West Side Story (film) 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 grossing film of the year
Kenton's West Side Story harmonic and rhythmic structures. To fill in the blanks, there are numerous 'Richard-isms' in "Kenton's West Side Story" that surface musically; a great deal of sylistic characteristics of his renderings of Bernstein's music are borrowed from the successful 1956 "Cuban Fire!" LP and his other Kenton orchestrations. Many of the Afro-Latin themes from both Kenton LPs ("Cuban Fire!" vs "West Side Story") are similar but both retain their uniqueness in the hands of Richards. It is mentioned earlier about Mirisch Company executive being impressed with the Johnny Richards orchestrations but in the end there is little doubt Richards designed his