0:00:02 > 0:00:05WHISTLING
0:00:05 > 0:00:0760 years ago,
0:00:07 > 0:00:12a show that would change musical theatre forever opened on Broadway.
0:00:15 > 0:00:20Set in 1950s New York, at a time of huge ethnic tension,
0:00:20 > 0:00:24West Side Story took a timeless tale
0:00:24 > 0:00:27to make a profound plea for tolerance.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30It became a massive success on stage and screen.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36And yet, it nearly didn't get made.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39Turned down by every producer in town,
0:00:39 > 0:00:41the show was an uphill battle
0:00:41 > 0:00:45for the four brilliant and ambitious young men who created it.
0:00:51 > 0:00:55But West Side Story touched a nerve,
0:00:55 > 0:00:57broke new boundaries,
0:00:57 > 0:01:00and became a movie that was a global hit.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03Now, for the first time, we will hear the story
0:01:03 > 0:01:07of how it was created from the people who were actually there.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12With young dancers in New York, we'll explore the brilliance
0:01:12 > 0:01:14of West Side Story's choreography.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17And, with our singers and orchestra,
0:01:17 > 0:01:21Bruno and I will discover the genius of this extraordinary score.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26This is the story of how a show that might never have happened
0:01:26 > 0:01:30became the best loved musical of all time.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39- Are we all ready? Are we all ready for the day ahead?- Yes!
0:01:39 > 0:01:40Go "Ah!".
0:01:40 > 0:01:44THEY SING "AHHH"
0:01:44 > 0:01:48INSTRUMENTS TUNE UP
0:01:49 > 0:01:52It's sort of been a part of my life, West Side Story,
0:01:52 > 0:01:54for as long as I can remember.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59I'm just trying to think, I know as a kid, as a very small child,
0:01:59 > 0:02:03I don't know, five or six, I knew "Maria"...
0:02:03 > 0:02:05I knew... I didn't know any of the words,
0:02:05 > 0:02:08it was all "Maria! "Maria!"
0:02:08 > 0:02:10But I know I always knew it.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13# I'll never stop saying
0:02:13 > 0:02:15# Maria... #
0:02:15 > 0:02:17- We're not at the end, this is the halfway point.- OK.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19For me, it was the movie.
0:02:19 > 0:02:26And, from the first sequence, dance movements start to build up.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32And you say, "Oh, my God, this is what I want to do.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34"This is the world I want to be part of."
0:02:36 > 0:02:40What I found extraordinary and compulsive
0:02:40 > 0:02:46is the way that dance was woven into the storyline like dialogue.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48It is just astonishing.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52Dance has always been central to the Broadway musical,
0:02:52 > 0:02:55but with its five iconic dance numbers,
0:02:55 > 0:02:59West Side Story took choreography in a radical new direction.
0:03:00 > 0:03:02The technique behind it,
0:03:02 > 0:03:04how, even after 60 years, it is still some of the
0:03:04 > 0:03:08best choreography that you have ever seen, and possibly will ever see.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18But West Side Story almost didn't happen.
0:03:18 > 0:03:22Bruno and I want to find out how this jewel of a show
0:03:22 > 0:03:25that nobody wanted finally came together
0:03:25 > 0:03:27to create a landmark in musical history.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32It all began in 1940s New York.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36RADIO STATIC
0:03:36 > 0:03:39# New York
0:03:39 > 0:03:41# Concrete jungle where dreams... #
0:03:41 > 0:03:45# Just made for a girl and boy... #
0:03:52 > 0:03:55There's something about only really being in New York
0:03:55 > 0:03:59that you get why West Side Story had to happen here.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03It's so dense, it's so packed.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06Everybody... It's steep, literally one on top of the other.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09You know, everything is almost explosive.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11It's a kind of crazy place.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13There's people singing in the streets.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16It's a noisy kind of city and you get that sense...
0:04:16 > 0:04:17HORN BEEPS
0:04:17 > 0:04:19Here we go, noisy city. Thanks, hi!
0:04:21 > 0:04:26You can see why that would create such a tense, nervous musical.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30And you get this sense that New York
0:04:30 > 0:04:34is a city full of possibilities for some people.
0:04:34 > 0:04:36But not for the people in this show.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41'Hey everyone, it's Seth Rudetsky for the next hour or so.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43- SINGING:- 'Seth speaks...!
0:04:43 > 0:04:46'And I've got a lot to say!
0:04:46 > 0:04:49'Hey, live on air time!'
0:04:49 > 0:04:51APPLAUSE
0:04:53 > 0:04:56Hey, it's Seth Rudetsky. On this week's Sirius/XM Seth Speaks,
0:04:56 > 0:04:59we're going to focus on West Side Story.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02We have a million amazing West Side Story people here.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05The little kid in me is freaking out right here,
0:05:05 > 0:05:07just standing in the presence of all of you.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10I still feel to this day it is just one of the greatest pieces of art
0:05:10 > 0:05:12that we've ever created in this country.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21The idea behind West Side Story came from Jerome Robbins,
0:05:21 > 0:05:24a protege of ballet superstar George Balanchine,
0:05:24 > 0:05:28and already one of Broadway's biggest names.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32Robbins was fascinated by the method school of acting,
0:05:32 > 0:05:35and by how to bring gritty reality into dance.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39One day a friend asked him for advice about playing
0:05:39 > 0:05:43Shakespeare's Romeo, and a thought came into his mind.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46'And then suddenly, the light just went on and I thought,
0:05:46 > 0:05:50'my God, what a terrific contemporary play it would be.'
0:05:50 > 0:05:55But, to have any chance of turning such a radical idea into reality,
0:05:55 > 0:05:57Robbins would need a dream team.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01Leonard Bernstein, an acclaimed symphonic composer
0:06:01 > 0:06:04and conductor, had already scored a ballet and a musical.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10Bernstein also had an instinct for what would work with
0:06:10 > 0:06:12a non-classical audience.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14'I remember that evening very well.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16'I remember it like yesterday.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19'The evening at Jerry's apartment, because of the excitement.'
0:06:20 > 0:06:23Arthur Laurents was a Hollywood screenwriter
0:06:23 > 0:06:27with credits like Hitchcock's crime thriller Rope.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33He excelled in holding a mirror up to society,
0:06:33 > 0:06:36so Robbins' idea struck a chord.
0:06:36 > 0:06:41'He came to me and said, "Let's do a contemporary musical
0:06:41 > 0:06:43'"about Romeo and Juliet."
0:06:43 > 0:06:48'Jerry's idea was this was to be a Catholic girl, Jewish boy,
0:06:48 > 0:06:51'on the Lower East side in New York.'
0:06:52 > 0:06:55I want to know more about the divided world
0:06:55 > 0:06:57that Bernstein, Robbins and Laurents
0:06:57 > 0:07:00were considering as a setting for their Romeo and Juliet.
0:07:06 > 0:07:08I have come to meet Vita,
0:07:08 > 0:07:12an Italian who grew up here in the late 1940s,
0:07:12 > 0:07:15when the area was notorious for these warring gangs.
0:07:15 > 0:07:16Hello, Vita.
0:07:16 > 0:07:21- Hello.- How are you, my darling? - Good, Bruno. How are you doing?
0:07:21 > 0:07:25Tell me, how was it at that time?
0:07:25 > 0:07:27- There were boundaries.- Oh, really?
0:07:27 > 0:07:31The Italians were here, the Jewish community was down there,
0:07:31 > 0:07:34the Puerto Rican community was there.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37There was a lot of division,
0:07:37 > 0:07:41a lot of lines that you did not cross. Period.
0:07:41 > 0:07:46And I met a young man from outside of the neighbourhood,
0:07:46 > 0:07:48and we became boyfriend and girlfriend,
0:07:48 > 0:07:50and therein started the problem.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54Because you, a nice Italian girl, fell in love with...?
