Prince; Marni Nixon; Rita Moreno; Simon Scott (2); Stephen Sondheim

British Universities Film & Video Council