West Side Story
50th Anniversary Edition

This is an interesting release! Sid Ramin, who arranged the music for the film has four versions of tunes from the musical with his own orchestra as fascinating bonus tracks (previously unissued on CD) that I was unaware of. A poignant early version of 'One Hand, One Heart' as simply 'One' sung beautifully by Jo Stafford is also on this lovely reissue. The sound is a huge improvement on earlier versions of this music. A reason alone for buying this would have to be the impressive and comprehensive booklet written by Leonard Bernstein biographer, Nigel Simeone. I learned a lot from that! Much deserved recognition too (at long last) for ghost singers Marnie Nixon and Jimmy Bryant who dubbed Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer's singing voices in the film. A real gem of disc! Well done!