Billings may be the only place in the country where musical and film fans enjoyed a show this weekend, one that has received numerous accolades including Tony, Oscar, and Grammy awards.
The Billings Symphony performed the symphonic version of West Side Story at Faith Chapel on Friday night.
Another show is scheduled for Sunday at 5 p.m.
Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim released the musical on Broadway in 1957.
A film version was made in 1961.
The Symphony had the show scheduled for March of last year.
The Broadway actors kept their commitments to Billings.
"Especially when things are more stopped on the East Coast," said Ignacio Barron Viela, executive director for the symphony. "We, as you know, Billings Symphony, we try to provide opportunity to all this talent that needs to perform somewhere. And we have seen throughout the year that they were willing to come here to perform with us. We have excellent Broadway actors. Some of them actually came last month to perform 'Guys and Dolls.' It's such a great talented group of singers and musicians, and we are very lucky to have this performance. Think about this. This is the only orchestra in the county that has performed 'West Side Story' during the pandemic, so it's a big deal for us."
