West Side Story is thesoundtrack album to the 1961 filmWest Side Story, featuring music byLeonard Bernstein and lyrics byStephen Sondheim. Released in 1961, the soundtrack spent 54 weeks at No. 1 onBillboard's stereo albums charts, giving it the longest run at No. 1 of any album in history,[2] although some lists instead creditMichael Jackson'sThriller, on the grounds that this run forWest Side Story was on a chart forstereo albums only at a time when many albums were recorded inmono.[3] It did also spend 6 weeks at the top of theBillboard chart for mono albums. In 1962, it won aGrammy award for "Best Sound Track Album – Original Cast". In theUnited States, it was one of the best-selling albums of the 1960s,[4] certifyingthree times platinum by the RIAA on November 21, 1986.
Though the album was released just a few years after the release ofthe original broadway cast recording, it is according to musical theater historian Ethan Mordden preferred by some to the earlier version both sentimentally, as the film succeeded in establishing the musical as a "popular masterpiece", and musically, as it contains "beefier orchestration".[5]
In her autobiography,I Could Have Sung All Night,Marni Nixon writes about singing the role of Maria and of her observations of some of the other singers whose voices weredubbed into the film.[6] Very little of the singing in the finished film and on the soundtrack album was contributed by the on-screen stars of the film; whileGeorge Chakiris did all of his own singing for the few solo lines of his character Bernardo, Jim Bryant entirely dubbed the singing role of Tony for Richard Beymer, and Rita Moreno's singing as Anita was partly dubbed by Betty Wand (and by Nixon). According to Moreno herself, Wand dubbed all or part of her singing in "A Boy Like That", although it's not clear if that was the total extent of the dubbing she did.Russ Tamblyn, who plays Riff in the film, provided his own vocals for the song "Gee, Officer Krupke" and for a few lines in the "Tonight" ensemble, but in the "Jet Song" he was dubbed by Tucker Smith, who plays the role of Ice in the film. Smith himself sings his character's song "Cool" and his own lines in the "Tonight" ensemble.
Final determination of which voices would be used and to what extent for the film's songs was left toproducerSaul Chaplin, who at various times told Nixon that her voice would be used to supplement or extend that of actressNatalie Wood or to replace it altogether.[6] According to various sources, Wood was assured throughout the recording and filming process that her vocals would be used for most of Maria's singing in the film, with Nixon's voice dubbed in only for the higher, more challenging vocal sections, and Wood did lip sync to her own pre-recorded tracks of the songs during filming. But after filming was complete, Nixon post-dubbed or "looped" all of Maria's songs while watching film loops. Nixon also dubbed several lines for Moreno in the latter part of the "Tonight" ensemble, because the range of that section was too high for both Moreno and Betty Wand. Although it was not industry standard at the time, Nixon arranged to receive a small percentage of the royalties for sales of the soundtrack, which, as she did not receive credit for her performance on the album, she indicates helped "salve any wounds".[7]
While the film was released byUnited Artists, the soundtrack album was produced and released byColumbia Masterworks Records as part of rights it acquired in producing the Broadway cast album.[8]
^This song was released in a shorter three-part version on original lp pressings, omitting the "Mambo" and "Pas de Deux"; the complete five-part version was added for cd releases.
^This song was not present on original LP pressings, but was added for the 2004 CD re-release.
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