LEONARD BERNSTEIN
"It was the hardest show to cast I've ever heard of. Everybody has either to be or seem to be a teen-ager, to sing a very difficult score, to act a very difficult role, and dance very difficult dances."
Otis L. Guernsey, Jr. (ed.), Broadway Song and Story
CHITA RIVERA
"People always ask, 'How did it feel? Did you know that it was going to be such a huge hit?' Well, we knew nothing. None of us realized what was going on because we were so busy 'being' it. Being taught, being scared. Fear works sometimes, it really does. And so every day was another challenge for us."
Interview, The Sondheim Review, Volume IX No. 3 Winter 2003
CAROL LAWRENCE
"Jerry Robbins was a genius. You don't contest his talents, his versatility or his brilliance, but he only knew how to correct you in the most derogatory, destructive manner – he took great joy in it. He was articulate, he was funny, but it was always you bleeding on the floor."
Interview, The Sondheim Review, Volume VII No. 1 Summer 2000
TOM ABBOTT
"None of us knew what we were getting into. Rehearsals were intense -- you wouldn't [associate] with a member of the opposite gang. Our noticeboard was full of news clippings about street fights, muggings, gangs, rumbles, police. It was strange, both 'sides' were working on a common project but from two complete different points of view, and a lot of the hate between Jets and Sharks during rehearsal was authentic. We found things out about ourselves: we were prejudiced, bigoted. If you stripped off the civilized veneer, there was a sort of barbaric feeling underneath."
Interview on the occasion of the 1984 London revival, which Mr. Abbott staged and choreographed
RICHARD RODGERS
[Jerome Robbins speaking] "I remember Richard Rodgers’ contribution. We had a death scene for Maria. She was going to commit suicide, as in Shakespeare, [Richard] said, 'She’s dead already, after all this happened to her.'"
Otis L. Guernsey, Jr. (ed.), Broadway Song and Story
STEPHEN SONDHEIM
"Essentially it’s a blend of all the elements—music, book, lyrics, dance. More than subject matter, its innovation has to do with theatrical style. We were influenced by the movies—there was a fluidity in the staging, which had a cinematic quality. No show had ever been staged or conceived this way as a fluid piece which called on the poetic imagination of the audience. That’s something that’s taken for granted now, [but] West Side Story has been the major influence."
Otis L. Guernsey, Jr. (ed.), Broadway Song and Story
ARTHUR LAURENTS
"What we really did stylistically with West Side Story was take every musical theater technique as far as it could be taken. Scene, song and dance were integrated seamlessly; we did it all better than anyone ever had before. We were not the innovators we were called but what we did achieve was more than enough to be proud of. "
Arthur Laurents, Original Story By
JEROME ROBBINS
"There was this wonderful, mutual exchange going on. We can talk here about details, 'I did this, I did that,' but the essence of it was what we gave to each other, took from each other, yielded to each other, surrendered, reworked, put back together again. It was a very important and extraordinary time. The collaboration was most fruitful during that period. I say that because we got turned down so much, and for so many reasons, that we kept going back to the script, or rather our play, saying 'That didn't work, I wonder why not, what didn't they like, let's take a look at it again.'"
Otis L. Guernsey, Jr. (ed.), Broadway Song and Story
HAROLD PRINCE
"In the case of West Side Story…for the first time seeing a cast do everything—and a young cast at that—that was stunning. And clearly that was Jerry's contribution and it was huge."
Interview for "West Side Memories"
DAVID WINTERS
"At the end of the second act [of the very first preview performance in Washington DC] the closing curtain came down and there was a deadly silence, no clapping, no coughing, no shuffling, nothing but dead silence. The audience quietly sat there, not even moving, they seemed stunned. Of course we all thought they hated it but then, just like in the movies, one person clapped and then two and then twenty and then the whole auditorium just erupted with hysterical applause. The entire audience stood up, yelling 'Bravo' and screaming and carrying on, it was truly fantastic. We were all overcome with emotion and, not to mention, a great deal of relief. I realized, for the first time, that I was a part of something very, very special."
David Winters, in personal correspondence, with thanks
ALAN JOHNSON
"Somehow that group became stronger as a family than any other show I've ever been connected to. The West Side Story people have gone on to become writers, directors, producers, teachers, choreographers. I call it the University of West Side Story. When you do a production that can teach you about the theater—the definitive kind of lessons of what's required of you onstage at every moment, it's really incredible."
Greg Lawrence, Dance with Demons
LEONARD BERNSTEIN
"I guess we were right not to cast 'singers:' anything that sounded more professional would inevitably sound more experienced, and then the 'kid' quality would be gone. A perfect example of a disadvantage turned into a virtue."
"A West Side Story Log" as re-printed for the liner notes of Mr. Bernstein’s Deutsche Grammophon recording. The banner quotation is from the same source.
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