“An amazing motion picture that should be saverd to watch over and over again” Just simply amazing from start to finish. One of the greatest musicales to ever be relesed is finally on a great dvd full of great special features and a great booklet. Let me start with the special features there is a 90 minute documentry which is great, the dvd also comes with a great book fyll of triva and the whole movie script. The movie it self is a great achievement in movie making and we have never seen nothing like ti sicne. The story is sad and hauntning, the music is great like America, Tonight, A boy like that, I fell preaty and many others. Overal a great film and one of the best films ever.

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Product Description

This brilliant (The New Republic) film sets the ageless story of Romeo and Juliet against a backdrop of gang warfare in 1950s New York. Directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins and scripted by Ernest Lehman, the film combines Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s unforgettable score ( Maria, America, ’somewhere, ‘tonight ) with Robbins own exuberant choreography to achieve an exhilarating work of art (Saturday Review). A love affair is fated for tragedy amidst the vicious rivalry of two street gangsthe Jets and the Sharks. When Jets member Tony (RichardBeymer) falls for Maria (Natalie Wood), the sister of the Sharks leader, it’s more than these two warring gangs can handle. And as mounting tensions rise, a battle to the death ensues, and innocent blood is shed in a heartbreaking finale.

The winner of 10 Academy Awards, this 1961 musical by choreographer Jerome Robbins and director Robert Wise (The Sound of Music) remains irresistible. Based on a smash Broadway play updating Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to the 1950s era of juvenile delinquency, the film stars Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer as the star-crossed lovers from different neighborhoods–and ethnicities. The film’s real selling points, however, are the highly charged and inventive song-and-dance numbers, the passionate ballads, the moody sets, colorful support from Rita Moreno, and the sheer accomplishment of Hollywood talent and technology producing a film so stirring. Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim wrote the score. –Tom Keogh


Natalie Wood shines!
West Side Story is beloved musical but I could never get in to this classic. The Romeo & Juliet angle doesn’t work in a musical style setting, it comes off corny and superficial. Natalie Wood is the bright point in this film, even though she didn’t actually sing the songs, her performance is riveting, she was a special actress back then. Rita Moreno over acts, what’s so great about her? West Side Story is good but not spectacular, decide for yourself on this one….more info

Awesome
Great Music! West Side Story should be a classic in every musical home collection

Other classics not to forget about are:

Mary Poppins

My Fair Lady

The Wizard of Oz

Chitty Chitty Bang Band

The first Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

The Sound of Music

Oliver

West Side Story

Fiddler on the Roof

Singing in the Rain

The Wiz

Little Mermaid

Aladdin

Beauty and the Beast

Grease

The King and I

Oklahoma

The Music Man

South Pacific

My Voice Students are always asking me for recommendations so I though I’d post it for all! We can’t forget about these great musicals!…more info

I was never a fan of this movie…
due to some facts: The fullscreen version in the 80s ruined its composition, the regrettably red filter they use when Tony meets Maria, the dialogue is “50s” and that it would have been GREAT to remake it in a manner more sinister, more dark manner…

Some dance-sequences survive(America), as do the four young stars….

But it they do remake it; be sure to get SINGIN` talents as well in the leads… Dubbing is a low form indeed……..more info

Always remain a treasure.
I first saw this movie at age of 12 and it is just as powerful now as it was nearly 19 years ago. Bernstein’s and Sondheim’s score is brilliant, Robbins’ choreography is superb, and Rita Moreno’s performance in a supporting role is still etched in my mind. The mambo number is an explosion of color and movement, and I still find myself humming “I feel pretty.” Natalie Wood shines as Maria, even though we were spared her natural singing voice.

The quality of the music and lyrics blends beautifully with the action, and the choreographed dances are breathtaking. The actors fit their parts to such perfection that I could not imagine anyone else than Natalie Wood playing Maria, or George Chakiris as Bernardo, and on and on for the rest of the Jets and Sharks. West Side Story impresses me as the most exciting dramatic musical of all time. It is hard to find a boring moment in this movie. When I think about this movie, the ballet numbers, choreography, and excitement stand out the most in my mind. For a fast moving drama this is a classic against which to compare other musical drama. Who would have thought that a mere conflict between two gangs could have been portrayed into such a dynamic movie. The producers certainly succeeded in bringing up to date the Romeo and Juliet saga. The romance and tragedy of Tony and Maria will always be indelibly impressed in my mind. Any movie that moves me in the way that West Side Story deserves to go on my all-time faves. …more info