0:07:54 > 0:07:55A Puerto Rican.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58- Oh, oh! I have got to know more about that!- Yes!
0:07:58 > 0:08:02- So you, your family reacted against that?- Oh, yes.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06- Were they supportive?- Not at all. - No?- No. It was terrible.
0:08:06 > 0:08:11My father, in a four-room apartment, did not speak to me for six years.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16- The show and the film is based on those divisions.- Yes.
0:08:16 > 0:08:17Did you ever manage to see it?
0:08:17 > 0:08:21We never got to see the play because we could not afford the tickets.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24- We got to see the movie.- It must have touched you.- Touched me?
0:08:24 > 0:08:26I can tell you the movie theatre,
0:08:26 > 0:08:29I can tell you which row we were sitting in, weeping.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31- It was our story.- You were Maria?
0:08:31 > 0:08:34- Well, I wish!- What about that?
0:08:35 > 0:08:39But the team's new brainchild would never come to fruition.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45The project was soon plagued by its creators' overloaded work schedules
0:08:45 > 0:08:47and disagreements between them
0:08:47 > 0:08:51about how best to reinvent Romeo and Juliet.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56By mid-1949, East Side Story had been mothballed.
0:09:01 > 0:09:06But the divisions of 1940s Manhattan were nothing compared to the 1950s.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09There had been a dramatic change in the racial make-up
0:09:09 > 0:09:10of the population.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13# I like to be in America
0:09:13 > 0:09:15# OK by me in America!
0:09:15 > 0:09:17# Everything's free in America
0:09:17 > 0:09:21# For a small fee in America... #
0:09:21 > 0:09:24Puerto Ricans, who'd long had the right to live in the US
0:09:24 > 0:09:27were arriving in ever increasing numbers.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33By 1955, there were over half a million Puerto Ricans
0:09:33 > 0:09:35living in New York,
0:09:35 > 0:09:40facing discrimination as neighbourhoods changed overnight.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45Rita Moreno, who'd later play the Sharks' girl Anita in the movie
0:09:45 > 0:09:49of West Side Story, came with her mother in search of a better life.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55- Oh, hi!- Hello, how are you? - How are you?- Oh...
0:09:56 > 0:10:01Coming to America was an enormous shock because it was freezing cold,
0:10:01 > 0:10:03it was February.
0:10:03 > 0:10:08And it was not a happy welcome.
0:10:08 > 0:10:13People didn't like us very much and my very first, earliest experiences,
0:10:13 > 0:10:16were of young people calling me spick,
0:10:16 > 0:10:19which is a horrific word.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22And I couldn't understand why.
0:10:22 > 0:10:27What was I doing that made these young people so angry at me?
0:10:27 > 0:10:29# Immigrant goes to America
0:10:29 > 0:10:31# Many hellos in America
0:10:31 > 0:10:34# Nobody knows in America
0:10:34 > 0:10:36# Puerto Rico's in America. #
0:10:38 > 0:10:41THEY LAUGH AND CHEER
0:10:46 > 0:10:48# Ay, ay, ay
0:11:00 > 0:11:01# Oh, oh, oh
0:11:02 > 0:11:04# Oh, oh, oh
0:11:05 > 0:11:06# Oh, oh, oh
0:11:07 > 0:11:09# Whoa! #
0:11:15 > 0:11:16Mamacitas!
0:11:21 > 0:11:22Ole!
0:11:26 > 0:11:28And then some years passed...
0:11:29 > 0:11:33Lenny and I were in Hollywood at the same time.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37We were sitting with our legs dangling in the pool,
0:11:37 > 0:11:41talking about the riots there had been the day before
0:11:41 > 0:11:44with Chicano gangs.
0:11:44 > 0:11:49And I thought, "That could be Romeo and Juliet."
0:11:49 > 0:11:54And the fact it was Chicano, just Lenny adored because he loved
0:11:54 > 0:11:55Latin American beat.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58So he wanted to do it in Los Angeles.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01I said, "I don't know anything about Los Angeles."
0:12:01 > 0:12:03But I knew New York.
0:12:03 > 0:12:04And we called Jerry.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06Well, he would have done it if we said China.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10He just wanted to do it. And that's how it began.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15Two households, both alike in dignity,
0:12:15 > 0:12:18In fair Verona, where we lay our scene.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
0:12:21 > 0:12:24Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
0:12:27 > 0:12:30A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33Whose misadventured piteous overthrows doth with their death
0:12:33 > 0:12:36bury their parents' strife.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
0:12:39 > 0:12:42And the continuance of their parents' rage...
0:12:42 > 0:12:45Which but the children's end, nought could remove
0:12:45 > 0:12:48Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50The which if you with patient ears attend
0:12:50 > 0:12:53What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59The warring factions of Shakespeare's tragedy
0:12:59 > 0:13:02are rival families, the Montagues and the Capulets.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06This radical retelling would pit the Puerto Rican street gang,
0:13:06 > 0:13:09the Sharks, against a white gang, the Jets.
0:13:09 > 0:13:11The Sharks are our enemies.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14They're the invader in our territory.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18What the Jets own is land, turf.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21And anybody who wants to come and, you know,
0:13:21 > 0:13:23step on it, watch out.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30# When you're a Jet you're a Jet all the way
0:13:30 > 0:13:34# From your first cigarette to your last dying day
0:13:34 > 0:13:37# When you're a Jet if the spit hits the fan
0:13:37 > 0:13:41# You got brothers around you're a family man
0:13:41 > 0:13:45# The Jets are in gear our cylinders are clicking
0:13:45 > 0:13:50# The Sharks'll steer clear cos every Puerto Rican's a lousy chicken
0:13:50 > 0:13:52# Here come the Jets, yeah
0:13:52 > 0:13:55# And we're gonna beat every last buggin' gang
0:13:55 > 0:13:57# On the whole buggin' street
0:13:57 > 0:14:07# On the whole ever mother lovin' street
0:14:07 > 0:14:09# Yeah! #
0:14:09 > 0:14:13West Side Story happens to be about intolerance.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16It's not in American life, but in life all over the world.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19The problem of intolerance and the price one has to pay
0:14:19 > 0:14:23for having it in one's culture is...
0:14:23 > 0:14:25an enormous one and a tragic one.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30West Side Story was unlike anything else on 1950s Broadway,
0:14:30 > 0:14:34a place of escapism with feel-good hits like My Fair Lady
0:14:34 > 0:14:36and Guys And Dolls.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40There was a tremendous animosity to the whole idea,
0:14:40 > 0:14:42both musically and every other way.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50- Hello!- Jamie, hello, I'm Suzy.- Yes!
0:14:50 > 0:14:52'I've come to meet Bernstein's daughter, Jamie,
0:14:52 > 0:14:56'to find out how her father would translate the dark subject
0:14:56 > 0:14:59'of violent street gangs into popular music.'
0:14:59 > 0:15:04For my father, the big falling into place was that the music
0:15:04 > 0:15:07had an immediate double definition.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11So the white street gang, the Jets, all their music was in
0:15:11 > 0:15:14this bebop, jazz vocabulary.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17# Here come the Jets like a bat outta hell. #
0:15:17 > 0:15:21While, the Puerto Rican Sharks gang had all their music...
0:15:21 > 0:15:25It fell right into this Latin American vocabulary,
0:15:25 > 0:15:28which, of course, is the richest musical vocabulary
0:15:28 > 0:15:29you could find.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35So my father was immediately galvanised.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46# There was a boy... #
0:15:46 > 0:15:49Originally my father was going to write the music and the lyrics.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52And he just quickly became overwhelmed, it was just
0:15:52 > 0:15:53too much work.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57So they decided to bring in a lyricist and Arthur Laurents
0:15:57 > 0:15:59recommended this kid, Steve Sondheim,
0:15:59 > 0:16:02who was in his twenties. He was a kid!
