West Side Story

Play conceived by Jerome Robbins

Music by Leonard Bernstein

Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Book by Arthur Laurents

Reviewed by David Ellivloc

I’m going to see the Artisan Center Theater production of West Side Story a second time. It’s that good. I saw it days ago and I keep thinking about it. All you need to know is you SHOULD NOT miss this production, and I’ll feel sorry for you if you do. Also, I’m dispensing with any attempt at being clever and hooking you into reading more. Instead, I’m begging you to buy a ticket to feed your soul and thrill your heart.

Now, the show itself, West Side Story, is arguably one of the best musicals of all time. Unlike many more recent musicals you won’t leave humming the scenery, as the show simply overflows with great songs and music. And there’s amazing dancing as well. And there’s the story it tells, which is based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. This 1957 Broadway musical was created by a musical theater dream team including Jerome Robbins, who directed and choreographed, with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim (his very first Broadway show), and a book by Arthur Laurents. Set in a poor neighborhood of New York City, it is the tragic love story of young white Polish-American Tony and young Puerto Rican Maria, freshly arrived in America. Tony has just recently stepped away from day-to-day involvement with the gang of his youth, his “family”, the Jets (like Romeo’s peeps were the Montagues) While Maria’s brother Bernardo leads the rival Puerto Rican gang, the Sharks (think Juliet’s Capulets).

Artisan's production of West Side Story is so beautiful that I wept several times. Not big hyperventilating crying jags but just tears flowing out of my eyes and streaming down my face as I watched. However, to be clear, the production is moving, not maudlin, and along with the tears there was also from me some big belly laughs aloud, amazement and even thrills at times. Finally, I do not cry easily and am not a wuss. Once, I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die (OK, you got me, that is hyperbole, as well as a line from a Johnny Cash song about prison).

This production is performed in the round, with audience on all four sides of the performance space, so the sets are of necessity minimalist. At the very top of the show in the Prologue, we hear the first strains of Bernstein’s haunting music and see the Jets and Sharks, teens of all sexes, as they menacingly roam their turf, now disputed due to the increasing arrival of Puerto Ricans in the neighborhood, with the gritty city indicated by two rolling pieces of scaffolding clambered on by Jets and Sharks alike throughout the opening along with projections around three sides of the theater. Kianna Dugan’s choreography throughout the show is exciting and pays tribute to the original choreography of Jerome Robbins, as it features a lot of opposition. That is, big leaps ending in graceful kneeling landings or huge moves left followed by just as huge moves right or powerful kicks completed with gentle gestures. Dugan’s choreography is the physical representation of the inner turmoil and tension felt by Jets and Sharks alike.

In addition to the animosity between the Jets and Sharks, there’s the animus of authority in the form of the police. David Magana as Lt. Schrank is the strong arm of the law, while Mark Haley’s Officer Krupke is the blunt instrument it wields. Both actors leave no doubt that trouble between the two gangs will not be tolerated, although they’re also clear that they’d be pleased to end any trouble that arose by weighing in on the side of the Jets. Magana adds just the right touch of menace while Haley is bubbling brutal, yet comic.

And trouble seems imminent. The leader of the Jets, Riff, as played by Hunter Friederichsen, sings and dances with passion and conviction as he declares it’s time to rumble with the Sharks, while he and his Jets celebrate what it means to be a Jet: Belonging, which is what this show is ultimately about as explained in Sondheim’s simple lyric:

When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way
From your first cigarette to your last dyin' day!
When you're a Jet, let 'em do what they can
You've got brothers around, you're a family man!

The tragic irony of the story is that while these “Americans”, still disparagingly labeled by their original ethnicity (e.g., “Pollack”) by the Sharks and police, have banded together in a gang in order to “belong”, so have the newest would-be Americans, Bernardo and his Sharks, which is what sets them against each other and ultimately leads to tragedy. Riff rushes off to Doc’s Store, where Tony is now working, to convince him to come back to the gang and join in the rumble. Here, we first meet Jae Medlin’s Tony, who has an engaging and naïve charm as he sings “Something’s Coming”, a song of hope and confidence in an unknown future. However, the friendship between Medlin’s Tony and Friederichsen’s Riff is evident and we believe it when Tony agrees to rumble and attend the dance in the gym that night, where Riff will throw down the challenge to Bernardo, despite Tony’s belief in an unknown wonderfulness that is coming his way.

