{"id":237812,"date":"2015-07-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-07-03T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/classic-musical-theater\/"},"modified":"2015-07-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-07-03T07:00:00","slug":"classic-musical-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/classic-musical-theater\/","title":{"rendered":"Classic musical theater"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWest Side Story\u201d never disappoints<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Charlene Baldridge |\u00a0Theater Review<\/p>\n

One barely turns around these days without finding another production of composer Leonard Bernstein, lyricist Stephen Sondheim and book writer Arthur Laurents\u2019 1955 classic musical, \u201cWest Side Story.\u201d<\/p>\n

The popular musical based on William Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cRomeo and Juliet\u201d was seen as recently as February in San Diego Musical Theatre\u2019s production at the Spreckels, and now it may be caught at Lamb\u2019s Players in Coronado <\/a>through July 26.<\/p>\n

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The cast of \u201cWest Side Story\u201d (Photo by Ken Jacques)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Both of the other productions utilized recently updated (in 2009) Puerto Rican dialogue and lyrics developed with Sondheim by Lin-Manuel Miranda; except for a part of \u201cI Feel Pretty,\u201d the Lamb\u2019s production does not.<\/p>\n

Comparisons are tedious, but let it be said that each production has\/had numerous assets. Among those at Lamb\u2019s are the Puerto Rican gang\u2019s ladies, Maria (Olivia Hernandez) and Anita (Michelle Alvarez), the naturalistic and appealing choreography of Colleen Kollar Smith, the kaleidoscopic and fascinating costumes of Jeanne Reith, the solid fight choreography by Jordan Miller, and the extreme sense of intimacy with which the tragedy is imbued by director Deborah Smyth.<\/p>\n

This is not to mention Lamb\u2019s usual, fine orchestra (nine players including conductor\/music director Patrick Marion), despite their rare tendency in this production to play too loudly for the singers and situations, particularly those of scenes steeped in intimacy.<\/p>\n

\"(l<\/a>
(l to r) Olivia Hernandez and Kevin Hafso-Koppman in a scene. (Photo by Ken Jacques)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Set in Manhattan in the summer of 1955, \u201cWest Side Story\u201d explores the turf war between two teenage street gangs, the largely Polish Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks. Machismo is rife on both sides. Jets leader Riff (Jesse Abeel) initiates a \u201crumble\u201d with the Sharks, led by Bernardo (Patrick Duffy). Bernardo\u2019s sister, Maria (Hernandez), best friends with Bernardo\u2019s girl, Anita (Alves), falls in love with Tony (Kevin Hafso-Koppman), a former member of the Jets, now employed by a kindly druggist named Doc (John Rosen, such an excellent actor).<\/p>\n

Reith\u2019s traditional costumes are beautifully displayed in the Dance at the Gym scene, with the spitfire Anita clad in purple with red undergarments, and the innocent Maria in white. It parallels the Shakespeare scene in which Romeo first meets Juliet. Mike Buckley\u2019s set has the requisite balcony (fire escape) for wooing. It all works wonderfully.<\/p>\n

Though Hafso-Koppman has a light voice, he uses it well and it is a perfect fit with Hernandez\u2019s lovely soprano. Hernandez and Alves (who is an amazing dancer and singer, having played in the Broadway tour in 2012) provide the best scene musically, as the two young women reconcile, recognizing the truth and hope of real love.<\/p>\n

The toughness-applied young men dance and sing well, though Duffy is sadly a bit long of tooth, giving the appearance of being home on a college break.<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a>Though he wants nothing to do with the rumble, Tony attempts (as does Christopher Lennon\u2019s Officer Krupke) to prevent the carnage; nonetheless, tragedy ensues. The entire show is accompanied by memorable songs such as \u201cMaria,\u201d \u201cOne Hand, One Heart,\u201d \u201cTonight,\u201d \u201cI Feel Pretty,\u201d and \u201cI Have a Love\/There\u2019s a Place for Us.\u201d<\/p>\n

No matter how many productions one sees, the ending of \u201cWest Side Story,\u201d like Shakespeare, always reduces one to tears. Many leaving the matinee of Sunday, June 21, were seen wiping their eyes. This is a great means by which to introduce the young people in your lives to American classic musical theatre and to tie the form with the great classic dramatist who endures centuries later.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Charlene Baldridge has been writing about the arts since 1979. You can follow her blog at charlenebaldridge.com or reach her at charb81@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWest Side Story\u201d never disappoints By Charlene Baldridge |\u00a0Theater Review One barely turns around these days without finding another production of composer Leonard Bernstein, lyricist Stephen Sondheim and book writer Arthur Laurents\u2019 1955 classic musical, \u201cWest Side Story.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":237813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Classic musical theater","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}