WEST SIDE STORY
WEST SIDE STORY Lyric Theatre, Star City, July 1-August 15; Melbourne 19 August-26 September; Perth 7-21 October; Brisbane November 4-21; Adelaide from 29 December. See westsidestorythemusical.com.au for details. Photos Branco Gaica
MORE THAN 30 in the cast, a tasty, tight orchestra in the pit and one of the great scores and some of the most enduring lyrics in 20th century music theatre. That’s West Side Story, of course, and in this new Australian touring production, it’s as fresh and probably almost as shocking and emotionally gripping as it was in 1957, when it first opened on Broadway.
Fresh because the young, mostly unknown but wildly talented and able cast approach the material as if it’s just arrived hot from Leonard Bernstein’s piano and from the pen of new, hot kid on the block, Stephen Sondheim. There is a crisp, wide-eyed innocence and raw energy that crackles through the ranks of the New York street gangs, the Jets and Sharks, that is startlingly right and refreshing.
As they power balletically through the Jerome Robbins choreography (reproduced with breathtaking discipline and understanding by current director Joey McKneely) the Aussie boys and girls (cast by McKneely) seem joyously enthused by its daunting physical requirements. And they stay true to the dance. This is crucial to the show’s success, as one pelvic thrust or other “sexy” contemporary choreographic reference would ruin all. In retrospect, it’s the exuberant and distinctive Robbins style – a celebration of the melding of athleticism and modern ballet and actually almost sexually naïve – that is the key to West Side Story and its place in music theatre now. To update it would be a disaster.
The story, as you probably know, is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (book by Arthur Laurents), but instead of the Montagus and Capulets in old Verona, it’s “white” Americans and immigrant Puerto Ricans in the starkly poor streets of the ass end of Manhattan. These are young people of post-war America, but not of the American Dream. “Teenager” has barely been invented and certainly not for the working and under classes. These kids are on the brink of adulthood, experimenting tentatively with its behaviours and terrors but not yet fully beyond the child’s play of posturing bravado or a sly swipe of mom’s lipstick. The emotional and moral simplicity of their lives (and dance) serve to accentuate the bubbling rise of hormones and passions among the gang members. This in turn makes credible the sudden and taboo-breaking love between Tony and Maria; and also – even in jaded 2010 – makes the virtually accidental gang rape of Anita still appalling after all these years.
Tony (Josh Piterman) is the eminence-not-exactly-grise of the Jets; maturity has suddenly kicked in and he’s beginning to realise that there’s more to life than rumbles, insulting the spics and being a waste of space. When he meets newly-arrived Puerto Rican Maria (Julie Goodwin) his journey from boy to man becomes even more urgent; and his quest for peace between the gangs is a noble impulse and inevitably headed for tragedy.
The songs and set pieces that propel the first half are fabled in their own right – and still fabulous in their original context: Riff (Rohan Browne) and the Jets put their dynamic, boyishly aggro stamp on the neighbourhood with “When You’re a Jet”. Tony senses change in the air with his wonderingly excited ballad “Something’s Coming”; and when it turns out to be his first and only love, he delivers a sweet and lovely “Maria.” The pair then reinvents and restores the soaring aspiration of “Tonight”. Goodwin is blessed with a strong, true soprano voice and is also a fine actor and good dancer; on opening night Piterman took a little longer to settle, but he too can sing, act and dance with equal assurance; they make a handsome and heartbreaking pair of lovers.
The first big moment for Anita and Maria is the politically acerbic and hilarious “America”. Sung and danced by them and the rest of the Puerto Rican gals, it should be a showstopper and, in this production it is. As Anita Alinta Chidzey is a thrilling performer and word is that director McKneely picks her to go anywhere and do anything: catch her while you can! The other member of the featured cast is Nigel Turner-Carroll as Bernardo and he too captures the youthful ingenuousness and determined toughness of the boys-to-men plight of the gangs.
The production will tour Australia after its Sydney season (see above) and probably with that in mind, the set (Paul Gallis) and lighting (Peter Halbsgut) are inspiring in their effectiveness and simplicity. There is no stage clutter – just expanses of dance space – and the tenements of the West Side are suggested by three-floor high frameworks of metal walkways and fire escapes on either side of the stage. These slide in and out as needed and also angle towards the rear wall where enormous grainy black and white photographs of New York’s cityscape and streets are projected.
As well as the excellent young cast (with the nasty old adults in the form of the silly youth club worker, the corrupt cop Officer Krupke and his useless boss) the other vital ingredients of the show are the musicians. It lifts the production to another level to have such jazz-inspired numbers as “Cool” and the “ballet sequence” delivered with such panache (under the musical direction and baton of Vanessa Scammell). One of the musical highlights actually was the orchestra’s playing out as the audience left the theatre: many stayed to listen and give them an extra round of applause.
Ultimately, there’s an awful lot to be enjoyed in this West Side Story. Aside from the inventive lyrics and glorious music; the way the two elements combine to build and colour in character and situations is still an eye-opener. Then there’s the great story and characters and the pleasure of watching yet another generation of young Australians achieving musical theatre excellence. And if you feel like digging deeper, there is much cause for sober reflection in the racism, cruelty and heedless ways of a society that, 50 years on, has elected a black president but – like our own country – is still, beneath the surface, riven by prejudice and discrimination. But don’t let any of that spoil your night out: think about it later.
