Musical Theatre West
WEST SIDE STORY
PERFORMANCES BEGIN FRIDAY


FIRST WEEK OF WEST SIDE STORY IS SOLD OUT
SECOND WEEK HAS 
EXTREMELY LIMITED AVAILABILITY

PERFORMANCES FEBRUARY 25 - 27
HAVE THE MOST AVAILABILITY

BEST SEATS/BEST PRICES 
AVAILABLE SUNDAY 2/28 AT 7PM 


HEAR THIS STUNNING SCORE PLAYED BY A 30 PIECE ORCHESTRA
WITH A 32 PERSON CAST!


Here's a behind-the-scenes peek at 
West Side Story  in rehearsal:

Can't see the above video?   Click here.

TICKET AVAILABILITY

(PREVIEW) FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12 at 8pm - SOLD OUT
(OPENING) SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13 at 8pm - SOLD OUT
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14 at 2pm - SOLD OUT
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19 at 8pm - 40 seats remain
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20 at 2pm - 30 seats remain
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20 at 8pm - 20 seats remain
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21 at 2pm - 20 seats remain
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21 at 7pm - 50 seats remain
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25 at 8pm - Great availability
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26 at 8pm - Great availability
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27 at 2pm - Good availability
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27 at 8pm - Great availability
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28 at 2pm - Limited availability
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28 at 7pm - Best availability; Best Prices


A PREVIEW OF THE DIRECTOR'S PROGRAM NOTES FOR WEST SIDE STORY


Our director, Joe Langworth, wrote these notes for the program for MTW's WEST SIDE STORY.  We thought you'd like a little preview.

West Side Story, the iconic re-telling of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, is known for its transcendent music, genius choreography and tragic, inter-racial love story.  Instead of 16th century Italy, our star-crossed lovers find themselves in a turbulent neighborhood on the west side of Manhattan in the late 1950s.  Why, after almost 60 years since its Broadway debut, are we still fascinated by this musical?  Perhaps its prophetic themes have more to do with present-day America than one may appreciate at first glance.

In the wake of World War II, urban planner Robert Moses, one of the more polarizing figures of his day, advocated for the construction of major expressways and large public housing projects in New York City.  While jobs were generated, these massive construction projects tore through almost 9000 neighborhood buildings, making little or no provisions for the families they displaced.  Of the estimated 250,000 dislocated working-class residents, almost 40% were Puerto Rican and African American and racial tensions increased as they moved into peripheral white, Euro-American neighborhoods. 

Eric C. Schneider, in his seminal work on gangs in New York in the 1950s "Vampires, Dragons and Egyptian Kings," drives this point home. The lives of individual working class New Yorkers were turned on end, as they were thrown into a social and economic maelstrom with disregard.  

Viewed against this backdrop, it is clear that neither the Jets nor the Sharks of West Side Story are the antagonists of the play; rather, ill-conceived public policy is -- destabilizing ethnic boundary lines, increasing competition for space and employment and exacerbating confrontations, all too often resulting in fatalities.  
Deprived adolescents took their aggressions out in the streets; forming gangs that provided a sense of community that questionable urban planning deprived them of.  

These gang members were considered "pathological misfits."  In hind-sight, we can see that these kids didn't create societal problems -- they were merely the by-products of public policies that wiped out neighborhoods, challenged economic stability and reinforced segregation amongst the working class.  

 
Musical Theatre West
4350 East 7th Street
Long Beach, California 90804
562-856-1999 x4
www.musical.org
Box Office Hours:
Tuesday-Saturday:  12:00pm - 6:00pm