West Side Story Resources

The official website, in all its glory.

The critics love it. In other news, the sun rises in the east.

If you need a bit of West Side magic, here's the Pinterest link.

There's not a lot of book or TV adaptations of this one – and let's be honest, the movie is kind of hard to top – but it was based on one of the most successful musicals of all time.

Everything you always wanted to know about the Real Doomed Lovers of Verona.

The paper of record liked the movie back in 1961.

Here's the usual helping of insight from the late, great king of the critics, Roger Ebert. He loves it, but he has some caveats.

Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno and George Chakiris reminisced for the film's 50th anniversary in 2011.

There's some serious dirt on how this movie—and the play before it—came together. If you're interested in the nitty gritty, NPR's got it.

The lyricist sounds off on his own work. He hates it. He's wrong.

West Side Story's screenwriter has his own collection down Longhorn way, and we've got the link.

An academic look at racist themes in West Side Story.

Here's the original trailer for the film.

Ms. Wood talks about the role of her career.

Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno and George Chakiris talk about their experience on the film in this interview from 2011.

Russ Tamblyn expounds upon all things Riff.

George Chakiris wins the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

Another Oscar for the gang, this one for Rita Moreno. And seriously, how can you not love this woman after that speech?

Wise and Robbins nail the1-2 punch at the Oscars.

Hey we can't include all those other wins without including the big one too!

It's an open secret that some members of the cast—notably Natalie Wood and Russ Tamblyn—had their voices dubbed for the singing parts. Here they are performing with their own voices.

We got a whole raft of Leonard Bernstein footage, watching the master conduct various folks through the songs.

Robert Wise talks West Side Story a couple of years after it came out.

Wise talks West Side Story much, much, much later.

A week after Marni Nixon died on July 24, 2016, Terry Gross re-broadcast a 2001 "Fresh Air" interview with Nixon and Rita Moreno (Anita) about what it was like to dub the voice of Natalie Wood, who btw wasn't aware that her entire singing performance would be dubbed. As you'll hear, she wasn't amused.

It's not hard to update this material to the 21st century… or even the late 20th, as the case may be. Here's a quick who's who of mid-90s rap stars bringing a decidedly hip-hop feeling to "Gee, Officer Krupke."

One of the original posters for the movie.

Another poster which, frankly, we love a lot more than the first.

The co-director works with his star.

Riff and the boys, at the dance.

Someone hunted down one of the actual street locations for the film.

Before starting a gang war, it's important to properly warm up.

Here's a shot of the world premiere.

Chakiris, Robbins, Wise, and Moreno with their hardware.