BWW Previews: Jakarta Performing Arts Community (JPAC) is Ready for WEST SIDE STORY!

Jakarta Performing Arts Community (JPAC), a non-profit community theatre, will present one of the most well-known love story and musical of all time: West Side Story. This show will be held in May 12th-14th 2017 at Graha Bhakti Budaya, Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta. This is the first fully licensed West Side Story show done by Indonesian community theatre.

JPAC, which was founded by passionate people who loves musical theatre in 2014, are here as a response to the lack of musical theatre communities in Jakarta that are accessible and insightful. Through West Side Story, JPAC hopes to show that differences, are not supposed to be the source of conflict, but rather a chance to learn and understand each other.

Quoted from the Producer of the musical, Puti "Alex" Rahmasari: "Throughout the journey to bring West Side Story it is impossible not to feel the great love and passion for musical theater radiated by our cast and crew. It has been one hell of a journey, from the Kickstarter campaign to the marathon rehearsal and meeting sessions, from obtaining the license to the pre-show events, we have had so many new experiences, new stories imprinted in our memories. West Side Story truly enriches our merry not-so-little family of musical geeks".

To see the preparation of JPAC's West Side Story, be sure to check out their videos below:

West Side Story is a classical musical penned by Arthur Laurents, with music by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim about forbidden love that blossoms amidst the pressure and violence of gang rivalry. Loosely based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the musical revolves around Tony, a Polish-Irish New Yorker, and Maria, a Puerto Rican immigrant. With the backdrop of 1960's New York City, the timeless piece is brought to life with the dynamic opposition between the Jets, the white gang, and the Sharks, the Puerto Ricans.