0:16:02 > 0:16:03So they brought in the kid.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06# One day
0:16:06 > 0:16:10# A magic day he passed my way... #
0:16:10 > 0:16:14So, I'm going to be meeting Stephen Sondheim.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19The great Stephen Sondheim.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23I mean, arguably the greatest living proponent of musical theatre.
0:16:23 > 0:16:28He's an amazing composer. He's the lyricist on West Side Story.
0:16:28 > 0:16:33But also, he's the only guy left of these four greats.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39I didn't want to do it,
0:16:39 > 0:16:43but my sort of surrogate father and mentor was Oscar Hammerstein.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50I went to him for advice on this and he said, "I think you should do it.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52"Though, of course, what you want to do is write music.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55"Nevertheless, this is a chance to work with real professionals
0:16:55 > 0:16:58"like Jerome Robbins and Leonard Bernstein and Arthur Laurents.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00"And I think you should do it.
0:17:00 > 0:17:02"It'll be a very, very good experience for you."
0:17:02 > 0:17:04I said OK and that's how I got the job.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09Musically, I learned a lot from Lenny just by listening,
0:17:09 > 0:17:12seeing how he approached writing, you know.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14It's osmosis, you know?
0:17:14 > 0:17:18He never lectured me. He never said, "No, you see what you do..."
0:17:18 > 0:17:19There was none of that.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23He was very fond of changing my lyrics.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25I would write something and he would change them and say,
0:17:25 > 0:17:27"Wouldn't this be better?"
0:17:27 > 0:17:31- Really?- Yeah. Then we'd argue. I was 25 years old.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33He treated me like a kid.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36He treated me very nicely, very well,
0:17:36 > 0:17:39but that condescension was always there.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43It took a long time before he accepted the fact that I was
0:17:43 > 0:17:44my own man.
0:17:44 > 0:17:49There are some sketches that exist of preliminary lyrics
0:17:49 > 0:17:51that my father wrote.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54# Maria
0:17:54 > 0:17:57# It's a sound like there's music playing
0:17:57 > 0:18:01# It's a sound like in church when they're praying. #
0:18:01 > 0:18:04And I thought, "That's just so inelegant."
0:18:04 > 0:18:07That is really so inferior to...
0:18:07 > 0:18:09# Maria
0:18:09 > 0:18:12# Say it loud and there's music playing
0:18:12 > 0:18:15# Say it soft and it's almost like praying. #
0:18:15 > 0:18:17Now that's a lyric.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19But that was Steve.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22# Maria... #
0:18:22 > 0:18:26I think he was very happy to have a collaborator who was a musician.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28I may be flattering myself, but there it is.
0:18:28 > 0:18:33# Maria... #
0:18:33 > 0:18:36My father hated being alone.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39And composing is a very lonely business.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41And I think that's one of the reasons
0:18:41 > 0:18:45he liked working in musical theatre so much. It was less lonely.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49Sure, the moment came - and it was usually at 4am - when you
0:18:49 > 0:18:51would have to sit down and write those notes.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54But he knew that the next day he'd be back with his buddies,
0:18:54 > 0:18:57and that just made it all so much less onerous.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02West Side Story was nearing completion.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08Veteran Broadway producer Cheryl Crawford had taken on the show.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12And casting began in earnest.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17- Hello!- Benvenuto!
0:19:17 > 0:19:18'I am meeting Carol Lawrence,
0:19:18 > 0:19:23'who auditioned for the part of Maria - West Side Story's Juliet.'
0:19:23 > 0:19:27You've got to see if this is right, because I think it's done, Bruno.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29- Ahhh!- OK.- Perfecto!
0:19:32 > 0:19:36Everybody in New York City knew that Jerome Robbins had this
0:19:36 > 0:19:40incredible concept that everybody said would never work
0:19:40 > 0:19:45and told him, "Forget about it, it'll be an artistic flop.
0:19:45 > 0:19:52"You can't have a tragedy." We were taking Shakespeare and morphing it
0:19:52 > 0:19:57into modern-day violence, and controversy,
0:19:57 > 0:19:58and gangs.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01Everything people were against.
0:20:01 > 0:20:05For the role of Tony - West Side Story's Romeo -
0:20:05 > 0:20:09the producers auditioned dozens of bright, young hopefuls.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14Larry Kert had been turned down for three different roles,
0:20:14 > 0:20:19until Stephen Sondheim spotted him one day in a commercial.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22'8.00 in the morning, I'm singing...
0:20:22 > 0:20:26'# This shirt is 43% cotton, 22% wool. #
0:20:26 > 0:20:29'You know, one of those silly things you do.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31'Stephen Sondheim happened to be there that morning,
0:20:31 > 0:20:32'came backstage and said,
0:20:32 > 0:20:36' "Boy, I've seen your auditions, how come you don't sing high for us?
0:20:36 > 0:20:38' "You've always sang this low stuff."
0:20:38 > 0:20:41'I said, "Listen, every day I read in the paper you're looking for
0:20:41 > 0:20:45' "a 6ft blonde Polish tenor for Tony. I'm a 5ft 11 Jewish baritone."
0:20:45 > 0:20:48'He said, "I'm setting you up an audition for Tony." '
0:20:49 > 0:20:53As well as the leads, there were 19 gang members to cast.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03- Welcome!- Grover, nice to meet you. I'm Bruno.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07Grover Dale auditioned for the part of Snowboy in the Jets.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13That first audition, how did he assess if you were able to do
0:21:13 > 0:21:16that stuff during the initial audition period?
0:21:16 > 0:21:17You know what we did...
0:21:20 > 0:21:22This is what we did.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24HE VOCALISES
0:21:24 > 0:21:25Oh, jetes!
0:21:25 > 0:21:29- That's like ballet. Like a ballet class.- Yeah, like ballet.
0:21:29 > 0:21:35- But he could tell how much elevation we had.- Exactly.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38He could see what our technique was.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42And he could see how present we were in the room.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45If we were willing to fill up the space or if we were just in
0:21:45 > 0:21:47this body, we weren't.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49So the eye was absolutely spot-on.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55Martin Charnin, how did you get involved with West Side Story?
0:21:55 > 0:21:58Jerome Robbins was looking for
0:21:58 > 0:22:02the final two authentic juvenile delinquents.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06I rolled up my T-shirt, put a pack of Luckies here,
0:22:06 > 0:22:10made my hair look like a duck's ass to make sure that it looked
0:22:10 > 0:22:12like James Dean or somebody.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16Tightest jeans I had which, of course, do not fit me any more.
0:22:16 > 0:22:18He said, "Snap your fingers."
0:22:20 > 0:22:22- Which I did.- Signature snapping.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26I was the only one who didn't have to wet their fingers.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29Why is that? You're naturally oily?
0:22:29 > 0:22:31Cos I can naturally snap my fingers.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34Wait, that puts you a cut above the rest?
0:22:34 > 0:22:36And then what, you got a call-back?
0:22:36 > 0:22:38LAUGHTER
0:22:40 > 0:22:44The hunt was still on for Tony and Maria.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48Their story of young love caught up in a pointless turf war
0:22:48 > 0:22:50was at the heart of the show.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53So it was essential they had the right chemistry.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59In the scene where the lovers are alone together for the first time
0:22:59 > 0:23:04Juliet's iconic balcony becomes a New York fire escape.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08The setting for one of Bernstein's most memorable songs.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11# Tonight, tonight
0:23:11 > 0:23:15# It all began tonight
0:23:15 > 0:23:22# I saw you and the world went away
0:23:22 > 0:23:25# Tonight, tonight
0:23:25 > 0:23:27# There's only you tonight
0:23:27 > 0:23:35# What you are, what you do, what you say
0:23:35 > 0:23:40# Today, all day I had the feeling
0:23:40 > 0:23:43# A miracle would happen
0:23:43 > 0:23:48# I know now I was right
0:23:48 > 0:23:52# For here you are
0:23:52 > 0:23:55# And what was just a world
0:23:55 > 0:23:59# Is a star
0:23:59 > 0:24:05# Tonight. #
0:24:14 > 0:24:17The search for the stars was exhausting.
