Thanks to organizations like the Los Angeles Conservancy, some good things from our collective past don’t get lost in the barrage of the new. This Saturday, June 14, at 8 p.m., the Conservancy’s Last Remaining Seats series will screen the one-and-only “West Side Story” at the Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
Not only will we get to hear that iconic Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim score and watch the groundbreaking Jerome Robbins choreography, but we will be honored by the presence of one of the original Academy Award-winning cast members: actor/dancer George Chakiris. In an interview with L.A. dance critic and blogger Debra Levine, Chakiris may reveal some of the backstory in the adaptation of this stage production for the silver screen in 1961. Or the inside view of how these theatrical movers and shakers dealt with obstacles related to their uber-talented young cast members and translated a Shakespearean story and stage musical into what was then modern-day life on celluloid.
The Last Remaining Seats series is an annual succession of classic film and live entertainment in historic theaters. It presents classic films as they were meant to be seen: on the big screen, in a beautiful theater, surrounded by up to 2,000 fellow fans. What started in 1987 as a way to highlight L.A.’s historic theaters is now a summer tradition, drawing more than 10,000 people each year into these architectural treasures for a night of unique entertainment.
Just think of those songs . . . think of that dancing . . . and get your tickets now (online sales only until Wednesday at noon; thereafter only walk-up sales at the Pavilion Box Office).
—Benn Widdey, Culture Spot LA
Details are available at laconservancy.org and https://www.laconservancy.org/node/1491.
Advance tickets cost $16 for L.A. Conservancy members and $20 for the general public. Any remaining tickets cost $20 at the door. Online sales for “West Side Story” will end at noon on Wednesday, June 11. Tickets can be purchased only at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion box office on Friday and Saturday, June 13 and 14 (walk-up sales only, no email or phone sales).
For a full schedule of the Last Remaining Seats series, visit https://www.laconservancy.org/events-tours/last-remaining-seats/last-remaining-seats-schedule.