Silly Little Country

West Side Story - no PLO credit for that

In an earlier posting I observed that several of us PLO members had plans to see London, Ontario's Grand Theatre high school production of 'West Side Story'.
I had hoped, though I knew that the fact that this show came from Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, that we could chalk it up on the PLO side of the world.
Having now seen the show, no, it does not work. All the excellent art stood out too well. The very small jazz band playing the music delivered it beautifully, and the key artists performed wonderfully.
There is regrettably nothing Philistine about those wonderful Sondheim lyrics hitting Bernstein's' music in ways I rarely imagine happening outside an 'ABBA' song. I just get blown away by single lines like, "And I pity, any girl who isn't me tonight", or "It's alarming how charming I feel", which do simply scan so beautifully, as do all the lines in 'Maria'.
As for messages, well, this show just does not age - and nor should it, I guess, based on Shakespeare, and a story he surely stole from an earlier world. And what is more primal than love crossing tribal boundaries, with the prime victims those being the ones trying to stop the senselessness?
And in that context, for me, the song 'Somewhere' just seems devastating. It is so hopeful, and at the same time, such a great condemnation of the world around the characters.
Half the fun was watching the young performers adopt their roles - and in the case of this show, it is not so hard, as it is ABOUT teenagers, or people just older. In the context of high school and University productions I have seen, there were not weak roles taken. There are a couple of the performers I bet I will see again if I live long enough.
Two numbers seemed to me glorious for the high school performers. The 'I Feel Pretty Sequence' sucked me in totally, with all the performers, with great voices, and wonderful performing. The Jets were lucky enough to get the Officer Krupke song, which I did not know (I was of an age to be a nerd when this show came out) - I can think of almost no number in American musical theatre that could so engage a bunch of late teenage boys - and it worked - they were wonderful!
This was my first year even knowing the Grand Theatre did this! It is on my schedule now forever!
As a last reflection, let me say it is stunning what two Jewish boys from Boston and New York can produce, that says SO much more about the world they lived in!

UPDATE: Noel Gallagher's review is very good here and highlights some individuals.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 3:17 PM