0:24:17 > 0:24:23On her 13th audition, Carol Lawrence was paired with Larry Kert.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27Jerry Robbins said, "I'm going to have him sing Maria,
0:24:27 > 0:24:30"but I want you to hide somewhere on the stage.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34"And if he finds you, do the balcony scene."
0:24:34 > 0:24:37There was nothing to hide behind.
0:24:37 > 0:24:42But on the wall of the theatre was a little grating of iron.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45I didn't even know if it would hold me,
0:24:45 > 0:24:48but I climbed and knelt down in a foetal position.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51He was singing Maria, looking and looking and looking,
0:24:51 > 0:24:53and nowhere was I to be found.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55Cos I was behind his head.
0:24:55 > 0:25:02So finally, he went to the pit and I whispered, "Tony! Tony!"
0:25:02 > 0:25:06And he turned and became Spider-Man.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11He climbed that wall and we did the entire balcony scene
0:25:11 > 0:25:14not knowing if this would even hold us.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18# When you dream
0:25:18 > 0:25:23# Dream of me
0:25:25 > 0:25:29# Tonight. #
0:25:29 > 0:25:33At the end of it, he leapt off
0:25:33 > 0:25:34and he left.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40They stood up and applauded. Jerome Robbins applauded.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42'Leonard Bernstein comes down and he says,
0:25:42 > 0:25:44' "I don't know what's going to happen but that's the most
0:25:44 > 0:25:47' "mesmerising audition I've ever seen." '
0:25:47 > 0:25:49And they said, "You've got it."
0:25:49 > 0:25:52And that's when I really burst into tears.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55I couldn't believe it.
0:25:55 > 0:25:56Da-da-da-da-da-da-da!
0:25:56 > 0:25:59HE PLAYS BEAT FROM AMERICA
0:25:59 > 0:26:02For two of the biggest dance numbers in the show,
0:26:02 > 0:26:06Leonard Bernstein was indulging his love of Latin beats.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12The song America, the rhythms are a combination of
0:26:12 > 0:26:15Mexican huapango and Venezuelan joropo,
0:26:15 > 0:26:19which are rhythms in three-quarter time.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21That doesn't sound very Puerto Rican to me,
0:26:21 > 0:26:23which is what this gang is meant to be, after all.
0:26:23 > 0:26:27I think what Bernstein was trying to convey is the universality of
0:26:27 > 0:26:32Latin America and how these Puerto Ricans were adapting to this
0:26:32 > 0:26:34new life on the mainland.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39HE PLAYS BEAT
0:26:39 > 0:26:42LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:26:42 > 0:26:43Shall we?
0:26:43 > 0:26:45Five, six, seven.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48One, two, three and four, five.
0:26:48 > 0:26:50One, two and four.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54And this spreads you out. Push through. And one.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56This is a beautiful Jet line there.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59This is a stake onto your territory.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02This is an image that worked for him.
0:27:02 > 0:27:03And you see it throughout the show.
0:27:03 > 0:27:05Jet language.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08Julio Monge is a Puerto Rican choreographer and director
0:27:08 > 0:27:10who was mentored by Jerome Robbins.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14He's one of only a small number of people authorised to re-stage
0:27:14 > 0:27:16Robbins' work on West Side Story.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20It's all about precision. Robbins is very precise.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23If you don't do that, it weakens the material.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25He was marvellous. He was very tough.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30A lot of people immediately ask me, "Was he as mean as they say?"
0:27:30 > 0:27:35Yes, he was very rough. But I think it had to do with his focus.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38With how much he asked of himself.
0:27:38 > 0:27:39And of everybody.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41HE HUMS
0:27:41 > 0:27:45When I worked with him, he would yell at us, "Stop dancing!"
0:27:45 > 0:27:50He was this, "What are you thinking? What is your purpose?
0:27:50 > 0:27:51"What is your intention?"
0:27:51 > 0:27:57And you had to approach your dance from a different place.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00So, everybody, we're going to be looking at America.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02Ready? Let's give it a try with the music.
0:28:02 > 0:28:04Let's see what that looks like.
0:28:04 > 0:28:10HE PLAYS AMERICA
0:28:11 > 0:28:13Stay connected. Yeah!
0:28:15 > 0:28:16Ha! Ha! Ha!
0:28:32 > 0:28:34Nice.
0:28:34 > 0:28:36CHEERING
0:28:36 > 0:28:38Woo!
0:28:38 > 0:28:44In the mid 1950s, Latin music was one of the city's biggest crazes.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47Leonard Bernstein and his Chilean wife, Felicia,
0:28:47 > 0:28:49were regulars at the Palladium,
0:28:49 > 0:28:52where every Wednesday night celebrities rubbed shoulders
0:28:52 > 0:28:55with people from the Bronx and Harlem
0:28:55 > 0:28:58to dance the mambo. Bernstein transported the mambo beat
0:28:58 > 0:29:02from New York clubs to the musical stage,
0:29:02 > 0:29:06incorporating it into one of West Side Story's biggest dance scenes.
0:29:06 > 0:29:08# Mambo
0:29:08 > 0:29:09# Mambo
0:29:09 > 0:29:11# Go! #
0:29:11 > 0:29:14A party where the rival gangs have a dance-off
0:29:14 > 0:29:17and where Tony and Maria meet for the first time.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24The key to this is what we call the clave - these two sticks.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27This rhythm is in everything. It's in hip-hop.
0:29:27 > 0:29:31HE RAPS OVER BEAT
0:29:32 > 0:29:33It's in salsa.
0:29:35 > 0:29:39HE SINGS IN SPANISH
0:29:40 > 0:29:44# Ra-ta-ta ta-ta-ta-ta
0:29:44 > 0:29:45# Mambo. #
0:29:45 > 0:29:47There's so many references in there.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50Leonard Bernstein used to say, "The best composers are magpies,
0:29:50 > 0:29:53- "they steal from everybody." OK. - LAUGHTER
0:29:53 > 0:29:54One is nothing, three, four.
0:29:54 > 0:29:58And if you add that, Bob, if you give me the basic mambo.
0:29:58 > 0:30:00Five, six, seven and...
0:30:00 > 0:30:02One...
0:30:02 > 0:30:03Back.
0:30:03 > 0:30:05One, two, three.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08Five, six, seven and...
0:30:08 > 0:30:11- One... - MAMBO BEAT
0:30:11 > 0:30:14One...
0:30:14 > 0:30:18The one thing about Lenny's music which was so tremendously important
0:30:18 > 0:30:21was that there always was a kinetic motor,
0:30:21 > 0:30:26which had a need for it to be demonstrated by dance.
0:30:26 > 0:30:30And it always was a great, wonderful, exciting trip
0:30:30 > 0:30:32to choreograph to Lenny's music.
0:30:32 > 0:30:36MAMBO BEAT PLAYS
0:30:48 > 0:30:49# Mambo
0:30:49 > 0:30:51# Mambo
0:30:51 > 0:30:52# Go... #
0:31:04 > 0:31:08MUSIC STOPS DANCERS APPLAUD
0:31:09 > 0:31:13The thing about my father and his music is that
0:31:13 > 0:31:16he was always building bridges between genres.
