BWW Reviews: Limited Return to Pantages of Arthur Laurents' Latest WEST SIDE STORY

West Side Story/book by Arthur Laurents/music by Leonard Bernstein; lyrics by Stephen Sondheim/directed by David Saint (based on Arthur Laurents' Broadway direction)/choreographed by Joey McKneely/Pantages Theatre/through April 14 only

by guest reviewer Jim Spada

When the original West Side Story opened on Broadway in 1957, it changed in many ways the concept of what constitutes a Broadway musical. Its creative team-writer Arthur Laurents, director Jerome Robbins, composer Leonard Bernstein, and lyricist Stephen Sondheim-took Romeo and Juliet and turned it into a pulsing, kinetic opera about rival gangs of Puerto Ricans and Poles on Manhattan's west side, and the tragic consequences of their violent hatred for each other to Tony and Maria (Larry Kert and Carol Lawrence), who have fallen in love.

The extended, innovative choreography by Robbins turned rumbles into athletic, tough-guy ballets. The soaring score and knife-sharp lyrics told the story without much dialogue. The show ended tragically, with no attempt at a rousing finale to make the audiences feel happier as they left the theater.

Since then West Side Story has become one of the most iconic musicals in theater history. It produced one hit song after another, songs that are still performed today-"Maria," "Tonight," "Something's Coming," "One Hand, One Heart." "I Feel Pretty," and "Somewhere," among others. The 1962 film version won ten Oscars, including best picture.

There have been innumerable productions around the world since, and a well-received Broadway revival in 1980, directed by Robbins, which essentially reproduced the 1958 show. It was also a hit.

Then came the 2009 revival, directed by 90-year-old Arthur Laurents, which is the version that opened last night at the Pantages. Laurents set out to modernize the show and make it more realistic. Thus, the Puerto Rican cast sings some of the lyrics in Spanish, and the ending is even bleaker, suggesting that three tragic deaths will not bring peace between the rival gangs,

Laurents's changes caused an uproar. He was accused of toying unnecessarily with a classic. The Spanish lyrics, many felt, left non-Spanish-speaking audiences uncomprehending and obscured Sondheim's brilliant lyrics. Despite the controversy (or perhaps in part because of it), the revival ran for two years and sold over one million tickets.

Which brings us to this production, directed by David Saint with "choreography reproduced" by Joey McKneely. To Saint's credit, the production hums and buzzes as it should, and while McKneely has tweaked some of Robbins's dance steps and timing, he does indeed keep most of it as was.

Another of the criticism of Laurents's revival was that the rival gang members acted more like chorus boys than street toughs. That's not the case here. Each Shark and Jet is tough and masculine enough that even the more balletic dance steps are believable, and they dance with amazing precision through their choreographed fights.

Where Saint deserves the most praise (along with casting director Joy Dewing) is the superb ensemble of actors he has put together. Bernardo and Riff, the leaders of the Sharks and Jets, are played with strength and passion by Andres Acosta and Theo Lencicki. Anita, the spitfire character who seems to turn whoever plays her into a star, is spectacularly played with both humor and anger by Michelle Alves, a Puerto Rican native.The stars of the show, Addison Reid Coe as Tony and MaryJoanna Grisso as Maria, do brilliant jobs of making believable their love-at-first-sight romance, one that is able even to overcome Tony's killing Bernardo, Maria's brother. Coe's tenor voice has power and subtlety as needed, and he's equally adept at playing love struck teenager and raging former gang member when he thinks Maria has been shot. Grisso too is up to the demands of the libretto as well as the songs, her semi-operatic voice a joy to hear singing the rapturous Bernstein and Sondheim songs, her confusion, anger and forgiveness fully conveyed.

This wonderful show is playing only through April 14, so I suggest you grab onto some tickets and go!

http://www.broadwayla.org/index.asp