In 1949, a project that would eventually become the most famous musical in history began as a story about Jewish and Catholic families fighting over Easter and Passover on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Jerome Robbins approached Leonard Bernstein and Arthur Laurents with the idea of adapting Romeo and Juliet, but the initial concept was deeply rooted in the specific tensions of the post-war Jewish and Catholic communities. The girl in the original draft had survived the Holocaust and emigrated from Israel, creating a conflict centered on antisemitism between the Catholic Jets and the Jewish Emeralds. Laurents wrote a first draft titled East Side Story, but the team soon realized the material was derivative of existing plays like Abie's Irish Rose. Robbins dropped out, and the project was shelved for nearly five years, leaving the three collaborators to pursue separate paths before fate would bring them back together.
The Creative Reunion
The project resurfaced in 1955 when Laurents was hired to write a screenplay for a remake of The Painted Veil, but the film production fell apart, freeing him to return to the stage musical. This time, the setting shifted to the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and the conflict was reimagined as a struggle between white American teenagers and Puerto Rican immigrants. The Jets were no longer Jewish, and the Sharks were no longer Catholic; they were now defined by race and turf. Bernstein, who had been blacklisted for alleged communist activities, worked with Laurents and Robbins, who had cooperated with the House Un-American Activities Committee, to create a new kind of lyric theater. Stephen Sondheim, a young composer and lyricist, was brought into the fold after Oscar Hammerstein convinced him to take the job, replacing the original lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The team faced immense pressure to deliver a show that was both operatic and accessible, blending jazz, Latin rhythms, and symphonic sweep in ways no one had attempted before.The Dance of Violence
Jerome Robbins demanded a level of realism and physical intensity that had never been seen on Broadway. He insisted on an eight-week dance rehearsal period, double the customary time, to ensure that the choreography could carry the narrative weight of the story. Robbins gave each dancer a unique gesture repertoire, treating them as actors rather than just choreographed bodies. The cast included Larry Kert as Tony, Carol Lawrence as Maria, and Chita Rivera as Anita, all of whom had to navigate the complex emotional landscape of the show. Robbins kept the actors playing the Jets and the Sharks separate to discourage socializing, reminding them of the reality of gang violence by posting news stories on the backstage bulletin board. The result was a production that was gritty, dangerous, and emotionally raw, with a score that Bernstein fought to keep intact despite pressure to cut the more complex passages.