“Something’s Coming”? Actually, It’s Finally Here — ‘West Side Story’ on Blu-ray!

West Side Story, arguably the greatest musical movie of all-time (that won 10 Academy Awards), was released on Blu-ray this week.

Which of course, can only mean one thing — that people spontaneously broke into the classic Jerome Robbins “Jets” and “Sharks” moves in Times Square in NYC…

Starring Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Rita Moreno and George Chakris, West Side Story is the 1950s retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet set on the streets of New York City. Instead of Capulets and Montagues, the star-crossed lovers hail from the New York street gang, The Jets, and their newly-arrived Puerto Rican immigrant rivals, The Sharks.

With the 1957 musical, the entire musical theatre form took a giant artistic leap forward. It had a score by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, and the greatest use of movement-as-storytelling ever conceived for the stage. Eventually, it was brought to the screen by co-directors Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise and still relied on Robbins’ iconic and influential choreography. West Side Story was one of the highest grossing films of 1961 and lives on as one of the most popular movie musicals of all time.

The 50th anniversary release features two Blu-ray discs, one DVD and a CD of the soundtrack. One note of warning, however. Apparently there is already an imperfection that has been discovered in the film’s transfer to Blu-ray: what was supposed to have been a dissolve transition from designer Saul Bass’ skyline pattern to the main title now appears as a fade-to-black/fade-in transition. The mistake occurred in the HD master of the film and it went unnoticed in the Blu-ray. The fault lies with MGM Home Entertainment, who owns the rights to West Side Story and handled the remastering. Apparently, the distributor will not recall the title, but will instead implement what they’re called a ‘running fix.’ This means that if anyone wants to send their West Side Story Blu-ray back, Fox Home Video will accept it and send them a corrected disc down the road. Disc distributor Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment plans to fix the issue on all future discs.

Greg Victor

Greg Victor (Parcbench Culture Editor) is a big fan of autodidacticism. He has a Masters in History and appreciates how Parcbench allows him to share his passion for all things cultural (especially music, film, theatre and tennis). He has stage managed many theatrical productions on Broadway and on tour, and is currently on an international tour with the Frank Sinatra musical "Come Fly Away." He is a proud member of the Country Music Association (CMA), and loves bringing talented artists to the attention of Parcbench readers.