For reasons sadly transparent, more than 50 years later, Rita Moreno continues to downgrade Natalie Wood, commenting in an AFI interview that WSS "had no major stars. Natalie Wood was not a major star! The movie was the star!" Sorry, Moreno, you're wrong. Natalie's delicate rooftop dance, created especially for her by Jerome Robbins, is more classic than all your ligament-spraining kicks in the racist "America!" number. The film: “West Side Story” (1961)
The directors: Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins
The number: “Maria’s Rooftop Dance” (“Maria”)
The composer: Leonard Bernstein
The choreographer: Robbins
The dancer: Natalie Wood
The cinematographer: Daniel L. Fapp
The editor: Thomas Stanford
The production designer: Boris Leven
Lovely moment! I believe Robbins created this bit especially for Natalie.
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