BULLET REVIEW: WEST SIDE STORY at The Broadway Theatre Opens tonight February 20, 2020

In 1957 “West Side Story” broke the Broadway musical mold with its Romeo and Juliet inspired story of new immigrants and gangs on the streets of the lower Upper West Side before it was bulldozed to build Lincoln Center.

Ivo Van Hove, the director of the new West Side Story , which opens today, had to break another mold created by the Bernstein, Sondheim and Robbins musical that a generation grew up with. Mission accomplished.

From the moment the non-existent curtain goes up, the show leaves no room for nostalgia. In a powerful opening, the audience is introduced to the seriously tattooed young gang members, as each silent street hardened face is projected onto the rear wall.

The production succeeds by captivating the audience with its narrative core — the instant, innocent and pure, barrier blind, love between Maria and Tony. Maria, played by Shereen Pimentel, is atypically beautiful, has a glorious voice and gives an enchanting performance.

Shereen Pimentel and Isaac Powell head the company of West Side Story as Maria and Tony.
(© Jan Versweyveld)

At the Wednesday February 19 matinee, Tony, Bernardo and Chino were all ably performed by understudies. Jordan Dobson, as Tony, hit one out of the park with the physically palpable vulnerability of his love smitten ode to “Maria”. Yesenia Alaya who plays Bernardo’s girlfriend Anita is another standout. Ms Ayala acts and dances with a lean and mean, street smart, tension that is memorable.

Amar Ramasar and Yesenia Ayala as Bernardo and Anita in West Side Story.
(© Jan Versweyveld)

Dharon E. Jones as Riff, Amar Ramasar as Bernado, and the company of West Side Story.
(© Jan Versweyveld)

The original “Gee Officer Krupke” number was a light-hearted parody of 1950’s street kids and the system. The new version of that song is infused with the spirit of “Black Lives Matter” and this era’s backlash against mass incarceration, using video of cops, arrests and lineups to underscore the defining reality of the world being portrayed.

The bigotted Lt. Schrank, played by Thomas Jay Ryan, felt like an outdated character left behind from the original, and not a present day New York City cop in historical sync with the electricity of the updated story. Sadly, it wasn’t his bigotry that felt stale.

The use of real time video enhances the experience and avoids the trap of being distracting. The on-stage camera operators float skillfully in and out of the action bringing us scenes of significant off-stage drama.

“America”, the parry and thrust, spirited anthem of immigrants arguing about the new country versus the old, uses backdrop images of the villages and beaches of Puerto Rico and scenes of New York, including images that appear to be from beyond the edges of gentrified Brooklyn. The video montage backdrop to “America” includes a Trumpian wall. It’s a provocative reminder that the story being re-told on stage is part of of the larger drama unfolding in the world outside the theatre.