0:31:16 > 0:31:19So when it came to West Side Story,
0:31:19 > 0:31:24he was bringing all his symphonic toolkit to the project.
0:31:27 > 0:31:30When a composer writes a symphony, there are these building blocks that
0:31:30 > 0:31:34a composer will take and use them all the way through the symphony.
0:31:34 > 0:31:39The way Beethoven begins his Fifth Symphony with ba-ba-ba-bum!
0:31:39 > 0:31:42But then he uses that ba-ba-bum thing all the way through
0:31:42 > 0:31:46that first movement. And beyond. And it keeps coming back
0:31:46 > 0:31:49and it becomes the backbone of the symphony.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57And in West Side Story, that building block is something that you
0:31:57 > 0:32:00hear at the very beginning of the show.
0:32:00 > 0:32:02It's the first three notes.
0:32:02 > 0:32:04Ba-bahhh bum!
0:32:05 > 0:32:10And those three notes are the key, they are the code
0:32:10 > 0:32:12for the whole West Side Story score.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16And those three notes form something that's called a tritone.
0:32:17 > 0:32:19A little music lesson.
0:32:19 > 0:32:20OK, so what I just realised this year
0:32:20 > 0:32:23after listening to West Side Story my entire life
0:32:23 > 0:32:26is how much of the show is focused on the tritone.
0:32:26 > 0:32:28A tritone is... There's a fourth.
0:32:28 > 0:32:30# Here comes the bride
0:32:30 > 0:32:31# That is a fourth. #
0:32:31 > 0:32:32Or there's a fifth.
0:32:32 > 0:32:33# Twinkle, twinkle, little star. #
0:32:33 > 0:32:36There's a fourth and a fifth. A tritone is right between that.
0:32:36 > 0:32:37HE PLAYS NOTE
0:32:37 > 0:32:39Also called the Devil's interval. Just saying.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42It's a sharp fourth. So much of the show has this tritone.
0:32:42 > 0:32:44For instance, there's...
0:32:44 > 0:32:45# Boy, boy
0:32:45 > 0:32:47# Crazy boy. #
0:32:47 > 0:32:49There's also the reverse. So instead of...
0:32:49 > 0:32:51HE PLAYS NOTES ..there's this...
0:32:51 > 0:32:53HE PLAYS NOTES # Could be
0:32:53 > 0:32:54# It's a tritone. #
0:32:54 > 0:32:56There's also Maria itself.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58# Maria
0:32:58 > 0:32:59# It's a tritone. #
0:32:59 > 0:33:03And then I just literally today realised...
0:33:03 > 0:33:05# Dear kindly Sergeant Krupke. #
0:33:05 > 0:33:07The entire show's all tritones.
0:33:08 > 0:33:13The tritone is ambiguous and that makes it a little dangerous.
0:33:13 > 0:33:18And you don't know what to expect. It could lead you down a scary path.
0:33:18 > 0:33:20So that's pretty ingenious.
0:33:23 > 0:33:27Broadway had never seen anything like West Side Story.
0:33:27 > 0:33:31With a dark score, a cast of unknowns, fight scenes
0:33:31 > 0:33:35and three murders onstage, it seemed a risky proposition.
0:33:36 > 0:33:40Just six weeks before rehearsals were due to start,
0:33:40 > 0:33:43the producer, Cheryl Crawford, pulled out.
0:33:43 > 0:33:46It was very difficult for her because the boys,
0:33:46 > 0:33:49as she called them,
0:33:49 > 0:33:51she had a hard time dealing with them.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57And I think down deep she thought it would be a good show
0:33:57 > 0:33:59but it would never be a hit.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03And she just put everything in a box, all the papers,
0:34:03 > 0:34:05just put it in my lap and said, "Here."
0:34:09 > 0:34:10'We stood up and we left.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14'We went out and down the street from her office
0:34:14 > 0:34:15'by the Algonquin Hotel.
0:34:15 > 0:34:19'And we thought, "Well, we better have a drink." '
0:34:19 > 0:34:23Arthur and I went to drown our sorrows and figure out what to do.
0:34:26 > 0:34:31We walked in and they wouldn't let me in, I didn't have a tie on.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37- CHUCKLING:- Talk about insult to injury, gee whizz.
0:34:37 > 0:34:40Our entire lives had just fallen apart and, "We're terribly sorry,
0:34:40 > 0:34:43"you can't have a drink because you don't have a tie."
0:34:45 > 0:34:50Sondheim got in touch with his old pal Hal Prince, a talented young
0:34:50 > 0:34:53producer who would go on to stage some of the most successful
0:34:53 > 0:34:56musicals of the 20th century.
0:34:56 > 0:34:59Prince saw an opportunity and flew into New York
0:34:59 > 0:35:01to meet the team.
0:35:01 > 0:35:05This was not something everybody wanted to produce.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08When your producer drops you, you think, "Oh, Lord.
0:35:08 > 0:35:09"It's never going to happen."
0:35:11 > 0:35:15Steve had played the whole score in my apartment. His apartment.
0:35:15 > 0:35:17I knew it very well.
0:35:17 > 0:35:19And I loved it. He said,
0:35:19 > 0:35:22"But please don't tell anyone you've heard any of the material
0:35:22 > 0:35:24"because Lenny's very finicky about it.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27"He doesn't want anyone to have heard any of it."
0:35:27 > 0:35:28I said, "OK."
0:35:28 > 0:35:32So I said, "We'll meet at Lenny's apartment."
0:35:32 > 0:35:37Lenny started playing very loudly. So the nerves were really there.
0:35:37 > 0:35:39HE BASHES KEYS
0:35:39 > 0:35:42Lenny can play loud anyway.
0:35:42 > 0:35:46Somewhere during the playing of the score,
0:35:46 > 0:35:49I suddenly started to hum one of the songs.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52Inadvertently. I didn't even realise I was doing it.
0:35:52 > 0:35:54And I thought, "Oh, God, what have I just done?"
0:35:54 > 0:35:58And Lenny stopped and said, "That's what I've always wanted
0:35:58 > 0:35:59"is a musical producer."
0:35:59 > 0:36:02By the time I left his apartment,
0:36:02 > 0:36:04we had agreed to do it.
0:36:04 > 0:36:09MUSIC: America
0:36:09 > 0:36:16With Hal Prince onboard, rehearsals started on the 24th June 1957.
0:36:16 > 0:36:20Larry Kert's first solo was a song that Sondheim described as
0:36:20 > 0:36:24"the expression of an inarticulate, excited young man."
0:36:25 > 0:36:27'I've had it.'
0:36:27 > 0:36:30At this point in the story, Tony hasn't yet met Maria
0:36:30 > 0:36:33but he's disillusioned with gang warfare
0:36:33 > 0:36:36and is longing for a better future.
0:36:36 > 0:36:38'Jerry Robbins came to me one day and he said,
0:36:38 > 0:36:42' "You know, the Tony character's not been established well enough.
0:36:42 > 0:36:43' "Go up to the Osborne Hotel,
0:36:43 > 0:36:46' "Steve and Lenny have just written you a song."
0:36:46 > 0:36:50'And they played me Something's Coming.
0:36:50 > 0:36:52'The vamp is da-da-da da-da-da...'
0:36:52 > 0:36:54MUSIC: Something's Coming
0:36:54 > 0:36:57# Could be!
0:36:57 > 0:36:59# Who knows?
0:37:01 > 0:37:05# There's something due any day I will know right away
0:37:05 > 0:37:09# Soon as it shows. #
0:37:09 > 0:37:12'I think about it now because I just well up.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16'I mean, three weeks ago I was singing...
0:37:16 > 0:37:18' # This shirt is 43%... #
0:37:18 > 0:37:22'Now, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim are writing me a song.'
