Left - Alinta Chidzey. Cover - The Cast. Photos - Branco GaicaWest Side Story is an indisputable musical theatre classic. With its clever mix of jazz, Latin American music and show-stopping romantic ballads, it contains some of the finest music and lyrics in the music theatre canon. It is cool, romantic and tragic. In the wrong hands it could well be flabby and dated. For a production of West Side Story to work it requires exceptional dancing and impressive singers. It is not a show that can be fudged.
Lucky us. This superb production is a reminder of just how good musical theatre can be.
West Side Story was created by the alchemic union of Leonard Bernstein’s heady, jazz-based music, Stephen Sondheim’s peerless lyrics, Arthur Laurents Romeo and Juliet-inspired book and Jerome Robbins’s choreography.
Apart from its urban subject matter, Bernstein’s score alone must have shaken up the Broadway establishment when it opened in 1957.
It is a story about competing New York Street gangs in the 1950s. The Jets are poor kids in a tough neighbourhood battling to preserve their turf against the intrusion of the Sharks, the newly arrived Puerto Ricans. Star crossed lovers, Tony and Maria, challenge both their families and gangs to be together with predictably tragic consequences.
This production has already toured to London, Paris, Tokyo and Beijing. It has been recast for the five month Australian leg of the tour with a troupe of exhilarating young Australian singers and dancers.
Despite its very famous score, West Side Story is known as a dance musical and the choreography is as integral to the production as the music. The dancers are impeccable. Choreographer Joey McKneely reproduces Jerome Robbins’ original athletic jazz ballet choreography which, fifty years later, seems remarkably fresh and modern.
Josh Piterman is every bit romantic leading man material as Tony: tall, dark and handsome with a voice like an angel. His portrayal of Tony is noble and hopeful. Having moved away from hanging out with the Jets, Tony hopes for a better life. Piterman’s Something’s Coming is edgy, impatient and full of yearning. And his Maria is beatific.
Julie Goodwin is also well cast as the young ingénue, Maria. Newly arrived from Puerto Rico she is not yet tainted by tribal hatred, despite her brother, Bernardo being the leader of the Sharks. Goodwin’s voice is truly outstanding. Her pitch-perfect, crystalline soprano is a joy.
Bernardo’s dynamic, high spirited girlfriend Anita, played by Alinta Chidzey provides the show with its sex appeal, oomph and charisma. She, and the Puerto Rican women, deliver one of the highlights of the evening: the gloriously witty and ironic Latin American-inspired America.
Paul Gallis’s strong, simple set depicts the metal balconies and fire escapes of tenement buildings with 1950s black and white images of New York streets as a backdrop.
No big names were used in the promotion of this production and no TV stars have been used to attract audiences. The producers have cast on excellence and have let the production speak for itself. I haven’t enjoyed a musical as much since the 1998 production of Chicago. I am going back to see it again.
Michael Brenner for BB Promotion GMBH, Howard Panter for Ambassador Theatre Group, Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, David Atkins Enterprises and Tulchin Bartner Productions
WEST SIDE STORY
Based on a Conception of Jerome Robbins
Book by Arthur Laurents Music by Leonard Bernstein Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Director Joey McKneely
Venue: Lyric Theatre, Star City
Dates: From Friday 2 July 2010 for a strictly limited season
Times*: Tuesday – Saturday @ 8pm, Wednesday 1pm, Saturday 2pm & Sunday 3pm
Bookings: Ticketmaster 1300 795 267 | ticketmaster.com.au
*Performance times may be subject to change without notice.
