Let me take you back. August 2017 to be precise - I was running around in the car making sure everyone was in place to have my three-year-old so that myself and Mrs. Matt could venture to the Birmingham Hippodrome to attend the press night of West Side Story.
As a massive fan of the film and its music, I was more than excited to be seeing it on the stage for the first time. Sadly, however, it wasn’t meant to be. A HGV on the M6 put stop to my plans and the rest, as they say, is history! (I was fine by the way!)
Skip forward to March 2018 and I took my seat at Stourbridge Town hall to watch (again, for the first time!) West Side Story.
Based on Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’, the story is set in the Upper West Side neighbourhood in New York City in the mid 1950s; an ethnic, blue-collar neighbourhood. The musical explores the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds.
Tony, a former member of the Jets and best friend of the gang's leader, Riff, falls in love with Maria, the sister of Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks. The dark theme, sophisticated music, extended dance scenes, and focus on social problems marked a turning point in American musical theatre.
Bernstein's score for the musical includes some of the best known songs in theatre history, from ‘Maria’ and ‘America’ to ‘Somewhere’ and ‘Tonight’.
The original 1957 Broadway was nominated for six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, in 1957 and the 1961 film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards - and won ten - so this is kind of a big deal!
The curtains opened and, against the superb set, the cast came out to begin their opening night of Bernstein’s and Sondheim’s tale of love, tragedy and family.
West Side Story is not an easy production to stage at any level, but TAB did an excellent job of using the small stage to their advantage. The whole cast gave 100% and delivered some very professional performances, in particular Beth Berwick-Lowe as Maria, Fleur Petford as Anita and Oliver Keeling as Action who gave the performance of his life as the cheeky New Yorker who stood out as the best ‘Jet’ for my money!
I should also mention that the Puerto Rico accents are very convincing and Mitchell Bastable who plays Bernardo even looks Latino!
I always like it when TAB put on a show because you get your monies worth. Most of the cast have experience and, along with Tom Porter as musical director, you always walk at the end safe in the knowledge that you haven’t wasted your hard-earned Sterling.
West Side Story runs till 10th March at Stourbridge Town Hall and tickets are available online.
