West Side Story (film) Brittany Snow and Drake Bell. West Side Story (film) West Side Story is a 1961 American romantic musical tragedy film directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. The film is an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was inspired by William Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet". It stars Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, and George Chakiris, and was photographed by Daniel L. Fapp, A.S.C., in Super Panavision 70. Released on October 18, 1961, through United Artists, the film received high praise from critics and viewers, and became the second highest
Gypsy (musical) to "The New York Times" in 2003) about directing the revival, and Mendes said "he was surprised by the idea of casting Ms. Peters as Rose". Laurents notes of his suggestions on this production are in his 2009 book "Mainly on Directing 'Gypsy', 'West Side Story' and Other Musicals". In a 2004 interview Laurents said that Peters' portrayal of Rose was "brilliant, original, totally unlike any of the others" while criticizing Mendes for the "physical production" which Laurents said "was misconceived and hurt the show more than people realized." "Gypsy" had begun previews with a virtually bare stage, but by