NPR - "West Side Story" at 50

'West Side Story' Film Still Pretty, and Witty, at 50
NPR's "Talk of the Nation," October 17, 2011

Fifty years ago, the film version of the acclaimed Broadway musical "West Side Story" premiered in theaters across the country. Like the original production, the film set Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" against the backdrop of 1950s New York, and for many the story holds up just as well today as it did five decades ago.

Two of the film's stars -- Rita Moreno, who played Anita, and George Chakiris, who played Bernardo -- join NPR's Neal Conan to talk about the film's enduring meaning. Theater critic Misha Berson, author of "Something's Coming, Something Good: 'West Side Story' and the American Imagination," also joins the conversation to discuss the musical's evolution and its lasting influence on musical theater and pop culture.

30-minute segment: http://www.npr.org/2011/10/17/141427333