Did Richard Beymer Sing in West Side Story? West Side Story is an American musical, with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The story is based on Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. It was written in 1948-1950, but the music was not composed until 1950-1951.
West Side Story began as a potential ballet, which fell through when Jerome Robbins, who would have been the choreographer, withdrew to pursue other projects. When Robert Wise met Bernstein in 1951, he suggested that Bernstein write the music for a musical version of Romeo and Juliet instead. However, Romeo & Juliet, Inc. had already given Ira Gershwin an exclusive option on adapting the play to the stage. Because of this, it became a “sung-through” musical incorporating dance instead of a play with songs.
West Side Story opened on Broadway in 1957. It starred Larry Kert as Tony, Carol Lawrence as Maria, and George Chakiris as Bernardo. The director was Robert Wise.
On the original cast recording of West Side Story, released by Columbia Records in 1961, Richard Beymer sang all parts initially played by Larry Kert, including Tony and Ben. However, he did not sing any part played by a female actor. He sings ‘Cool’ but is not credited with having sung this song on the album’s sleeve notes or back cover.
Carol Lawrence Not much is known about whether Richard Beymer sang for his role as Tony during filming; however, it can be assumed that he didn’t, as contact microphones would’ve been used to record his voice and that there is no outtake footage or audio of him singing during the “Rumble” sequence. This may be because he could not sing well enough and be dubbed by Larry Kert. The song ‘Somewhere’ was recorded by Larry Kert before filming started but according to Stephen Sondheim, Richard Beymer’s voice was so utterly different from Kert’s that they had to re-record it with Carol Lawrence later.
As for Bernardo, George Chakiris sang on the original cast recording of West Side Story, but he did not sing any part played by a male actor in the film. It is unknown whether any songs were cut from the final film, but Chakiris did not have a solo during the film’s choreography.
There is some debate as to who actually sang in West Side Story, particularly regarding Richard Beymer and George Chakiris’ roles. This article has been written with the assumption that both actors were dubbed by professional singers.
As you can see from the above article, there is a lot of debate about who actually sang in West Side Story. What do you think? Should Richard Beymer have sung his role as Tony during filming or did they use a professional singer to dub him instead? Or was George Chakiris’ voice used when Bernardo’s singing parts were dubbed for the film? Let us know what your thoughts are on this issue and we’ll continue this discussion with our next blog post!
In this blog post, we’ll explore who sang in the musical West Side Story. Was Richard Beymer dubbed when he played Tony or did a professional singer dub his voice? Or was George Chakiris’ voice used when Bernardo’s singing parts were dubbed for the film? Join us in our next blog post to see what our thoughts are on this matter!
Konstantinos Rokas is an associate producer at West Side Stories Ltd. He’s a fan of historical films and musicals, with West Side Story being one of his favorite musicals. Read more articles on our blog Page-Turner where Konstantinos writes about film music history!
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