West Side Story /

This is the movie cast, not a Broadway production. Probably what we all know better, and good enough for me. I never tire of hearing Marnie Nixon sound like the woman she sings for. (She does Natalie Wood's voice here, as she did Deborah Kerr in "The King and I" movie and Audrey Hepburn in the "My Fair Lady" movie, among others.)

I loved this movie and the play. I had the LP of this and broke it. I love the music and the stars.

The great orchestra conductor and composer, Leonard Bernstein, never got over this one fact: that his great accomplishment in composition was not one of his later classical opuses but rather the music score to a Broadway play. But, it's true, and this musical score is as close to perfection as any. The Hollywood treatment, replacing good Broadway voices with great operatic uncredited singers, only made things better.Blending the jazz of the time with a light rock motif, the score is haunting, timeless, and a perfect partner with the lyrics, also close to perfection. Stephen Sondheim's lyrics were not nearly as good as the score, but he had the more difficult duty of combining the music interludes with the plot. For instance, when Maria is chastised by her friends as being "in an advanced state of shock", those terms were not normally uttered by high school dropouts. That was just a case of the lyricist having forgotten the subject of the lyrics. But, save for the occasional error, the score, lyrics, and overtures were great, or perhaps greater than great...

It was the CD rather than the advertised vinyl. I already have this CD and it is a very poor Sony dupe. Very thin sound.

what i expected, what i remembered

I recommend this strongly to anyone who loves the music of West Side Story. This album was recorded within a month of the opening of the show on Broadway in 1957 and has a wonderful quality of urgency. It's as close as we'll ever get to experiencing the shocking, new sound that West Side Story represented in 50's America. Buy.

Bernstein wrote himself into the annals of musical history with the score which he composed for West Side Story, a nineteen fifties version of Romeo and Juliet, and Stephen Sondheim did it justice with the terrific lyrics he wrote which made the music soar even higher. This a musical which has entered the popular consciousness with good reason. Who hasn't heard the beauty and poetry of "Maria", the expectant poignancy of "Tonight", or the eternally hopeful "Somewhere" and not been touched, especially when sung, as they are here, by Jim Bryant and Marnie Nixon? There is also the upbeat "America" and "I Feel Pretty" which are ensemble songs geared to showcase Jerome Robbins' choreography to perfection.This is a magnificent CD which should be a part of any collection, as it contains music which would make angels weep.

There are quite a few choices for West Side Story in the Amazon Cloud Store, but I chose this one because of it's quality of sound.I've loved the music from this musical before our 7th grade teacher was introducing our class to this media & critiquing. She was teaching about composers such as Leonard Bernstein, & lyricist Stephen Sondheim.I learned about Mr. Bernstein through abroadcast Sunday series of musicals for children, & I had purchased the album before I saw the film.By the time we saw this @a budget theater, it had been deemed a classic & was 12 years old when we went on our field trip. It was colorful, different than a drama with only a score, & I could finally match the songs I had loved with the many scenarios.The music has every orchestra sound you can imagine, it dates back to the 1950's, & it's a modern twist on Wm. Shakespeare'sRomeo & Juliet.It teaches through just the selections about prejudice, love for family, desperation, revenge, & tragedy to name a few. I love the bass tones, the small sounds from the movie itself, how it takes one back to when my eyes were glued to the big screen. This version has dialog also. It reminds me of how my grandmother would speak of the old radio shows.There's also the professional quality that is Leonard Bernstein, & the lyrics that only Stephen Sondheim can write that brings the entire production experiance to one's ears.My absolute favorite number is #7, "America". The foot tapping & hand clapping is heard with a Latin sound, & although some of the lyrics are funny, they also are a testament to how Puerto Ricans were feeling @the time, & how they were recieved in this America."Somewhere" has to be one of the loveliest songs ever written, a song about hope, & living free of hate; somewhere.All of the rest of the songs are classic & express the feelings of the characters who are singing. The "Quintet" is brilliant for what we as kids used to call a "round", after I heard & saw it in the film, I have & will always be corrected.In closing, it's just a very nice memory for me, the music takes one back to when you 1st heard it, & now I can go back to that moment any time I'd like. ;)