The Broadway Ferret

Image from www.newyorkology.com

Rating: 3 out of 5 masks

One of world’s greatest musicals has been revived (yet again).

West Side Story is a modern, musical retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.  It tells the story of Tony and Maria who meet and fall in love despite their respective friends being in rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks.  I won’t give the ending away, but I heard it’s considerably different from the movie and original Broadway production.

There wasn’t much of a set that actually stayed onstage.  Set pieces such as Maria’s balcony, bedroom and the dance hall, came in from offstage or above the stage.  I thought it was a little too minimalist for me, especially since this is a musical and musicals for the most part are big in every way.  The lighting and the backdrop sort of made up for the lack of a set, though, I thought the overall look should be grittier.

I thought Josefina Scaglione was excellent.  She can really sing and I bought her portrayal of her character’s innocence towards life and love.  Matt Cavenaugh was ok, but I couldn’t buy his character’s love towards Maria.  The ensemble as a whole was very good.  One of my favorite scenes was the dance scene where you saw the ensemble interact.  You can see how they felt about each other.  I also thought the staging of “America” was original even though it took me awhile to understand which number they were performing.

Image from www.broadwayworld.com

Image from www.stageandcinema.com

I realized after I left the theatre that the dancing and singing weren’t necessarily done at the same time except for the number where the Jets make fun of the police.  It was either one or the other.  I’m not sure if it’s deliberate. 

I liked the fact that part of the dialogue was spoken and sung in Spanish.  Though I haven’t studied the language, I can actually understand what the characters were singing about.  It was helpful of the producers to include the English libretto in the program, though I’m not sure if they expect people to read in the dark while the performers were singing onstage.

Overall, I thought this show was good.  It was entertaining but I wasn’t able to emotionally connect with the show.  I did like Arthur Laurent’s take on the musical that he wrote the book for years ago.  You almost wonder what else is up his sleeve at his age.

I would recommend this show for older teens and up.  I didn’t include the younger teen set (13-15 or 16) because even though it’s a musical that everyone’s familiar with, there may be parents who wouldn’t agree with the content onstage.  I don’t remember any cursing, but parents should use their own judgment about whether or not to bring their kids.

Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes w/intermission