0:37:22 > 0:37:25# Something's coming don't know when
0:37:25 > 0:37:26# But it's soon
0:37:26 > 0:37:27# Catch the moon
0:37:27 > 0:37:30# One-handed catch!
0:37:30 > 0:37:35# Around the corner
0:37:35 > 0:37:41# Or whistling down the river
0:37:41 > 0:37:45# Come on, deliver
0:37:45 > 0:37:49# To me
0:37:52 > 0:37:54# Will it be? Yes, it will
0:37:54 > 0:37:56# Maybe just by holding still
0:37:56 > 0:37:59# It'll be there!
0:37:59 > 0:38:03# Come on, something, come on in, don't be shy
0:38:03 > 0:38:05# Meet a guy
0:38:05 > 0:38:07# Pull up a chair!
0:38:07 > 0:38:12# The air is humming
0:38:12 > 0:38:17# And something great is coming!
0:38:19 > 0:38:21# Who knows?
0:38:23 > 0:38:25# It's only just out of reach
0:38:25 > 0:38:27# Down the block, on a beach
0:38:27 > 0:38:34# Maybe tonight. #
0:38:39 > 0:38:41This was at rehearsal.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44At what point of the rehearsals, do you remember?
0:38:44 > 0:38:47- This was early.- Earlier on.- Yeah.
0:38:47 > 0:38:49They all loved each other.
0:38:49 > 0:38:50THEY LAUGH
0:38:50 > 0:38:53- It was still the honeymoon period. - Yes.
0:38:53 > 0:39:00We sensed that there was something special going on in that room.
0:39:00 > 0:39:04# I have a love... #
0:39:04 > 0:39:06Larry Kert was an angel.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09# That I have
0:39:09 > 0:39:11# Right or wrong... #
0:39:11 > 0:39:16He was one of the sweetest human beings I will ever know in my life.
0:39:22 > 0:39:26Jerry Robbins said, "I want to know without a doubt
0:39:26 > 0:39:31"that you are both deeply in love with each other.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34"Otherwise, I have three people standing in the wings for
0:39:34 > 0:39:37"each of you. To replace you."
0:39:37 > 0:39:38And I turned to Larry and I said...
0:39:38 > 0:39:40- MOUTHING:- "I love you."
0:39:40 > 0:39:41He said...
0:39:41 > 0:39:43- MOUTHING:- "Me too."
0:39:43 > 0:39:45We fell in love that moment.
0:39:45 > 0:39:47And I've loved him ever since.
0:39:47 > 0:39:51He's no longer with me in the physical sense.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54But he's always in my heart.
0:39:54 > 0:40:00He was my first real loving, romantic leading man on Broadway.
0:40:00 > 0:40:08# Tonight. #
0:40:11 > 0:40:15Here they are watching the rehearsal.
0:40:15 > 0:40:17They all look a bit apprehensive, don't they?
0:40:17 > 0:40:19LAUGHTER
0:40:19 > 0:40:21- They're not laughing there. - No, they're not.
0:40:21 > 0:40:23Is it getting a bit darker now?
0:40:23 > 0:40:27- You can see the expression... - The smiles have drifted off.
0:40:27 > 0:40:29The smiles have frozen.
0:40:29 > 0:40:31And there is kind of a look. Look, look.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34You can tell because we've all been in this situation, haven't we?
0:40:34 > 0:40:37- Yes.- Look, look. Look at the faces.- Yeah.
0:40:37 > 0:40:39- What is Jerry?- Jerry's right here.
0:40:40 > 0:40:42'I want to know what it was like
0:40:42 > 0:40:45'to be at rehearsals with Jerome Robbins.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48'Chita Rivera, who created the role of Anita,
0:40:48 > 0:40:52'was one of the cast who got put through her paces.'
0:40:52 > 0:40:54Hello. Oh, my God. Broadway royalty.
0:40:54 > 0:40:58- Where?- It's you! It's you! A legend.
0:40:58 > 0:41:02- Thank you so much! - Thank you.- How are you?
0:41:02 > 0:41:05I'm fine, thank you. I'm good, as a matter of fact.
0:41:06 > 0:41:10Jerry's cruelty towards members of the cast.
0:41:10 > 0:41:12Have you ever been the recipient of that?
0:41:12 > 0:41:15Never. I called him Big Daddy.
0:41:15 > 0:41:17I saw a little bit of it.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21Hey listen, you know, it's a dance. It's not easy to do what we do.
0:41:21 > 0:41:25If we didn't have that teacher, that one teacher,
0:41:25 > 0:41:29to really scare the heck out of us, where would we be?
0:41:29 > 0:41:30We wouldn't have tried it.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32No, because it's that moment.
0:41:32 > 0:41:34OK, I'm just going to get through this and I'm going to...
0:41:34 > 0:41:38And there is the point of... I'm going to show you.
0:41:38 > 0:41:40- Absolutely.- I am going to show you.
0:41:40 > 0:41:44Whatever it takes, I'm gonna work at home overnight till next morning.
0:41:44 > 0:41:48- All of that makes you who you are. - And it makes you who you are.
0:41:48 > 0:41:53Jerry Robbins was such a perfectionist and everybody
0:41:53 > 0:41:56adored, dreaded and feared him.
0:41:56 > 0:41:59But that's the way choreographers were.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03You know that the choreographer's relationship with a dancer is
0:42:03 > 0:42:07one of intimidation, humiliation, degradation,
0:42:07 > 0:42:11and to incite them into rebelling.
0:42:11 > 0:42:14Jerry had invested us with this whole idea of
0:42:14 > 0:42:17it's real, so if you're going to hit somebody, hit him.
0:42:17 > 0:42:20If you're going to knock him with an elbow, knock him with your elbow.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23I turned downstage and I was supposed to turn upstage
0:42:23 > 0:42:27and there is the portal right there. So bam! Right into the portal.
0:42:27 > 0:42:32My tooth came out through my lip. The blood is everywhere.
0:42:32 > 0:42:33That was a fun show.
0:42:33 > 0:42:37By this time, Christophe Cavalera picks up my tooth,
0:42:37 > 0:42:40that was on the stage, comes off, gives it to Beverly,
0:42:40 > 0:42:44and someone after the show said, "Is it always this realistic?"
0:42:44 > 0:42:46LAUGHTER
0:42:46 > 0:42:48"The rumble, it was just fantastic!"
0:42:48 > 0:42:52No-one was ever not injured in that show.
0:42:52 > 0:42:54I also had a rib broken by Nick, who was Bernardo.
0:42:54 > 0:42:58- I broke my foot.- Yeah. You know, pushing.- I broke my nose.
0:42:58 > 0:43:00You broke your nose?
0:43:00 > 0:43:03OK, we'll be back with more horrific West Side Story tales...
0:43:03 > 0:43:05LAUGHTER
0:43:05 > 0:43:10I'm sitting in the darkened theatre with Lenny.
0:43:10 > 0:43:14They start playing it and Jerry goes down the aisle
0:43:14 > 0:43:16and he stops.
0:43:16 > 0:43:22And Jerry says, "I want to circle the clarinet, circle the flute..."
0:43:22 > 0:43:24Circle means take out.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26"..and reduce the orchestra."
0:43:26 > 0:43:28And I thought, "I can't believe it.
0:43:28 > 0:43:31"He's changing Lenny's orchestration."
0:43:31 > 0:43:33Of course, Jerry had no right to do that.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36If the composer wants this and the choreographer wants that,
0:43:36 > 0:43:37the composer wins.
0:43:37 > 0:43:39I thought, "Oh, my God."
0:43:39 > 0:43:42And I turned to see what Lenny's reaction was. And he wasn't there.
0:43:42 > 0:43:44It was an empty seat.
0:43:44 > 0:43:46And I had an instinct.
0:43:46 > 0:43:48I thought, "Where's the nearest bar?"
