The elevator pitch for West Side Story is it’s Romeo and Juliet moved to New York city. Rich families exchanged for delinquent gangs in fifties New York.  

We’re here with utterly different experiences, I’ve only seen a thousand references, memes and pastiches but this musical has been part of Jo’s life since the 70s: many hours of listening, practising clicking fingers, mimicking Maria’s soaring aria’s and swishing skirts like Anita, all the while poring over the film pictures on the record cover.

With the legendary core creative team from the original 1957 show of Jerome Robbins, Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents and Stephen Sondheim, it is no wonder that having read the reviews from that time, they still feel relevant to my experience right now with Opera Australia. This production proves that West Side Story is a true lasting work of art.

Going in to the show I am concerned that this might in some way be stylised historical re-enactment as it can be a danger to too slavishly follow what has gone before, but the script that was forged over four years by a musical dream team has lasted the test of time. This is a take on star-crossed lovers set firmly in its era. I find it hard to imagine how you could mess with this by modernising it or transplanting it to another locale.

While the story pivots around the characters of Tony (Romeo) and Maria (Juliet), this piece is at its heart an ensemble piece, a multi character-filled story with every piece of the puzzle essential in its telling.

I imagine it would have been radical to a 1957 audience to hear Puerto Rican women speak about their experiences, even if they were written by a men. However to a modern audience there are moments, though, with the women of Jets so ably played, where the script simply doesn’t support telling what their stories might have been. Some will be left wondering whether a creative team in 2019 could have found ways to express this rather than just make their skirts shorter. 

In this production, many of the performers are debuting in their first professional gig and the youth and agility amongst the more experienced and veteran actors makes for a perfectly believable experience.

Even after sixty years this is accessible but not comfortable theatre. For me it’s a one-two punch to the jaw. Its sex, death and stunning dancing, but also at its core it is about youth violence and tragic waste.  

If you are still reading, here are a few quick reasons why we think you should go:

If you were in two minds whether to go out in a cutting southerly and rain you need to make the trip.

The star-crossed lovers Tony (Todd Jacobson) and Maria (Sylvia Salvesani) are by turns sweet and sensual as they play out a love that’s too beautiful and frankly stupid to survive reality. Their voices lift the cast and the show.

Chloe Zuel’s portrayal of Anita is superlative. Many stars shine, but this performance burns poignantly and gloriously. It is a privilege to watch her seated amongst such a significant production.

The show overflows with lively dialogue and driving lyrics that adds rich depth to the world of the gangs, the Jets and the Sharks. With complex social commentary, there is no place to sit comfortably in this social carnage and we are swept up in the ensuing and unavoidable train-wreck which is so stunningly artistic and palpable in its reveal.

Peter Halbsgut’s dynamic lighting and Paul Gallis’ imposing city street-scape set design pushes everything to the next level in this slick production. The show flows and drives along with seamless set changes taking us from the streets, to the iconic balcony scene with ease. The colour palette is echoed in Renate Schmitzer’s excellent costuming, representing time and culture.

You get sizzling choreography with a cast that knows how to rock, samba and groove, (but is also based in a very balletic foundation) and can tell stories and moments with movement and their bodies.

Orchestra Wellington led by Donald Chan nails this historic and action-packed Bernstein score. You’re in for a musical treat.

West Side Story is from an era where the older style of musical was transitioning with the influences of the day, so whether you are an operatic style fan or a musical theatre fan, this show has something for everyone.

As the ecstatic eruption of applause ends in the Wellington State Opera House, Jo is left feeling moved and amazed at the ability of this production to stay true to its period but with subtle nuance and the depth of character direction from director/ choreographer Joey McKneely, this production has been brought artistically to 2019 and addresses many of societies issues still being faced today.

I’m also left angry that I don’t know the name or why a young man was stabbed to death on Thursday the 9th of May 2019 just before 6pm on the west side of the city I love. Why have we still not learned to teach young men what this Opera Australia’s production so powerfully underlines – that human life is precious, and human bodies are capable of such strength and beauty, but can be just so fragile. What can we do to stem this? All I know is that prison is not the answer and I want change in Aotearoa.

I am now desperately anticipating Taki Rua’s upcoming production Cellfish in the Kia Mau festival. It will take you to the national shame of our prison system and lever it open with Shakespeare. You should see both.

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