Please join us Friday April 20 at 6:00 pm at the Kankakee Public Library for the screening of the 1961 film, West Side Story. This is a FREE event!
Summary: Two youngsters from rival New York City gangs fall in love, but tensions between their respective friends build toward tragedy.
But keep in mind when you see our show this summer…
1. The film dialogue changes many lines in the original Arthur Laurents book for the show, “cleaning up” dialogue viewed as possibly offensive — though today it would be considered utterly tame. (There’s not a single profanity uttered.)
3. America: the marvelous “America” sequence is performed in the theater by the Sharks’ girlfriends; an expanded movie version includes the gang boys too. The stage lyrics are quite different also, more about the perks of living in the U.S. versus Puerto Rico (rather than the prejudice and poverty faced by newcomers to this country).
4. The Prologue lasts for several minutes on stage. It’s a much longer, more elaborate sequence on film.
Most of all, just keep an open mind and remember that we’re dealing with two very different mediums here.