A ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME EXPERIENCE!

As patrons poured into Lyric Opera House Saturday evening for the opening of “West Side Story,” the iconic Jerome Robbins masterpiece that pits the Jets against the Sharks in the stark and troubled ‘50s-era New York City neighborhood, there was palpable excitement, as if the highly anticipated Francesca Zambello-directed juggernaut—a co-production two years in the making with Houston Grand Opera and Glimmerglass Festival—will certainly rip the roof away from Chicago’s biggest stage.