review: west side synopsis

NOTE: spoiler alert!!!

So I saw West Side Story tonight and it was fantastic, minus the whole death at the end bit. I'd been warned it was "full-on," but I hadn't grown to love the characters enough in 2 hours to be devastated when they died. I think it's hard to arouse such sympathy in musicals. They just don't lend themselves to high tragedy, generally speaking. Though goodness knows Stephen Sondheim tries.

The dancing was fabulous. The costumes were good, the band excellent and the set design fantastic. The songs were catchy and fun (the fast ones, that is), but didn't last nearly long enough. (Surely we could have gone another round in America??) The slow ones droned on, though I am informed by more musically inclined individuals that they were actually quite good. I think there's really only so much you can get out of a name like Maria.

The actress playing Maria was everything a Maria should be, though, and Anita really rose to be the other star of the show. Tony was fine, though not exceptional, and his singing was a bit more melodramatic than entirely necessary.

My biggest shock was that Maria survived the show. Knowing it was based on Romeo and Juliet, I fully expected both to kick the bucket by the end, but, though she alluded to suicide, she hung on at least till curtain call, which generally pretty much seals it for a character.

I also hadn't realized that there was more or less only one big rumble -- I'd thought that there would be several and thought the setting would span more like weeks, whereas it was actually only a matter of days.

The lighting was great, and the sound, too. Having a live band was lots of fun, and I think I even caught the French horn emptying a spit valve at one point.

Overall, it was the dancing that really stood out as the highlight of the show, along with the fun songs. As expected, "America" and "Officer Crumpke" remain my favorites.

Oh, and yes. I did feel pretty, thanks for asking!