Presented by Next Stage Youth Theatre Company
Wednesday 27th – Saturday 30th September, 7:30pm
Matinee Saturday 30th September, 2:00pm
West Side Story will be Next Stage Youth Theatre Company’s first full musical. And what a musical! It’s jammed full of some of the most well-known and loved songs of the 20th century: Tonight, Somewhere, America, One Hand, One Heart. It is cast from our talented youth theatre, so that all parts are appropriately aged and played. This is a must-see show for all the family.
With stunning fight sequences choreographed by Nicky Wilkins and whirling dances from company choreographer Hayley Fitton-Cook, the show is staged in the versatile setting of The Mission Theatre complete with an atmospheric backdrop of slides that will transport you to downtown New York in the 1950’s.
Directed by the company’s Artistic Director Ann Ellison BEM this entrancing tale of young love and its tragic outcomes, stars Fin Hancorn as Tony and Miranda Webb as Maria.
We advise early booking for what will inevitably be a sell-out production. Come along, see the show and realise that:
"Tonight, tonight the world is wild and bright!”
Cast
Review
The Mission Theatre
Next Stage Theatre Company
West Side Story
Tuesday 26th September 2023
Tonight, tonight,
I saw a show tonight,
I saw it and the world went away.
It has been more years than I care to remember since I last saw this musical, so I was thrilled to be invited, even more so to hear it would be a youth group performing. If there is any musical that cries out to be performed by youngsters, then this is it. I was not disappointed.
Ann Ellison's direction encapsulated the tribalism at the heart of the story, from the raw energy of the opening to the pathos at the end. Placing it in-the-round provided intimacy (the eyes-meeting-across-the-room of Tony and Maria was magical) and the minimalist set was used very effectively. Costumes were bright and colourful and used to great effect to mark the gang membership. Lighting effects were subtly employed, and I also liked the use of the projector to indicate scene changes showing well-chosen images of the squalid tenements, the "small piece of street" over which they were fighting for supremacy.
What the young cast may have lacked in experience they more than made up for in sheer infectious enthusiasm (oh, to be lithe enough again to leap on a box in a single bound!) and their discipline was exemplary. There wasn't a single missed or inaudible line and the wisecracks and teen slang sparked amid the tightly delivered dialogue. At any given time, I was in no doubt as to the motivation of every single cast member and all moved seamlessly from being feisty balls of energy to frightened and confused children caught up in a game that has gone too far. This was reinforced by tight choreography for both dance and fight scenes from Hayley Fitton-Cook and Nicky Wilkins. The story is not just about the opposing gangs of Sharks and Jets, but about the opposing states of immaturity and adulthood, so credit must go to the adult members of the cast who gave strong and measured performances which reinforced this theme.
The musical score, though familiar to us all, presents a range of difficulties, so I must congratulate Christine Anderson on her work with the cast. The piano sympathetically supported the voices, while the use of backing tracks and sound effects worked well in other scenes. Both solo and group singing was strong, confident and in character, particularly for Cool, America and Gee, Officer Krupke. Somewhere, was beautifully sung and staged, and I'm not ashamed to admit that it brought a tear to my eye. The final scene was superb, giving us both the enormity of the horror wrought by escalating events and a glimmer of hope through the darkness.
If I have one minor criticism, it is that clearer accents would have delivered more authenticity, but this may have come at the expense of taut, snappy dialogue, and this was perhaps a sensible compromise.
My congratulations to everyone involved in this wonderful production. If this is the first major musical, then it is a bold start to what I hope may be many more. Break a leg for the rest of the run and
Just play it cool, boy!
- Rebecca Beard
Rehearsal Photos
