MUSICAL West Side Story Theatre Royal, Plymouth and touring
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Your support makes all the difference.In the same way that Oklahoma! turned musical comedy into the musical by integrating songs into the narration, West Side Story was the first musical to feature dance as an integral part of the staging.
The re-creation of a hit show like West Side Story threatens as many pitfalls and risks as the staging of the original premiere. And with Bernstein and Sondheim in the credits, along with Arthur Laurents, who wrote the book upon which the screenplay was based, something exceptional is expected. West Side Story's Broadway opening was 40 years ago, however, and the hipster dialogue sounds more quaint than hip today, while neither old nor specialist enough, like the Runyonese of Guys and Dolls, to count as a period piece.
The story is corny, from an original that was equally corny. The music has remained in vogue by diverse means, but has never been picked up by jazzers in the same way that the songs of Rodgers and Hart have. The secret of West Side Story's success lies in its direction and Jerome Robbins's choreography, which is faithfully reproduced in the new production by Alan Johnson at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth.
The show sets off with a balletic street-life scene that seems as stagy as a production number in an old Hollywood musical. It was some time into the show before Anna-Jane Casey and a small chorus line lifted the tempo with a spirited version of "America!". It is clear that this production still needs time to settle. The dancing sequences shriek with nervous energy.
There is a delightful slow-movement sequence at the start of the second half with dancers wandering in a pattern, gradually filling the stage with graceful movement. This is entirely beguiling and upstages the energetic finger-snapping fighting and posturing of the street gangs.
The first-night audience acknowledged the show-stoppers and applauded long and hard at the end. With a full orchestra and a cast of 40, this is a massive undertaking. West Side Story has two great leads in David Habbin and Katie Knight-Adams. Their contribution is almost entirely vocal and the famous songs could not get a better exposition.
To 30 August (booking: 01752 267222); then Manchester Opera House 2 Sept- 4 Oct, Bristol Hippodrome 7-25 Oct, and touring nationally to July 1998
Allen Saddler
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