By Eric George Tauber
CORONADO, California — “Here you are free and you have pride/Long as you stay on your own side.”
Far from the idealistic melting pot, the working class neighborhoods of New York City were rife with conflict. The “wrong people” taking the “wrong street” were “asking for trouble.”
West Side Story is an American re-telling of Romeo & Juliet set in the 1950s. Romeo is a white guy named Tony and Juliet is a fresh-off-the-boat Puerto Ricana named Maria. When their stars cross, it’s love at first sight. And that’s when things get complicated.
Maria was brought to this country to marry Chino. He’s likable, but…. Tony belongs to his street gang, the Jets. “And when you’re a Jet, you stay a Jet” from “sperm to worm.”
Attacked as a foreign invader on his first day in the city, Bernardo started the PR gang, the Sharks. They’ve staked out their territory and the Jets are their main rivals. The armies have rules with limits on weapons and neutral territory. And neither side squeals to the cops.
While ostensibly about the conflict between blue-collar whites and Spanish-speaking PRs, West Side Story is rooted in Yiddishkeit. With the book by Arthur Laurents (originally Arthur Levine), music by Leonard Bernstein and libretto by Stephen Sondheim, I’m sure it was their Jewish mothers admonishing, “Stick to your own kind.”
Director Deborah Gilmour Smyth has put together a strong ensemble and production team. Mike Buckley’s set design is spartan, two sets of fire escapes with spray-painted windows, leaving plenty of room for fighting and dancing. The band was just the right size for their space. They kept the music going without drowning out the actors.
The fighting was highly stylized and far more graceful that any street fight ever was, but that’s the magical world of musical theatre. The dance and fight choreography were so well blended, you couldn’t say where one ended and the other began. So hats off to choreography team of Colleen Kollar Smith and Jordan Miller.
Kevin Hafso-Koppman shines as Tony. A consummate performer since his teens, Kevin’s sings out crystal clear and his bright smile makes us want to believe in him.
Olivia Hernandez makes an adorable Maria. With a voice like bird-song, we fall as hard for her as Tony does. The doll and teddy bear on Maria’s bed were disturbing reminders of just how young and innocent Maria is … too young to be pulled into a marriage and the middle of a gang fight.
Jesse Abeel turns on the swag as Riff, especially in “Keep in cool, Boy.” His pipes could be stronger, but he’s got the moves and the ‘tude to pull it off. The other Jets really ham it up in “Gee, Officer Krumpke” making them fun to watch and giving us some much-needed comic relief.
In a later era, Anybodys –the girl who wants to rumble with the boys- would have been more developed. But having her sing “Somewhere” –with Jessica Humphrey’s beautifully soft soprano- was especially poignant.
John Rosen was passionate as Doc. His despair comes from the depths of his soul. As he pleads for a better world, our hearts break with his.
The one who really brought the house down was Michelle Alves as Anita. Electric with passion, she owned it in “America” and the house couldn’t applaud her enough.
West Side Story is an American tragedy. More than another musical, it’s iconic Great American Songbook that resonates in our national soul. Get down to the Lamb’s Players Theatre in Coronado before July 26th and you’ll see what I mean.
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Tauber is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. You may comment to him at eric.tauber@sdjewishworld.com, or post your comment on this website provided that the comment is civil and you identify yourself by full name and city and state of residence.