Part One: Making a New Kind of Musical
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Creative giants: Stephen Sondheim (left), who'd go on to become one of theater's most celebrated composers, wrote the lyrics for West Side Story. Classical music superstar Leonard Bernstein was the composer, ballet and Broadway maven Jerome Robbins the director and choreographer. Alfred Eisenstadt/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images hide caption
Creative giants: Stephen Sondheim (left), who'd go on to become one of theater's most celebrated composers, wrote the lyrics for West Side Story. Classical music superstar Leonard Bernstein was the composer, ballet and Broadway maven Jerome Robbins the director and choreographer.
Alfred Eisenstadt/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Bad boys: Ken LeRoy's Bernardo (left) and Mickey Callin's Riff square off in West Side Story's famous rumble scene in this shot from the original Broadway production. Hank Walker/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images hide caption
Bad boys: Ken LeRoy's Bernardo (left) and Mickey Callin's Riff square off in West Side Story's famous rumble scene in this shot from the original Broadway production.
Hank Walker/Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesAudio Extras
Bernstein: How Sondheim got the job
Sondheim and Laurents: Characterizing the chorus
Lyric Sketch: 'Somewhere'
Wisconsin Historical Society. Used by permission, Stephen Sondheim. Image courtesy Library of Congress.