westsidestory

Meet Kyle, the "new guy in town" who went to Juilliard! Watch Kyle and his good friends launch their dance company Shaping Sound on All the Right Moves, premiering Tuesday July 31st at 9/8c on Oxygen!

Kyle was Diesel in the first year of the West Side Story National Tour .

This is the 1st Broadway National Tour of West Side Story with their take on Carly Rae Jepsen’s ‘Call Me Maybe’.

Even if you haven’t seen it on stage, you’ve probably seen the movie or at least heard the story… The West Side Story. On this hour of “All Sides,” we’ll talk to an author who’s written the book on that story, as well as two actresses from the touring company .

Guests
Misha Berson (author and Seattle Times Theatre Critic)
Michelle Aravena (cast member, West Side Story)
Alicia Charles (cast member, West Side Story)

Casey Garvin?, Clay Thomson?, Christopher Rice?, Harris Milgrim?
I'm not sure who the other Jets are in the photo

Show & Tell Review: West Side Story

Posted by Sarah- Show & Tell Reviewer

Transport the classic romance and tragedy of Romeo and Juliet to 1950s New York amidst the rag-tag gangs who clashed over rights to their territory, and you find West Side Story. The association is purposeful, the original creators intended for their story to emulate Shakespeare’s beloved classic.

Last night, West Side Story made its way to the Fox Cities P.A.C. and was warmly welcomed by an eager audience. The cast was superb, the costumes and set were first-class, and the music was outstanding. The Fox Cities was privileged to be presented with an updated version of the classic musical, revived onstage in 2009. This adaptation was Arthur Laurents’ (the author of the book for the original 1957 production) attempt at making the story more modern and authentic. To do so, choreography was slightly modified and more of the script has been translated into Spanish.

The story’s tension was felt as soon as the curtain rose. The story of two conflicting gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, whose rivalry was born not just from wanting control of the same streets, but from the ignorance and racism between Puerto Ricans and Americans in New York at that time, was portrayed swiftly and effectively. The Center’s audience was immediately pulled into the clash and responded with a full range of emotions as well as enthusiastic applause.
Leonard Bernstein's and Stephen Sondheim’s original score is an absolute masterpiece. When it was first being produced Bernstein was told that West Side Story was an impossible project, that no one would be able to sing the complicated rhythms and wide ranging songs. Not only has that supposition been disproved time and again over the decades, but last night in the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center the current cast of West Side Story demonstrated just how wrong those nay-sayers were. The difficult songs were played and sung masterfully, making it appear to an unsuspecting audience as if this musical’s score were easy and not the truth behind it: that they were performing musical acrobatics.
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‘It was revolutionary’
‘West Side Story’ the enduring standard by which musicals are judged

By Michael Grossberg
The Columbus Dispatch

The Jets and Sharks are back on tour, although the American consciousness was never really without them.

In the 55 years since the premiere of the original production, West Side Story has become a touchstone of American life and culture.

“In retrospect, it was revolutionary,” said David Saint, associate director of the national tour, which will open on Tuesday for a weeklong run at the Ohio Theatre.

“Today, people use the musical as such a standard.”
( Read more... )

Fox6Now in Milwaukee talks to Alexandra Frohlinger and Jon Drake.