West Side Story-The New Broadway Cast Recording

I've yet to see this revival of "West Side Story," but if this beautifully produced, powerfully performed album is any indication, the show is as marvelous as everyone says it is. I have to admit that I'm one of those who's taken this landmark musical for granted over the years. "Oh yes, it's 'West Side Story,' been there done that." But listening to this CD, one is reminded WHY it's become a part of all of our lives since it's debut some 40 years ago. Perhaps there have been better sung versions, but I can't recall one that's made such a strong case for this work's continued validity. Chalk it up, certainly, to the combined genius of Sondheim and Bernstein, but also, this time around, to a young, vibrant cast that seems to have been born to play these roles. Simply put, Matt Cavenaugh and Josefina Scaglione ARE Tony and Maria. Regardless of what one may think of their voices (Cavenaugh's is a tad nasal, Scaglione's a bit thin at the top), the honesty, passion and intensity of...Read more

West Side Story came out the year I graduated prep school. I saw it on Broadway at the Winter Garden in August 1960, which was an experience that still resonates within me. I love the show and I love the music, and it struck me as a bit unusual that there is such a diversity of opinion in the reviews here at Amazon.

Not wanting the whole CD particularly, I downloaded two songs, Tonight and One Hand, One Heart, in an attempt to evaluate the leads, and I have to concur with the critics that find fault. Scaglione's voice does not have the quality I would expect in a lead of a show of this magnitude. Not only does it thin as the pitch goes higher, she seems to have trouble hitting notes right, and her vibrato comes when it detracts from the song. I assume she must be miked for the production as I can't see that voice filling a theater. When I saw the show, Lawrence and Rivera had departed, but the woman doing Maria had a fine voice, and once I accepted that she wasn't...Read more

I bought this the next day after I watched the broadway show. The studio-quality recording is much better than live. There is no discount tickets of WSS as of July 2009. I bought them from ticketmaster two weeks before. WSS is full of dancing, even the gang fight was performed in a dance which added the uniqueness of the masterpiece. Bernstein is the genius behind the scene by mixing classical, jazz and latin music. Almost all kind of percussions such as timpani, xylophone, wood blocks, conga, etc were used. I don't understand Spanish, but the Spanish songs could be the main attraction for me to buy the music. I stopped buying CD-format anymore, but for this I need the print-out libretto (lyrics). Anyway it's only $3 more than the MP3 download.