UPDATE 12/30/21: Marc Hershberg wrote a follow up story to his original one about all this. Here’s the link. Hershberg tells me he wrote what he was told by all the people involved, and that they changed their tune once they realized a real “West Side Story” sequel would never be allowed. So I’ll cut him some slack.
EARLIER
There is no sequel to “West Side Story” coming. We will not be getting the Further Adventures of Maria After Tony Dies.
But Forbes.com, still using a network of amateurs to fill its website pages, posted an announcement of such a project two days ago. It was actually called “‘West Side Story’ Sequel In The Works As Ethnic Groups Reclaim Their Stories” by someone named Marc A. Hershberg. His bio says he coves the business of theater. He’s also an entertainment lawyer, he says.
Well, now, the musical to which he was referring is called “Maria,” but the connections to “West Side Story” don’t exist. It’s being written by Steven Sapp and his, Mildred Ruiz-Sapp. They participated in a YouTube discussion that Hershberg — like most of the Forbes.com geniuses– misinterpreted.
Today Long Wharf Theater in New Haven had to issue a denial and explanation of their “Maria,” which you can see below. The YouTube discussion is below that.
“West Side Story” is owned by the estates of Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein, and Shakespeare. They’ll be lucky to survive the current Spielberg movie (actually, it’s great) but there will be no sequels. Forbes.com, as usual, is another planet. And the Herhberg story is still up on the site. My guess is, a rumble comes next.
PS Thanks to David Gordon of the Outer Critics Circle, who pointed this out on Twitter.
