West Side Story to Return to Broadway Directed by Ivo van Hove
(© David Gordon)
West Side Story will return to Broadway in a new production directed by Tony Award winner Ivo van Hove (The Crucible), set to begin performances on December 10, 2019, ahead of an official opening night on February 6, 2020, at a theater to be announced.
For the first time ever in the United States, the production will feature all-new choreography by the internationally acclaimed Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. The musical will also feature scenery and lighting design by van Hove's longtime collaborator, Jan Versweyveld.
The original production of West Side Story first premiered at Broadway's Winter Garden Theatre on September 26, 1957. Created by Jerome Robbins, Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim, the musical reimagined the most enduring love story ever written, Romeo and Juliet, as a contemporary musical.
In a statement, Sondheim said, "This is Ivo van Hove's first Broadway musical, and I'm eager to see what he does with it. What keeps theater alive over time is reinterpretation, and when that reinterpretation is as invigorating as his productions of A View From the Bridge and The Crucible, it makes for something to look forward to with excitement."
