Wild Side Story multimedia experience. Recorded narration was added in Los Angeles in 1977 to help audiences grasp plot continuity. Costumes especially designed and created in 1976 by Maria Knutsson of Sweden's popular Gul&Blå boutiques have continued to be used since then, and the same body language that the director found in the young Cubans already in 1972 has also been preserved to a large extent. With about half the music from the classic musical "West Side Story", in several versions including instrumentals and comedy renditions, of course that musical is parodied, especially its suicidal "Romeo and Juliet " theme. Other songs are
West Side Story note." He directed a pre-Broadway production of "West Side Story" at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. that ran from December 15, 2008, through January 17, 2009. The Broadway revival began previews at the Palace Theatre on February 23, 2009, and opened on March 19, 2009. The production wove Spanish lyrics and dialogue into the English libretto. The translations are by Tony Award winner Lin-Manuel Miranda. Laurents stated, "The musical theatre and cultural conventions of 1957 made it next to impossible for the characters to have authenticity. Every member of both gangs was always a potential killer even then. Now