NEWS RELEASE

4/8/03

John Sanford, News Service: (650) 736-2151, jsanford@stanford.edu

Relevant Web URLs:
http://www.stanford.edu/group/rams-head

Tony, meet Maria: West Side Story opens this week at Stanford

The Sharks. The Jets. Ring a bell?

The student-run Ram's Head Theatrical Society at Stanford will present West Side Story, the beloved American musical adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, at 8 p.m. April 11, 12, 17, 18 and 19 in Memorial Auditorium.

Admission is $15, or $9 for Stanford students. Tickets are on sale weekday afternoons in White Plaza and also will be available at the door.

The story takes place in New York City in the 1950s. Two warring street gangs -- the self-styled "American" Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks -- stand in for Shakespeare's Montagues and Capulets. As fate would have it, Tony, a one-time member of the Jets, falls in love with Maria, the sister of Sharks leader Bernardo.

Arthur Laurents wrote the book for the musical; Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics; and Leonard Bernstein wrote the music. Jerome Robbins directed and choreographed the original production; the story is also based on his conception. The well-known film version, released in 1961, was directed by Robbins and Robert Wise, with a screenplay by Ernest Lehman.

The Ram's Head production is directed by recent Stanford graduate Sean Fenton, with new choreography by junior Lauren Uyeshiro. For more information, contact Abby Phelps at amphelps@stanford.edu or Lauren Kramer at larzbeth@stanford.edu, or visit the society's website at www.stanford.edu/group/rams-head.

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