'West Side Story' returns to its roots 50 years on

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2007

NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — An old man of 94 watches intently as young dancers leap higher, bringing to life the clash of the Sharks and the Jets.

Fifty years after its creation, the original version of "West Side Story", a landmark in modern musical theatre, is back.

In a New York studio, auditions are winding up and Paul Szilard, a dance world impresario and former collaborator of the show's creator choreographer Jerome Robbins, scans the action, hand on his cane.

"This is looking like" the original, he said in lightly accented French. "I have seen so many amateur versions," he sighed.

"West Side Story," which will mark the big anniversary with a European swing with stops in Paris, Vienna and Zurich, will feature composer Leonard Bernstein's...