WEST SIDE STORY Rumbles at The Majestic

The classic American musical West Side Story is currently playing at the Majestic Theatre.  With music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents, West Side Story first opened on Broadway in 1957 and earned a slew of Tony Award nominations.  After two short-lived revivals, West Side Story launched gradiose revival in 2009 with a revitalized design and lyrics truer to the story's setting.

Set in 1950s Manhattan and focused around two rival street gangs - the Puerto Rican immigrant Sharks and the Anglo Jets - the new production of West Side Story now features dialogue and lyrics heavily laced with Spanish.  It's an addition that I feel is a positive one - it gives the show a more authentic feel, and even if you're not a fluent Spanish-speaker, it won't leave you lost or confused, as the staging and choreography are enough to get the message across.

This was my first experience with West Side Story, aside from knowing the music, and as a whole, I enjoyed it.  I loved mentally noting the parallels and diversions from the show's source material, Romeo & Juliet, and wishing I could someday find a love as fierce as that of Tony's and Maria's.  My main criticism would be the way the the story ended - it felt truncated, and frustratingly so.  But it remains a classic piece of American history and is certainly worth experiencing for the first time, or a second/third time to appreciate the updates that have been made.

West Side Story is playing at the Majestic Theatre through March 27.  Tickets are available at the box office or via Ticketmaster.

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