Soundtrack Retrospective: "From here on in, everythin's gonna be all right! I got a feelin'!"

This month’s film is Robbins/Wise’s ‘West Side Story’ (1961).

I do love musicals. I've got all the greats: 'Carousel', 'The King & I', 'Camelot'...

But this is the one I put on most often, just as a soundtrack, rather than as a film. The film itself is timeless - setting it as a stage production, rather than attempting to film it 'live' on the streets of New York helps with that, I think. The music (Leonard Bernstein) and lyrics (Sondheim, of course) mesh so perfectly, so seamlessly, it's easy to see why this film won 10 Oscars.

Indeed, it's currently the only musical to achieve that, and it looks like it'll hold onto that record.

And isn’t ‘Gee, Officer Krupke’ just as relevant today as it was then?