SPECIAL MESSAGE
Due to the special collaboration between BalletMet, CAPA, The Columbus Symphony, and Opera Columbus, all single tickets for West Side Story are being sold through CBUSArts.org.
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Show Details
Notes Elements of every production such as show length, casting, dates, times, and entry policies are subject to change
Based on a Conception of JEROME ROBBINS.
Originally produced on Broadway by Robert E. Griffith and Harold S. Prince by arrangement with Roger L. Stevens
WEST SIDE STORY is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI.
www.mtishows.com
This performance will be performed with Spanish and English captions.
West Side Story is not recommended for audiences under 13. This production contains smoke, haze, depictions of physical violence, slurs, implied drug use, gunshots, and sexual references.
Run Time Approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes
This production is full length, meaning, one production with intermissions, similar to a book with chapters.
Author Arthur Laurents
Book by Arthur Laurents (Librettist) was for more than half a century one of America’s most distinguished figures in the arts. He moved in the theater between writing to directing, while also scoring great successes as a Hollywood screenwriter. Laurents began his career writing for radio, prior to the production of his first Broadway play, Home of the Brave (1945). Other plays included A Clearing in the Woods (1957) and Invitation to a March (1960).
Laurents’s association with composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim includes, in addition to West Side Story, the musicals Gypsy (book), Anyone Can Whistle (direction, book), and Do I Hear a Waltz? (book). He also directed several other Broadway musicals, including I Can Get It for You Wholesale in 1962, La Cage aux Folles in 1983 (for which he won a Tony Award), the 2008 revival of Gypsy, and the 2009 bilingual revival of West Side Story. Among his screenwriting credits are Rope (for Alfred Hitchcock), Anastasia, Bonjour Tristesse, The Way We Were, and The Turning Point. He wrote two memoirs, Original Story by Arthur Laurents and The Rest of the Story. He died in 2011.
Choreography Jerome Robbins Director and Choreographer Original Production
Jerome Robbins (Original Director and Choreographer) began his career as a dancer, winning particular praise as a soloist at Ballet Theatre (later known as American Ballet Theatre). Once he ended his performing career, he achieved world renown as a choreographer of ballets, as well as for directing and choreographing in theater, movies, and television.
His Broadway shows included On the Town, Billion Dollar Baby, High Button Shoes, West Side Story, The King and I, Gypsy, Peter Pan, Miss Liberty, Call Me Madam, and Fiddler on the Roof. His last Broadway production, Jerome Robbins’ Broadway (1989), won six Tony Awards, including best musical and best director. Among Robbins’s more than 60 ballets are Fancy Free, Afternoon of a Faun, The Concert, Dances At a Gathering, Other Dances, Glass Pieces, and Ives, Songs, which are in the repertories of New York City Ballet and other major companies worldwide. Robbins received two Academy Awards, four Tony Awards, five Donaldson Awards, an Emmy Award, the Screen Directors’ Guild Award, and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. He was a 1981 Kennedy Center Honors recipient and was awarded the French Chevalier dans l’Ordre National de la Legion d’Honneur. Robbins died in 1998.
Choreography Remi Wörtmeyer Choreographer Local Version
Inspired by Jerome Robbins’ original choreography, Mr. Wörtmeyer choreographed this piece specifically for this collaboration.
Born in Adelaide, Australia, Mr. Wörtmeyer is a multi-award-winning choreographer, dancer, designer (of décor, costumes and fashion) and teacher who trained in classical dance at The Australian Ballet School.
Formerly a principal with Dutch National Ballet, he also danced with The Australian Ballet and American Ballet Theatre and guested internationally, dancing on the world’s greatest stages including Sydney Opera House, New York’s Metropolitan Opera House, The London Coliseum and Sadler’s Wells, St Petersburg’s Alexandrinsky Theatre, New National Theatre Tokyo, the Grand Theatres of Shanghai and Hong Kong, National Centre for the Performing Arts Bejing, Palais de Congrès and Théâtre du Châtelet Paris.
Mr. Wörtmeyer’s one-act and evening-length choreographic works include creations for Dutch National Ballet, Queensland Ballet, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Benois de la Danse, and a bespoke pas de deux – Penumbra – for Roberto Bolle and Melissa Hamilton (Arena di Verona, 2022). Remi’s ballet Significant Others (on the subject of artists Sonia and Robert Delauney) headlined Atlanta Ballet’s spring season earlier this year.
