Culture

Cher once starred in West Side Story and literally played every character because of course she did

Dec 10 2021
Written by Josh Milton

Cher (L) and Cher (R) performing a West Side Storey Medley on Cher… Special. (Screen capture via YouTube)

Brace yourself, reader, for the best 12 minutes and 45 seconds of your life – the time Cher starred in a one-woman production of West Side Story and literally played everyone.

After a Twitter user shared a clip from the show, many were stunned to discover that this video actually exists and wasn’t just a collective hallucination shared by seven million human beings.

I will never fully process the fact that Cher made a version of West Side Story where she plays all the roles and then somehow got it on television pic.twitter.com/RJqesVxuAg

— James (@jrawson) June 19, 2020

You’ve pressed play, right? OK, great. Let’s discuss.

Cher once played every single character in a West Side Story medley

To know that we live in the same timeline as Cher who starred in Cher… Special, a one-off television special, which starred Cher, known for her role in Cher… Special, which was a television special.

Broadcast on ABC, a now blessed network, on April 3, 1978, at 9pm, households across America, reading this Garfield comic strips and listening to the Bee Gees, all tuned in to watch a gelled-up Cher sing.

She sang a medley of the songs from the Steven Sondheim musical, with herself green-screened so there are, at any one point, multiple Chers singing on-screen.

At one point, Cheer sings a love-song to Cher, and there’s another scene where Cher sings “Tonight” with three other Chers harmonising.

You might be scrambling for context here. Why, oh, why did Cher out-Cher herself by starring in a condensed musical where she played everyone?

Cher… Special opened with Cher’s mother, Georgia Holt, scolding Cher, styled in pigtails to make her look younger, for rifling through her records. Cher admits she got into the records so she could learn the songs from West Side Story.

When her mother asks Cher what part she is going to play, Cher replies, “all of them”.

Cher stands up, looks directly at the camera, and says, “Ladies and gentlemen, for tonight’s entertainment, I am proud to present West Side Story. I will be playing all the parts. Thank you.”

It, of course, ranked among the Top 10 most-watched programs of the week and was honoured with a Technical Emmy Award for “Best Achievement in Lighting Direction”.

It also received an Emmy nomination for “Best Art Direction for a Comedy-Variety or Musical Special”. Frankly, the Banco Central Burglary needs to move over, because Cher not winning these awards was the biggest robbery in human history.