West Side Story, 50's Musical Ahora En Espanol!

In 1957, a show called West Side Story opened on Broadway. The story was sort of a reinvention of "Romeo and Juliet" between two lovers from opposing gangs - the Sharks and the Jets. With the book written by Arthur Laurents, music composed by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics written by Stephen Sondheim, this musical became an instant hit. It gained a wider audience when it went onto the big screen in 1961 and won 10 Academy Awards, including "Best Picture." On March 19, the story took to the stage again in its newest Broadway revival…with a twist. Laurents, the original playwright, is well known for both writing "Gypsy" and directing the highly acclaimed current revival. His repertoire also includes the script for the film The Way We Were. At the ripe age of 91, Laurents took up the challenge of transforming West Side Story as its director. According to aarp.org, after seeing a Spanish production in Bogota, Colombia, Tom Hatcher, Laurents' partner for 52 years, suggested that "the Sharks speak Spanish where they would." Laurents realized that the audience would understand the characters better if his revival included scenes and songs in the language. Incorporating Spanish into the play was a risk, but Laurents told aarp.org, "I'm going for emotional reality." Laurents asked Lin-Manuel Miranda to translate certain scenes and songs like "I Feel Pretty" into Spanish. Miranda was the creator of the Tony-award-winning musical In the Heights, the first musical about life in Washington Heights. According to The New York Daily News, Sondheim, the original lyricist, known for his scores for Godspell and Sweeny Todd, gave Miranda the freedom to "use whatever imagery that would work in Spanish, but the lyrics had to rhyme for the English listener." According to online.wsj.com, for the role of Maria, Laurents and the producers wanted "a Latina, a strong soprano and a skilled musical theater actress who didn't look too old for the part." Laurents heard from friends in Argentina about a young actress named Josefina Scaglione. After seeing a YouTube video of her singing, Laurents saw an "incredible, ineffable something" and flew her to New York for an audition. Realizing that the 21-year-old was trained as an opera singer, ballet dancer and actress, Laurents gave Scaglione the part. The character of Anita is played by Karen Olivo. Olivo had been successful playing Vanessa in In the Heights, but instead of staying in the Tony award-winning show, she took the risk of taking a supporting role in a new play. In an interview for The Daily News, Olivo said, "[The decision] was more about the role itself. It's an amazing and iconic part. And it had more to do with the actual [show], which I have known and loved since I saw the movie when I was five or six. It was the sort of thing I would want to do regardless of where I was in my career." In the Heights brought the audience into Washington Heights and opened up the world of Broadway for Latin Americans. Although West Side Story is a revival of an old play, it is being retold in a new way and a new language. By incorporating Spanish into the fabric of the story Laurents, along with Miranda, is taking the audience further into this rich culture and giving a more accurate portrayal of the Puerto Rican Sharks. "The musical theater and cultural conventions of 1957 made it next to impossible for the characters to have authenticity. Every member of both gangs was always a potential killer even then. Now they actually will be. Only Tony and Maria try to live in a different world…" Laurents said in an interview for Playbill.com. Think you can't afford tickets to this Broadway show? If you're feeling lucky, you can try to get lottery rush tickets for $26.50 at The Palace Theater box office. There is a limited amount of front-row seats available and you can enter for the lottery tickets as early as two and a half hours before the show. See playbill.com for more details.