Opera “West Side Story”

No scenery or spectacular choreography. Gran Teatre del Liceu has chosen to bid farewell to its 2024–25 season with an unusual approach: a symphonic concert of West Side Story, Leonard Bernstein’s emblematic work. This time, the story will be told without sets or theatrical lighting. Only with music, voice and direct emotion. The project will bring together the Liceu Orchestra and Chorus on stage, with Gustavo Dudamel as musical director. In the leading roles will be two great figures of today’s lyric scene: Nadine Sierra will play María and Juan Diego Flórez will bring Tony to life. Together they will approach this classic through sonic force, without visual intermediaries, in a proposal lasting between 80 and 90 minutes. Far from the usual staged format, this concert version focuses all attention on Bernstein’s score and the human conflict running through the work: two young people trapped between street rivalries, dreaming of something that seems impossible. The text, written by Arthur Laurents with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, retains all its relevance in this raw and concentrated reading. With only two dates in July, the Liceu says goodbye with an unusual gesture: letting the music speak entirely for itself. A different way to hear a story the world already knows, but perhaps never like this.