Jerome Robbins

About him-

Jerome Robbins was born on the 11th of October 1918 and was born in New York. Robbins full name is Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz but the family legally changed there last name to Robbins. Jerome studied with his sisters modern dance instructors. Robbins was planning to get a major in chemistry at New York university. However, due to financial issues he has to drop out. This is when Robbins decided to make his career in dance which he eventually started working in musical productions and dance for Ballet theatre. Robbins went and choreographed many Broadway productions which included Billion Dollar Baby, The King and I and The Pajama Game.

His style-

Jerome Robbins was a choreographer in both ballet and musicals. He was very creative with both styles and liked to work with both. Robbins brought a contemporary style to the American theatre and added classical dance into the theatre.


West Side Story Musical-

West Side Story made it to New York on September 6th 1957. Somebody the next day wrote in The New York Herland Tribune “The radioactive fallout from West Side Story must still be descending on Broadway.” This musical was called the modern day Romeo and Juliet with street gangs. The musical is about two gangs basically fighting for a piece of land. The music was by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics was by Stephen Sondheim and the choreography was by Jerome Robbins. The musical was inspired by William Shakespeares famous play Romeo and Juliet. Behind the scenes of the musical the Jets and the Sharks were not allowed to interact. West Side Story won ten Academy Awards including Best Picture.