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The Sharks are Puerto Ricans, This building with a cross on it can also be found on the map on 68th Street. Now, still on the western end of 68th Street, a Jet is about to be caught spray-painting a modest insult about the Sharks on the wall of an already knocked-down building. The Sharks are Puerto Ricans, As Mambo pivots into Cha-Cha at the gym, the fateful dance sequence entwines the destinies of Tony and Maria together far more tightly than Juliet's lament: "My only love sprung from my only hate! Match These Taylor Swift Songs to Her Ex-Boyfriends, HOT SONG: 21 Savage x Metro Boomin - "My Dawg​" - LYRICS, NEW SONG: Rod Wave - POP SMOKE - "MOOD SWINGS" ft. Lil Tjay - LYRICS. You can see snow on the ground. Here's the school from the ground level. ". 94) on the right in the opening scenes of the prologue. -Accumiliation. That was filmed on the western and southern end of the block, where some buildings had already been knocked down. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is the inspiration for the tragedy of Tony and Maria. The Neighborhood - The months before ever could. Here we see there was an Endicott Express store at 241 West 68th in 1958. ...who now dance down 68th Street past the Endicott Shipping company at #241. In West Side Story, Robbins broke with musical theater traditions to portray the unglamorous world of urban gangs with all the gravitas of the classic narratives about the privileged class. © 2006-2020 LoveToKnow, Corp., except where otherwise noted. Here the camera shows the end of Central Park at right, so we are on 110th Street just east of 8th Ave (Central Park West). But for now, let's look at the sneaker of the dancer on the right. The camera shows the Jets from Bernardo's point-of-view. All Rights Reserved. It's directly east of 110th Street, but across the East River on Randall's Island. Here is where that would have been on the map. (The dividing line between the east and west sides of Manhattan is Fifth Avenue. Back on 110th Street, do you see how the yellow tenement on the left (to the left of the third car up) matches up with the one behind the Lieutenant? The individual dances edge dialog and acting aside to tell the tale. It starts with the sound of a long whistle (like a gang call) and then opens a picture of the buildings at the base of Manhattan. The insurance-map of the street (from the Library) confirms that there was a garage there. (I stuck the words KEYS/LOCKS up on the wall on a modern day photo of the playground to make it easier for you to match up the location.). A second, lower deck for cars and trucks (which is why I had initially discounted the bridge) was built between late 1959 and August 1962. So, if you pan your view left, when you arrive at the open pit, that's the exact spot where the school was on 68th Street in the film where the Jets danced in the prologue. ", This is that same building as seen in the prologue. The next shot is of the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge (formerly the Triborough Bridge) eight miles north of the Verrazano Bridge. The actors have written that they had a great time making this scene, but after each take they had to change completely to get the paint off- so it took many hours to film it - and the actors got giddy by late in the day.). To be notified of new PopSpots entries, follow PopSpotsNYC on Twitter: For questions or comments you can email me (Bob) Regarding 110th Street he says: "So what you have in the opening is a combination of West Side and East Side. Cool is bottled-up dynamite, as the Jets caution each other to contain the rage and hostility that will erupt into bloodshed and continue an ancient feud. The sequence ends with a ZOOM into the playground where the dancing part of the prologue begins. (I wonder what kind of dance that kid is doing?). Then we fly a few blocks north to Wall Street. Here's where it is on the map. ", Another way to match up addresses is to do a Google search for the store names on buildings. (Anyone with a NYPL library card can use it. And in this, you can see a before-and-after of the whole Lincoln Center Tower area, including 68th Street, as we saw earlier. The white arrow points to where the gang is jumping. The locations are on 110th Street on the east side of Manhattan (between 1st and 2nd Ave) and 68th street on the west side of Manhattan (between West End Avenue and Amsterdam Avenue). Another method to find where a scene was shot is by zooming into facts on photos. Building address numbers go higher in either direction starting from Fifth Ave.). Here is that shot in relation to some other streets. The style of West Side Story relies on fiery dynamics, belligerent staccato, syncopation, exaggerated extensions -- particularly high leg lifts -- and the lyrical moves of the lovers and the bereaved. 110th Street and 68th Street workin' together to create a mythical stage for the epic love story, West Side Story, the musical based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet about star crossed lovers whose lives are tragically compromised by their relationships with the local, rival gangs - the Sharks and the Jets. He plans to make the challenge to Bernardo, the Sharks' … Under "Google - advanced search" - you can search Google by time period. These were some of the buildings that were replaced. Only after a little research (below) did I find that at the time of the filming of the movie, the George Washington Bridge had only one level. Here's another view, from a different angle, of where the school would have been at the intersection of 68th and Amsterdam. Style Equals Substance. (Great shot of those dancers in the air!). Here's the front cover: Some of the authors spoke about the book at a gathering at the Drama Book Shop, 250 West 40th St., in New York (which I attended). This is a photo of the block - 68th Street between Amsterdam Ave and West End Ave - on which much of the prologue of West Side Story was filmed. Thanks, Peter. This excerpt from the liner notes to the soundtrack to the movie of West Side Story concurs about filming on 68th Street. Now they are on West 68th Street in front of #243, which is mid-block. Every single move in West Side Story reflected that reality. They are filming on the block where the numbers go from #200 to #299 West 68th. During The Jet's Song the Jets balance on seesaws that were here as they sing. This is Public School #94 in a street view from the NY Public Library digital files. From left to right they are: Bert Michaels, Eddie Verso, Harvey Hohnocker, and David Bean. You hear the rhythm of loud finger clicking as the actors appear, followed by quick, insolent interjections of woodwinds and brass. With the growing immigration of Puerto Ricans in Manhattan in the 1950's, the characters were changed when the musical was finally written 6 years after its conception. And that's it. The prologue begins with a fly-over of the city, then zooms down to the streets, where the Sharks and Jets confront and taunt each other until the local police detective comes to break things up. (note: this is why the Yankees are often called "The Bronx Bombers."). As the camera zooms lower, we fade into some kids playing the back of the schoolyard. Take away the choreography, and you have a concept, an idea, but never the flesh-and-blood unforgettable adventure that struts and frets [its] hour upon the stage - and sweeps up generations of theater-goers in its relentless dance. Robbins' acute observation and his mastery of ballet informed the style of each leap and gesture in West Side Story. Here's the scene again. These curvy ramps lead cars off 40th Street into the back of the Port Authority Building (a large bus terminal) at the top right. Now we jump to northern Harlem - to 147th Street between Frederick Douglas Boulevard (8th Avenue) and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard (7th Avenue). The Jets climb a pile of rubble... ...only to have the Sharks throw vegetables at them. It's The gang leaves the schoolyard and walks down the street. Contrary to popular belief, the prologue of West Side Story was not filmed where Lincoln Center is today, which is between 62nd and 66th streets in the foreground of the picture below. It somewhat seems like we are "flying" over the island from north to south, but as this diagram of the locations of the various shots shows, it's a rather random route. We CUT TO: One of the Sharks, back on 68th Street, is taunting the Jets.... ...who come running to get him past some political posters (a fictitious person, I believe, but whose name, according to IMDB, is based on the West Side Story production designer Allen K. Wood)... ...two Sharks about to toss paint on them. But modern architecture shows up throughout the movie in the background, and as this arrow (below) shows, this was part of the urban renewal of the area, and soon this neighborhood would be covered with high-rise residential towers like this. Here's another perspective. And here are the Jets dancing in front of it in an early scene in the prologue. Moving southeast about four miles, we're above the Avenue C Loop in Stuyvesant Town just west of Avenue C and East 16th Street. Note: When I first put this entry up, I figured the bridge in the film was the Verrazano Bridge because it only had one level. This is a map of the street. This, theoretically then, is the school that would be attached to the playground in the film. Note the smile on the actor at right (Bert Michaels). We're coming into the final triangle, which will take up from Central Park up to 147th, then back down to 110th. Then we move up to an interesting triangle at West 121st and Frederick Douglass Blvd (8th Avenue) in Harlem. It stretches from 60th Street to 70th Street. Notice how often the characters in the show start out walking. The next scene cuts to the area of 68th Street near the school. With a few liberties taken with Photoshop, it looks something like this. The Sharks discover him, then run after him -- directly under where the Sharks were a minute ago dropping paint on some other Jets. But the prologue was actually filmed in two locations and edited together. (you can CLICK TO ENLARGE IT.). That's 68th Street to the right of the phone booth. And here, as seen in its Midtown East setting. To be even more specific, the West Side Story scenes were primarily filmed on one street: 68th Street between Amsterdam Avenue and West End Avenue. here. We are above Madison Avenue and 51st Street looking south. Here, in the next shot, we're above Rockefeller Center. The fountain at the Time Life Building along Sixth Avenue is at the right side. I put in 1/1/1950 to 1/1/1970 and searched for "West 68th Street."). Lyrics to 'Prologue' by Westside Story. He enters into the 110th Street playground (which is now, in real life, closed to the public, by the way - though you can look in) followed by the gang members of both sides -- and then, the local detective in charge of juvenile delinquents. This (below) is a panoramic photo I took right after Hurricane Sandy (2012) when I had to walk to work from the Upper West Side and passed 68th Street and Amsterdam every day - the exact intersection where the 68th Street WSS prologue sequence takes place. The dancers would jump up on the West Side and come down on the East Side." 249 West 68th Street) above a door. Robbins succeeded so brilliantly in fusing ballet and jazz that his Symphonic Dances, adapted for the New York City Ballet almost verbatim from the WSS choreography, is a staple of the company's repertory. (The opening, half danced half mimed, is a They used some of the sequence in the final movie. Please help us improve. Here's where it is on a map of 68th Street. sign that it's "block" #1159 and "lot" #40 in "M" Manhattan. Bernardo and his gang acquaintances run into the Jets again on 68th Street. . I find the Royal Garage at 222 West 68th. The movie West Side Story (1961) is an updated version of Romeo & Juliet as told through the lives of two Upper West Side street gangs in New York City: The Sharks (mostly recent Puerto Rican immigrants) and the Jets (mostly second generation European immigrants) circa 1960. If you look way in the background, above the center Jet, you will see the building in the photo below this one.

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