(Ronnie Lee’s letter appeared in The New York Time, 5/14; via Pam Green.)
Dear Diary:
It has been just over 60 years since “West Side Story” opened on Broadway with me as one of the Sharks. I was 19 when rehearsals began.
I had already worked for Jerome Robbins in the original Broadway productions of “The King and I” (as Crown Prince Chulalongkorn) and “Peter Pan.” Working on “West Side Story” was the best of times and the worst of times — the most challenging choreography and, emotionally, the most ego-deflating, at the hands and tongue of that master torturer, Jerry Robbins.
Photo: Times Square Chronicles; Theater Pizzazz (Carol Lawrence and Ronnie Lee)
