"Mariaaa. I just kissed a girl named Mariaaa!"

West Side Story movie poster.

My favorite musical of all-time...West Side Story. (Fingersnaps.) "Snap, snap, snap, snap, de da da da daaaaa, de da de da de daaaaa, snap, snap, snap, snap."

West Side Story opened on Broadway 50 years ago today. Geezuz. Almost forgot this little tid-bit. Thank you, NPR.

I sang "Officer Krupke" in a musical review back in 1994. Loved it. Love the movie - that jazz dancing is my favorite of all the dances. Jets. Sharks. That jazzy sound of the early 60's, Bernstein, Laurents, Sondheim...I get chills thinking about it. I wanna do the musical! I wanna jump around on stage and sing those gorgeous songs and feel what Riff and Maria and Tony and Bernardo and the Jets and Sharks were feeling.

Is it too late to play the malt shop owner, perhaps? The movie came out in 1961 and was a huge success - the most nominated for it's time - 12 nominations, was it? And it won 11.

The original Broadway playbill.

George Chakiris won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Bernardo, leader of the P.R. Sharks.

I'll let you go online and explore the story, the movie, the stage version and the songs - "Maria", "Somewhere", "Cool", the Jet Song - listen to them. Buy the soundtrack. This is a musical that changed musical theater forever. It's theme is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago.

And remember: "When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way from your first cigarette 'til your last dying day!" Cool. Be-bop!