The headlines for the prewrite of Surflight’s “West Side Story” said the musical had “Audiences Screaming Their Applause” when it opened on Broadway in 1957 and then asked, “Could History Repeat Itself at Surflight?”
It did.
The show’s final scene is a somber one. Tony (Nathan Roberts) is shot and dies in Maria’s (Lizzy Perrone) arms. For a couple of minutes the audience was stunned – stone cold quiet. Not a word was spoken. It was as if everybody was holding their breath.
Subscribe to keep reading
This story is from our archive. Get your SandPaper Annual Pass for access to our digital archive, plus everything else a pass includes. Details below.
Annual Pass — $18 Details
365-day access to:
- The complete SandPaper digital archive (stories date back to 2012).
- Full photo galleries from our photographers.
- The entire catalog of SandPaper games, puzzles and quizzes.
How it works
- Enter your email below and click to pay the one-time $18. Card details are entered on Stripe’s secure page.
- You’re in straight away — no password to create, and nothing to set up or manage.
- You stay signed in. If you’re ever signed out, or you read on a new phone or computer, we’ll email you a code to get you back in.
- Never auto-renews. Your pass is good for one year. We will email you when it expires so you can renew if you’d like.
See our site policies for more information.
Already a subscriber? We’ll email a code to get you back in.
