West Side Story: A Musical (Book/Libretto)

Arthur Laurents (1917-2011), a playwright, screenwriter, and director, wrote two of Broadway's landmark shows, Gypsy and West Side Story, and created one of Hollywood's most well-known romances, The Way We Were. He is the author of Original Story By, his first autobiography. David Saint (New Brunswick, NJ) and Laurents worked together on eleven show more plays and musicals, including the hit Broadway revival and national tour of West Side Story and seven world premieres by Laurents at George Street Playhouse. Now in his fifteenth season as the artistic director of the George Street Playhouse, Saint has directed thirty-nine mainstage productions and is the recipient of the Alan Schneider Award, Helen Hayes Award, Los Angeles Drama Critics Award, and several Drama-Logue Awards. show less

Choreographer, theatrical director, and dancer Jerome Robbins was born in New York City. He began his career during the 1940s dancing with the American Ballet Theatre and in Broadway musicals. His first major roles for the American Ballet Theatre were in the productions Helen of Troy and Romeo and Juliet. After four years dancing with the company, show more he decided to focus on choreography, and Fancy Free (1944) was his first major work. In 1949 Robbins joined the New York City Ballet, dancing in several Balanchine ballets and choreographing 9 ballets in 10 years. During that time he also worked on a variety of Broadway shows, including his first, On the Town (1944) (which was derived from the popular Fancy Free), The King and I (1951), Peter Pan (1954), and the hugely successful West Side Story (1957). Other Broadway successes included Gypsy (1959) and Fiddler on the Roof (1964). Robbins returned to New York City Ballet in 1969 when he choreographed Dances at a Gathering for the company. Since that time he has remained with the company, adding his own works to the repertory and serving as joint ballet master and codirector with Peter Martins after the death of George Balanchine in 1983. The works he has created for New York City Ballet combine classical ballet with more earthy folk styles. In addition to Dances at a Gathering, his most well-known ballet works include The Goldberg Variations (1971), Watermill (1972), Piano Concerto in G (1975), and Glass Pieces (1983). Robbins won two Oscars in 1961 for the film version of West Side Story. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Stephen Sondheim was born in New York and studied music at Williams College, where he wrote the lyrics and music for two college shows. Sondheim also studied at Princeton University with Milton Babbit. He received recognition for writing lyrics for Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story (1957) and success as a lyricist-composer with A Funny Thing show more Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962). However, his next musical, Anyone Can Whistle (1964), was unsuccessful. The production of Company (1970) again established Sondheim as a major composer and lyricist on Broadway. Sondheim's other productions include Follies (1971); A Little Night Music (1973), wherein its leading song, "Send in the Clowns," was awarded a Grammy in 1976; and Sunday in the Park with George (1983), a musical inspired by George Seurat's famous painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte." He has won him three Tony Awards, a Grammy Award, the New York Drama Critics Circle Best Musical Award, and the Pulitzer Prize. (Bowker Author Biography) show less