As the world prepares to celebrate the 60th anniversary of West Side Story in 2017, dancer Bruno Tonioli and broadcaster Suzy Klein go in search of the true stories behind the inception of this classic show. For the first time on television, they hear first-hand from those involved in the show when it opened on Broadway in September 1957, including Sondheim himself, producer Hal Prince and original cast members from both show and movie, including Chita Rivera Carol Lawrence and Rita Moreno. With the BBC Symphony Orchestra and specially cast singers, we re-live some of the wonderful music and, in the company of Suzy and Bruno, we discover how West Side Story placed the 1950s phenomena of racial tension and teenage gangs centre stage to create a hit that changed musical theatre forever.
You May Also Like
A documentary exploring how money and the trading of value has evolved, culminating in Bitcoin.
The legacy of Billy Tipton, a 20th-century American jazz musician and trans icon, is brought to life by a diverse group of contemporary trans artists.
Ending the Silence explores patriarchal and hierarchal structures in the church that foster the devaluing and demonizing of sex, women, and the LGBTQ community.
A series of lawsuits and allegations have legendary rap mogul P. Diddy on the ropes. TMZ has the troubling inside story from people who were there.
Form small beginnings on a Victorian farm to globetrotting punk rock icons, the Cosmic Psychos became one of Australia’s most influential bands. Now after thirty years of music making, ‘Cosmic Psychos: Blokes You Can Trust’ documents the highs and lows of the group’s musical career as told by members from the Melvins, L7, Mud Honey, Pearl Jam, and The Hard-Ons with other international music producers and from the Cosmic Psycho band members themselves.
When Kenny Scharf arrived in NYC in the early 1980’s, he quickly met and befriended Keith Haring and Jean Michel Basquiat; There, amongst the fervent creative bustle of a depressed downtown scene the trio would soon change the way we think about art, the world, and ourselves. But unlike Haring and Basquiat, who both died tragically young, Kenny lived through cataclysmic shifts in the East Village as well as the ravages of AIDS and economic depression. ‘When Worlds Collide’ is about the art of fun, about living life out loud, despite setbacks, and about Kenny Scharf’s particular do-it- yourself, high-tone, technicolor artistic vision.
Investigates the greatest vanishing act in the history of our planet – the sudden disappearance of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.
A Canadian craftsman and an American designer with a father and son generation gap collaborate to revive the ancient Japanese woodcut using pop-culture icons: Mario and Pokémon.
Michelle Obama delves into the challenges and life lessons that shaped her second bestselling book in an illuminating conversation with Oprah Winfrey.
An introduction to the work of some of the foremost Black visual artists working today, inspired by the late David Driskell’s landmark 1976 exhibition, “Two Centuries of Black American Art.”
In the 1980s, Corey Pegues found himself embroiled in a life of crime as a member of New York’s City’s infamous Supreme Team gang. After an incident forces Pegues away from the streets, he unexpectedly emerges as a rising star in the NYPD, his past unknown to his fellow officers. A decorated 21-year police career is threatened when his political stances and revelations about his former life cause strife within the police community.
Takes a look at the life of the talented musician and composer, saxophonist Maria Faust. The film closely follows the birth of three works and how Maria’s personal experiences are reflected in her work.
