<P> Just as Tony and Maria, our Romeo and Juliet, set themselves apart from the other kids by their love, so we have tried to set them even further apart by their language, their songs, their movement . Wherever possible in the show, we have tried to heighten emotion or to articulate inarticulate adolescence through music, song or dance . </P> <P> The show was nearly complete in the fall of 1956, but almost everyone on the creative team needed to fulfill other commitments first . Robbins was involved with Bells Are Ringing, then Bernstein with Candide, and in January 1957 A Clearing in the Woods, Laurents' latest play, opened and quickly closed . When a backers' audition failed to raise any money for West Side Story late in the spring of 1957, only two months before the show was to begin rehearsals, producer Cheryl Crawford pulled out of the project . Every other producer had already turned down the show, deeming it too dark and depressing . Bernstein was despondent, but Sondheim convinced his friend Hal Prince, who was in Boston overseeing the out - of - town tryout of the new George Abbott musical New Girl in Town, to read the script . He liked it but decided to ask Abbott, his longtime mentor, for his opinion, and Abbott advised him to turn it down . Prince, aware that Abbott was the primary reason New Girl was in trouble, decided to ignore him, and he and his producing partner Robert Griffith flew to New York to hear the score . In his memoirs, Prince recalled, "Sondheim and Bernstein sat at the piano playing through the music, and soon I was singing along with them ." </P> <P> Prince began cutting the budget and raising money . Robbins then announced he did not want to choreograph the show, but changed his mind when Prince agreed to an eight - week dance rehearsal period (instead of the customary four), since there was to be more dancing in West Side Story than in any previous Broadway show, and allowed Robbins to hire Peter Gennaro as his assistant . Originally, when considering the cast, Laurents wanted James Dean for the lead role of Tony, but the actor soon died . Sondheim found Larry Kert and Chita Rivera, who created the roles of Tony and Anita, respectively . Getting the work on stage was still not easy . Bernstein said: </P> <P> Everyone told us that (West Side Story) was an impossible project...And we were told no one was going to be able to sing augmented fourths, as with "Ma - ri - a"... Also, they said the score was too rangy for pop music...Besides, who wanted to see a show in which the first - act curtain comes down on two dead bodies lying on the stage?...And then we had the really tough problem of casting it, because the characters had to be able not only to sing but dance and act and be taken for teenagers . Ultimately, some of the cast were teenagers, some were 21, some were 30 but looked 16 . Some were wonderful singers but couldn't dance very well, or vice versa...and if they could do both, they couldn't act . </P>

How long is the west side story play