Remi’s fashion and sculptural works have been exhibited by galleries in Amsterdam, Sydney and Berlin. His collaboration with haute couturier Ronald van der Kamp saw him debut his own high-end handmade sculptural jewellery as part of RVDK’s spring/summer 2023 collection at Paris Fashion Week.
Mr. Wörtmeyer was named Artistic Director of BalletMet in June 2024 where he will continue to choreograph new works for companies both domestically and abroad.
Music Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein transformed the way Americans and people everywhere hear and appreciate music. Bernstein’s successes as a composer ranged from Broadway (West Side Story, On the Town, Wonderful Town, Candide) to major concert works, such as his three symphonies – subtitled Jeremiah (1944), The Age of Anxiety (1949), and Kaddish (1963) – and Serenade for violin, strings and percussion (1954); Chichester Psalms (1965); Mass: A Theater Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers (1971); Songfest (1977); Concerto for Orchestra: Jubilee Games (1989); and Arias and Barcarolles (1988). Bernstein also composed two operas, Trouble in Tahiti (1952) and A Quiet Place (1983), and three ballets, Fancy Free (1944), Facsimile (1946), and Dybbuk (1975). He received an Oscar nomination for the score of On the Waterfront (1954).
Bernstein conducted the world’s greatest orchestras for almost half a century. He enjoyed special relationships with the New York Philharmonic (music director, 1958-69, thereafter permanent laureate conductor), the Israel Philharmonic, and the Vienna Philharmonic. Among Bernstein’s many honors were the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Gold Medal, a Kennedy Center Honor, 11 Emmy Awards, a special Tony Award, a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award, and the Japan Arts Association’s Praemium Imperiale. Bernstein died in 1990.
Lyrics Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Anyone Can Whistle, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeny Todd, The Frogs, Pacific Overtures, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Assassins, Passion, and Road Show, as well as lyrics for West Side Story, Gypsy, Do I Hear a Waltz?, and additional lyrics for Candide.
Anthologies of his work as composer and lyricist include Side by Side by Sondheim, Marry Me a Little, You’re Gonna Love Tomorrow, Putting It Together, and Moving On. He composed film scores for Stavisky and Reds, and songs for Dick Tracy (Academy Award). Sondheim has won six Tony Awards for best score for a musical, and eight of his shows have won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. Sunday in the Park with George received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1985. Sondheim was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1983. In 1990 he was the first Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Oxford University. He has received a Kennedy Center Honor and the Praemium Imperiale, Japan’s highest honor, for a lifetime of artistic achievement.
Digital Tickets
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Behind the Curtain
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Ohio Theatre
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FAQ
Where do I park?
There are parking garages near the Ohio and the Capitol theatres, as well as limited metered street parking (most of which is free after 6 pm and on Sundays).
Ohio Statehouse Parking Garage
$5 during events
Enter from westbound Broad Street or Third Street.
Riffe Center Parking Garage
$5 during events
Enter from Front Street. Take the elevators to the third floor and proceed along the hall to the Davidson Theatre. (For the Box Office or Will Call, descend the escalators to the first floor.)
Downtown traffic can be heavy, so please plan ahead. We recommend arriving 20-30 minutes early to park, find your seat, explore the program and relax before the performance. Audience members who arrive late may not be seated until intermission.
What do I wear?
This is our most-asked question, and the answer is: You probably won’t feel out of place no matter what you wear. If you want to wear jeans, go for it—we promise you won’t be alone. If you want to dress up, feel free. Many others do, too. We don’t see as much formal-wear in the theater as we once did, though it wouldn’t be unusual to see a tux or a gown at a performance. Basically, anything goes.
Do the dancers talk?
No, dancers express the story or meaning through the movement. In some story ballets, dancers will use pantomime (exaggerated movements) to help you understand what’s happening. If you see a ballet with pantomime, head to the lobby, where we’ll have more information and guidance. If you ever struggle to follow along, feel free to chat with a BalletMet staff member in the lobby who will happily answer any questions you have.
When do I clap?
If you are wowed by something you just saw, please do applaud. At BalletMet, we love to hear clapping. It’s uplifting to those performing, as they can often feel your excitement and energy on stage. So applaud whenever you see fit! Note: Not every ballet company feels this way, so keep that in mind if you happen to be at another company’s performance.