Symphonic Dances (West Side Story)

Jerome Robbins proposed the idea in 1949 as East Side Story, a Romeo and Juliet set among Catholics and Jews on the Lower East Side; the project lapsed and returned six years later, relocated to the gang rivalries of the West Side. Arthur Laurents wrote the book, Stephen Sondheim the lyrics, and Bernstein a score built on jazz, Latin dance and a recurring tritone that binds the numbers together. It opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway on 26 September 1957. In 1961 Bernstein assembled the Symphonic Dances for concert orchestra, which brought the material onto symphonic programmes. The original Broadway production ran 732 performances before going on tour; it was nominated for six Tony Awards but did not win best musical. Bernstein recorded the Dances with the New York Philharmonic in the year he assembled them, and again with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1983.