Meanwhile, we meet Bernardo who leads the Sharks, his sister Maria, his right-hand man Chino, expected to marry Maria, and Bernardo’s girlfriend Anita, all at the bridal shop in which Anita works. The chemistry between Paloma Magana’s Maria and Lizzy Davis’ Anita is delightful as Magana pleads for a lower and sexier neckline on the dress for that night’s dance, which Anita is just finishing. Yet Davis’ Anita is not to be swayed and we see hints of the inner strength that’s obvious in later scenes with Bernardo or the Jets where the stakes are much higher. When Magana slips the simple white dress over her head and ties the red belt, we're stunned by Maria’s innocent beauty and scared by her desire for adventure, which we can see will not be met by Hector Nieves’ determined, but dull Chino.

Bernardo as played by Jayson Diaz is a smoldering gang leader with a short fuse, yet we also see his tender side as he interacts with both his sister and girlfriend. Diaz’s dancing throughout the show is excellent, especially at the “Dance At The Gym.” There the Jets and the Sharks come together on supposedly neutral territory, only to challenge each other in dance. In the midst of this maelstrom, Tony and Maria spy each other across the dance floor and, as if in a dream, they come together and tenderly dance a pas de deux, unnoticed by anyone else. And that’s when the tears started for me! Paloma Magana’s Maria falls in love with Tony right there on the dance floor and you see it blossom across her face and take root in her person. Likewise, Medlin’s Tony is visibly drawn to Magana’s Maria and the tender kiss at the end of their private dance is a magic moment, leading to the end of the dance as angry Jets and Sharks square off and storm out of the gym, after agreeing to meet later to finalize details for the rumble between the two gangs.

Bill Combs, a frequent and popular Artisan performer, plays duel rolls adding needed comic relief to the tense “Dance At The Gym” as Glad Hand, the dance organizer. In addition, Combs plays Doc, who employs Tony and runs the drug store where the Jets hang out. Combs’ Doc is the unheeded voice of reason as he repeatedly tries and fails to get Jets and Sharks to listen to stand down and make peace.

Medlin’s Tony leaves the gym and walks on clouds through the streets as he sings a prayer-like and joyous Ave to his Maria, before she spies him from the back window of her apartment, whereupon a love scene akin to the one in Romeo and Juliet is played on Maria’s balcony. Both Medlin and Magana have sweet singing voices and an unmannered singing style perfectly suited to their songs of young love, hope and yearning. “One Hand, One Heart”, wherein they imagine a happy joining of themselves and their families, is especially moving.

Davis’ Anita and Graciela Herridor’s saucy Rosalia face off in the classic number “America” as they sing, dance, and argue about what they’ve gained and lost in coming to America from Puerto Rico. Similarly, Friederichsen’s Riff and the Jets sing “Cool”, about the need to keep in check their own frustration and anger about their lives in America. The ensemble work by all the Jets and Sharks is excellent throughout the show. Anthony “Tony” Bartke’s Action is a standout among the Jets as he dances with abandon and seems the most dangerously unhinged Jet when in conflict. The wide-eyed innocence of Carver Olsen’s Baby John and the energy of Jack Horton’s A-Rab also adds zest to the Jets’ scenes. The action in “The Rumble” is compelling and a stark end to Act One.

In Act Two, Herridor, along with Bella Linsey’s Consuelo and Rebecca Nason’s Francisca, add some fun and frenzy to Maria’s “I Feel Pretty”, which lightens the mood. Similarly, the Jets comic “Gee, Officer Krupke” in Act Two is also a welcome relief from the portents of what is to come. However, sandwiched between these two satisfyingly silly numbers, is a beautifully staged, dreamlike sequence that ends in a nightmare and contains the song “Somewhere”, with a hauntingly beautiful and plaintive solo from Natalia Knight. The silent interactions during this sequence between the Jets and Sharks, Tony and Maria, and especially Bernardo and Riff, are clear and captivating.

Davis’s Anita and Magana’s Maria collide in anguish for “A Boy Like That” and “I Have a Love”, yet it rings true when Davis’ Anita finally agrees to help Maria and Tony. And, yes, there were more tears from yours truly. I won’t give away any other plot points but the remaining scenes and the end of this play is powerful. Director Chris Gallego Wong’s West Side Story is a story well told. Purchase your tickets at https://www.artisanct.com/