West Side Story is the soundtrack to the 1961 filmWest Side Story. Released in 1961, the soundtrack spent 54 weeks at No. 1 on Billboards album charts, giving it the longest run at No. 1 of any album in history, although some lists instead credit Michael Jackson's Thriller, on the grounds that West Side Story was listed on a chart for stereo albums only at a time when many albums were recorded in mono. In 1962, it won a Grammy award for "Best Sound Track Album – Original Cast." In the United States, it was the best-selling album of the 1960s, certifying three times platinum by the RIAA on November 21, 1986. Though the album was released just a few years after the release of the original broadway cast recording, it is according to musical theater historian Ethan Mordden preferred by some to the earlier version both sentimentally, as the film succeeded in establishing the musical as a "popular masterpiece", and musically, as it contains "beefier orchestration".
Dubbing
In her autobiography, I Could Have Sung All Night, Marni Nixon writes about singing the role of Maria and of her observations of some of the other singers whose voices were dubbed into the film. Very little of the singing in the finished film and on the soundtrack album was contributed by the on-screen stars of the film; while George Chakiris did all of his own singing for the few solo lines of his character Bernardo, Jim Bryant entirely dubbed the singing role of Tony for Richard Beymer, and Rita Moreno's singing as Anita was partly dubbed by Betty Wand. According to Moreno herself, Wand dubbed all or part of her singing in "A Boy Like That," although it's not clear if that was the total extent of the dubbing she did. Russ Tamblyn, who plays Riff in the film, provided his own vocals for the song "Gee, Officer Krupke" and for a few lines in the "Tonight" ensemble, but in the "Jet Song" he was dubbed by Tucker Smith, who plays the role of Ice in the film. Smith himself sings his character's song "Cool" and his own lines in the "Tonight" ensemble. Final determination of which voices would be used and to what extent for the film's songs was left to producerSaul Chaplin, who at various times told Nixon that her voice would be used to supplement or extend that of actress Natalie Wood or to replace it altogether. According to various sources, Wood was assured throughout the recording and filming process that her vocals would be used for most of Maria's singing in the film, with Nixon's voice dubbed in only for the higher, more challenging vocal sections, and Wood did lip sync to her own pre-recorded tracks of the songs during filming. But after filming was complete, Nixon post-dubbed or "looped" all of Maria's songs while watching film loops. Nixon also dubbed several lines for Moreno in the latter part of the "Tonight" ensemble, because the range of that section was too high for both Moreno and Betty Wand. Although it was not industry standard at the time, Nixon arranged to receive a small percentage of the royalties for sales of the soundtrack, which, as she did not receive credit for her performance on the album, she indicates helped "salve any wounds". While the film was released by United Artists, the soundtrack album was produced by Columbia Records as part of rights it acquired in producing the Broadway cast album.)