0:43:48 > 0:43:50And sure enough, he was there.
0:43:50 > 0:43:55He had four shots of Scotch lined up in front of him.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59Lenny just hated confrontation.
0:43:59 > 0:44:00And Jerry knew that.
0:44:00 > 0:44:05One of the parts of Jerry's genius was he could size you up immediately
0:44:05 > 0:44:08when he met you and know what you were most afraid of.
0:44:08 > 0:44:10The only way to win the argument
0:44:10 > 0:44:13was to be humiliating to Lenny in public.
0:44:13 > 0:44:17Lenny would not go down and say, "What the f... are you doing?"
0:44:19 > 0:44:23"Darling, the work grinds on, relentlessly,
0:44:23 > 0:44:26"and sleep is a rare blessing.
0:44:26 > 0:44:28"It's going to be murder from here on in.
0:44:28 > 0:44:30"The show, ah yes.
0:44:30 > 0:44:32"I am depressed.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36"All the aspects of the score I like best get criticised as operatic.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39"And there's a concerted move to...
0:44:39 > 0:44:40"What's the use?
0:44:40 > 0:44:42"I am tired and nervous.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45"This is the last show I do."
0:44:47 > 0:44:50In public, in front of us,
0:44:50 > 0:44:53it was all peaches and cream.
0:44:54 > 0:44:59And occasionally something creative, a difference would erupt.
0:44:59 > 0:45:01Occasionally.
0:45:01 > 0:45:05But they were smart enough to know you don't fight in front your
0:45:05 > 0:45:08company of actors. Cos that's only going to say to them
0:45:08 > 0:45:10the commander doesn't know what he's doing.
0:45:14 > 0:45:17But finally, against all the odds...
0:45:17 > 0:45:23After countless auditions, a change of producer, and the pressures
0:45:23 > 0:45:27of money and time, the musical that nobody had believed in...
0:45:27 > 0:45:31But which its creators had fought so hard to get staged,
0:45:31 > 0:45:34was, at last, ready to go.
0:45:35 > 0:45:39MUSIC: Tonight
0:45:40 > 0:45:42"We open Monday!"
0:45:42 > 0:45:44# The Jets are gonna have their day
0:45:44 > 0:45:46# Tonight... #
0:45:46 > 0:45:49"I tell you, this show may yet be worth the agony."
0:45:49 > 0:45:51# Tonight
0:45:51 > 0:45:53# We said, "OK, no rumpus
0:45:53 > 0:45:54# "No tricks"
0:45:54 > 0:45:56# But just in case they jump us
0:45:56 > 0:45:58# We're ready to mix... #
0:45:58 > 0:46:01"As you can see, I'm excited as hell."
0:46:01 > 0:46:03# We're gonna rock it tonight
0:46:03 > 0:46:07# We're gonna jazz it up and have us a ball!
0:46:07 > 0:46:09# They're gonna get it tonight
0:46:09 > 0:46:13# The more they turn it on, the harder they'll fall!
0:46:13 > 0:46:15# Well, they began it!
0:46:15 > 0:46:16# Well, they began it!
0:46:16 > 0:46:21# And we're the ones to stop 'em once and for all... #
0:46:23 > 0:46:28On September 26th, 1957, West Side Story finally opened
0:46:28 > 0:46:33to a star-studded audience at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway.
0:46:34 > 0:46:36# He'll walk in hot and tired
0:46:36 > 0:46:37# So what?
0:46:37 > 0:46:38# Don't matter if he's tired
0:46:38 > 0:46:42# As long as he's hot
0:46:42 > 0:46:45# Tonight, tonight
0:46:45 > 0:46:48# Won't be just any night... #
0:46:48 > 0:46:51There was Marlene Dietrich and Tyrone Power and Cary Grant.
0:46:51 > 0:46:55And we could see the first eight rows.
0:46:55 > 0:46:59It was devastatingly exhausting on the stage.
0:46:59 > 0:47:02And nerve racking. And frightening.
0:47:02 > 0:47:07# Stars will stop where they are
0:47:07 > 0:47:12# Today, the minutes seem like hours
0:47:12 > 0:47:16# The hours go so slowly
0:47:16 > 0:47:20# And still the sky is light... #
0:47:20 > 0:47:24We all ran to the footlights for the bow.
0:47:24 > 0:47:28And the curtain went up, Bruno, and there was not a sound.
0:47:28 > 0:47:31And I thought, "It's a flop. They were right."
0:47:31 > 0:47:35# Tonight... #
0:47:39 > 0:47:42And then, as if Jerry Robbins choreographed it,
0:47:42 > 0:47:44they leapt to their feet.
0:47:44 > 0:47:46# We'll tear up the town
0:47:46 > 0:47:47# Tonight... #
0:47:47 > 0:47:50They began screaming, they began applauding,
0:47:50 > 0:47:52they began stomping their feet.
0:47:52 > 0:47:57And I had never heard anything like that before.
0:47:57 > 0:47:59And I began to cry.
0:47:59 > 0:48:01# Tonight, tonight... #
0:48:01 > 0:48:07And 17 curtain calls later, Leonard Bernstein walked from the wings,
0:48:07 > 0:48:09into my arms, and we just sobbed.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12# Tonight
0:48:12 > 0:48:16# Today, the minutes seem like hours
0:48:16 > 0:48:17# The hours... #
0:48:17 > 0:48:19We just sobbed.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22Because the audience took it to their hearts.
0:48:22 > 0:48:26And they said, "Yes, we believe you. And we love you."
0:48:26 > 0:48:28# Anita's gonna have her day
0:48:28 > 0:48:31# Bernardo's gonna have his way
0:48:31 > 0:48:39- # Tonight, this very night - We're gonna rock it tonight! #
0:48:43 > 0:48:46Despite critical and financial success,
0:48:46 > 0:48:51West Side Story initially ran for 732 performances on Broadway.
0:48:51 > 0:48:55In today's terms, that's not really a hit.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59But West Side Story's biggest success was yet to come.
0:49:04 > 0:49:10In the spring of 1960, production began on West Side Story the movie.
0:49:10 > 0:49:12The show was adapted for the screen
0:49:12 > 0:49:14with Jerome Robbins co-directing
0:49:14 > 0:49:18alongside veteran director Robert Wise.
0:49:18 > 0:49:22The first part of the movie was shot on the very streets where the
0:49:22 > 0:49:25story was set - the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
0:49:27 > 0:49:31Harvey Evans, one of the Jets, remembers dancing on the street.
0:49:33 > 0:49:36- Hi, Suzy.- A pleasure to meet you. How are you?
0:49:36 > 0:49:39Most of this was torn down already.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42But the streets where we filmed the actual prologue,
0:49:42 > 0:49:44they had moved everyone out of,
0:49:44 > 0:49:47so no-one lived in these buildings but they were still up.
0:49:47 > 0:49:51So Jerry Robbins asked the City if they could rent those streets.
0:49:52 > 0:49:54He gave us a ballet bar.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57In the street. With people watching.
0:49:57 > 0:49:59We'd all be doing our plies and all that,
0:49:59 > 0:50:01in our costumes.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04SHE HUMS JET SONG
0:50:04 > 0:50:06This is called the sailing step
0:50:06 > 0:50:08but it means owning the street.
0:50:08 > 0:50:10You own the street!
0:50:10 > 0:50:11SHE LAUGHS
0:50:11 > 0:50:14- Harvey, you still own the street. - Oh, thank you.
0:50:14 > 0:50:16# Street
0:50:16 > 0:50:17# Yeah! #
0:50:21 > 0:50:25The show was recast with Natalie Wood starring as Maria,
0:50:25 > 0:50:28and Rita Moreno taking on the role of Anita.
0:50:28 > 0:50:30Over there, we had nothing!
