Leonard Bernstein outside the National Theatre in Washington, DC

West Side Story began its out of town performances at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. on August 19, 1957. After a two-week run at Philadelphia’s Erlanger Theatre, the show opened on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre on September 26, 1957. In this photograph taken for Life Magazine, a euphoric Leonard Bernstein leaps under the marquee for West Side Story after the show’s opening at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C.