West Side Story

West Side Story
Inspire Creative
PACE Center
Parker, CO
July 17 - August 2, 2015

West Side Story is an undeniable classic in American musical theater.  Apparently many theaters around Denver feel it is timely for this show since I have seen it on the schedule for at least three different companies this season. The first production was at the PACE Center.

In the beginning the street set was impressive. It lent itself well to the street scenes, giving ample places for gang members to hide and emerge from. It was not as successful for the other scenes. It was awkward for Tony to call to Marina from downstage, then disappear only to emerge center stage onto Maria’s balcony. I felt the absence of watching Tony climb to Maria and the space used for those scenes was way too large for a New York fire escape. The set pieces for Doc’ shop and the dress store were effective but Maria’s room and the gym were less convincing.

The biggest challenge of this show is getting two rival gangs to dance. The choreography in this production was clunky. It seemed more like a series of steps with no development of story or character. The ballet for “Somewhere” has always been strange for me, but the massive production number of the entire cast, featuring the recently deceased Bernardo and Riff was particularly perplexing. While the trio of blonde singers in white gowns were lovely to listen to in that song, I was confused as to what it all meant.

The director clearly created this as a modern story. Many elements of the show were more sexualized than they needed to be. The strange production number for “Somewhere” was shown as nothing more than foreplay for the consummation of Tony and Maria’s relationship. Considering the close proximity to her brother’s murder by Tony, the graphic nature of it seemed distasteful. The attack on Anita was also more detail that was necessary. While her ordeal must be awful to forward the story, watching the gang members force their youngest member on top of her was a bit much.

The strength of the production was clearly its cast. Anita was appropriately sassy and Maria equally innocent. I’m not sure the intimate theater was large enough to contain Tony’s rich operatic voice. The supporting players were strong, if not spectacular. Some gang members, however, seemed very young and others way too old for their roles. Almost every song is familiar and they were performed beautifully.

The material stands up to the test of time. The coarse language only highlights the continued struggle between races which still exists today.  It is a difficult show to produce and overall, this was a solid effort.