0:50:30 > 0:50:33I knew Anita.
0:50:33 > 0:50:38I knew it the minute I saw the script and the audition.
0:50:38 > 0:50:41I knew who this girl was.
0:50:41 > 0:50:42She was me.
0:50:43 > 0:50:46# Puerto Rico... #
0:50:46 > 0:50:50The first time I ever played a Hispanic girl
0:50:50 > 0:50:55who had a sense of self, who had a sense of dignity.
0:50:55 > 0:50:57There was nobody like me.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02The following year, Rita Moreno became the first
0:51:02 > 0:51:05Puerto Rican female ever to win an Academy Award.
0:51:05 > 0:51:09'A moment that will be remembered for its spontaneity comes with
0:51:09 > 0:51:13'Rock Hudson's announcement of Rita Moreno as Best Supporting Actress.
0:51:13 > 0:51:17'The Puerto Rican-born singer-dancer is simply overwhelmed by it all.'
0:51:19 > 0:51:21I can't believe it!
0:51:21 > 0:51:22LAUGHTER
0:51:22 > 0:51:24Good Lord!
0:51:24 > 0:51:26I'll leave you with that. LAUGHTER
0:51:26 > 0:51:29'Fred Astaire presents the headline Oscar - Best Picture.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32'Accepted by producer Robert Wise for West Side Story,
0:51:32 > 0:51:35'which garners a total of ten Academy Awards.
0:51:35 > 0:51:39'Second to Ben Hur on the all-time list of Oscar winners.'
0:51:40 > 0:51:42Maria!
0:51:42 > 0:51:44GUNSHOT
0:51:44 > 0:51:47The enormous success of West Side Story
0:51:47 > 0:51:52meant that its creators' message of tolerance had a global impact.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55It still chimes with many former gang members
0:51:55 > 0:51:58who saw their own lives reflected on-screen.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01The message to me was always "love conquers all."
0:52:01 > 0:52:04'Te adoro, Anton.'
0:52:04 > 0:52:07You know, there's a Romeo and Juliet aspect to the story.
0:52:07 > 0:52:10But there's also a Christ aspect to the story
0:52:10 > 0:52:13at the end, when he's being carried out.
0:52:13 > 0:52:17And his death creates this reconciliation.
0:52:23 > 0:52:27But in the neighbourhood itself, I don't think that could happen.
0:52:27 > 0:52:29I don't think people were mature enough.
0:52:29 > 0:52:34That sense of belonging, of being blood brothers in a gang,
0:52:34 > 0:52:36did that feel true for you?
0:52:36 > 0:52:37- Absolutely.- It still does.
0:52:37 > 0:52:39It is. We still meet.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43We walk the neighbourhood, we smile, we cry.
0:52:43 > 0:52:44And we just reminisce.
0:52:50 > 0:52:53I wish that it would not start over again.
0:52:53 > 0:52:55In an age of anxiety,
0:52:55 > 0:52:59West Side Story is as resonant today as it was in the 1950s.
0:53:01 > 0:53:04It's just a really moving story,
0:53:04 > 0:53:07that just keeps retelling and retelling itself.
0:53:07 > 0:53:10Of people all over the world who aren't able to love who they
0:53:10 > 0:53:12want to, aren't able to express themselves,
0:53:12 > 0:53:14aren't able to be themselves.
0:53:19 > 0:53:27# There's a place for us
0:53:27 > 0:53:30# Somewhere... #
0:53:30 > 0:53:33Somewhere is about there never being a place
0:53:33 > 0:53:36where you can really settle down.
0:53:36 > 0:53:42# Peace and quiet and open air
0:53:42 > 0:53:47# Wait for us
0:53:47 > 0:53:50# Somewhere. #
0:53:50 > 0:53:57It's about longing, and wanting that kind of state of bliss
0:53:57 > 0:54:00that is not attainable to you.
0:54:00 > 0:54:04"There is a place for us somewhere." It's never quite revealed.
0:54:04 > 0:54:06You know it's never really going to happen.
0:54:06 > 0:54:10It's full of wishes and hopes that are never really going to come true.
0:54:10 > 0:54:14And Bernstein puts that instability right into the music.
0:54:14 > 0:54:17# Some day
0:54:17 > 0:54:21# Somewhere!
0:54:21 > 0:54:29# We'll find a new way of living
0:54:29 > 0:54:38# We'll find a way of forgiving
0:54:38 > 0:54:42# Somewhere... #
0:54:42 > 0:54:44We are polarised more than ever.
0:54:44 > 0:54:48That's what the show and the movie brings into focus.
0:54:48 > 0:54:52The result of that is violence and pain.
0:54:52 > 0:54:55While we should do the opposite.
0:54:55 > 0:54:59But unfortunately... People should watch West Side Story more often.
0:54:59 > 0:55:03It's just very, very simple, universal.
0:55:03 > 0:55:05And the music...
0:55:07 > 0:55:10It's just a perfect work of art.
0:55:10 > 0:55:16# Hold my hand and I'll take you there
0:55:16 > 0:55:21# Somehow
0:55:21 > 0:55:24# Some day
0:55:24 > 0:55:32# Somewhere. #
0:55:35 > 0:55:38It means that there is hope.
0:55:38 > 0:55:42That it is within all of us
0:55:42 > 0:55:45to find that utopia.
0:55:45 > 0:55:48And if we can't find it, then to make it.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56Was my father a realist or an optimist?
0:55:56 > 0:55:59I think he wanted to be an optimist.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02But he was worried about the state of the world.
0:56:06 > 0:56:10And you can hear this precisely in the finale.
0:56:10 > 0:56:12# Somewhere. #
0:56:12 > 0:56:14Hmmm.
0:56:14 > 0:56:16# Somewhere. #
0:56:16 > 0:56:18Hmm.
0:56:35 > 0:56:37SONG ENDS
0:56:37 > 0:56:40So that's how West Side Story ends.
0:56:40 > 0:56:43Is the world getting better?
0:56:43 > 0:56:46Is there hope for us to find a better place
0:56:46 > 0:56:49to all live together in harmony?
0:56:49 > 0:56:51Hmm. Not sure.
0:56:53 > 0:56:55All right, you guys are all amazing.
0:56:55 > 0:56:58Bravo, West Side Story. Bravo, everybody.
0:56:59 > 0:57:07# All the beautiful sounds of the world in a single word
0:57:07 > 0:57:14# Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria
0:57:14 > 0:57:19# Maria, Maria, Maria!
0:57:19 > 0:57:24# I've just met a girl named Maria
0:57:24 > 0:57:27# And suddenly that name
0:57:27 > 0:57:28# Will never be the same
0:57:28 > 0:57:30# To me
0:57:30 > 0:57:32# Maria!
0:57:32 > 0:57:37# I've just kissed a girl named Maria
0:57:37 > 0:57:41# And suddenly I've found
0:57:41 > 0:57:44# How wonderful a sound can be!
0:57:44 > 0:57:47# Maria!
0:57:47 > 0:57:51# Say it loud and there's music playing
0:57:51 > 0:57:55# Say it soft and it's almost like praying
0:57:58 > 0:58:01# Maria
0:58:01 > 0:58:11# I'll never stop saying Maria
0:58:11 > 0:58:14# Maria
0:58:14 > 0:58:16# Maria
0:58:16 > 0:58:21# Maria, Maria
0:58:21 > 0:58:26# Maria
0:58:26 > 0:58:31# Maria
0:58:31 > 0:58:35# Maria
0:58:35 > 0:58:39# Say it loud and there's music playing
0:58:39 > 0:58:46# Say it soft and it's almost like praying
0:58:46 > 0:58:50# Maria
0:58:50 > 0:58:55# I'll never stop saying
0:58:55 > 0:59:03# Maria. #