Review: Dutch Apple WEST SIDE STORY is the Best Dancing in Town

In the mid-Twentieth Century, which was really just back around the corner if you're not a millennial, had you asked a musical theatre lover to imagine a quartet to put together an awe-inspiring musical, you might have thought of Arthur Laurents, of Stephen Sondheim, and of Jerome Robbins. You might scarcely have dared to add Leonard Bernstein. That massive cumulation of greatness, from Laurents writing the book to Robbins choreographing, could only result in genius or disaster. Genius won, because we got WEST SIDE STORY out of the collective. The 1957 Tony winner (but not for Best Musical, which a traditionalist-musical bloc awarded to THE MUSIC MAN) is not only a beautiful work generally, but also one of the greatest theatrical vehicles for dance ever created. Despite Agnes DeMille's huge, lush ballet in OKLAHOMA, there's more dance overall in WEST SIDE STORY.

We can only thank Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre and director Dean Sobon for giving musical theatre lovers a season with enough really amazing dance to inspire anyone to learn to hoof, following OKLAHOMA with its latter-century urban rival. After seeing a posse of cowboys dancing with their gals, we're now being treated to an inter-gang dance-off between the Jets and the Sharks that should make any dance lovers in the area weep with joy.

Sobon and choreographer Samantha Hewes Cramer plainly understand the structure to WEST SIDE STORY, and even when not laying out the choreography for gang battles, Cramer also understands the metaphor. What's it like to be a young gang member feeling like he's in charge of his street? How do you express love and fear, both in the same movement? What is the physical representation of teasing a friend, in a dance step? Cramer's introductory dance scene of the yanqui Jets ruling their street, prior to the appearance of a Puerto Rican Shark member is completely delightful even when a dancer or two may not be fully warmed up, and her choreography for the iconic "America" and "I Feel Pretty" have the female dancers showing just what it means to be able to torture your friends.

Carver Duncan is a fine, fresh Tony, believably a mix of Irish and Polish, who looks young enough to be the kid that works at Doc's drug store and still has buddies in the old gang. Love interest Maria, sister of the other gang's leader Bernardo (Chris Kane), is played by Alexis Semevolos. It's always a relief to have a performer who appears properly ethnic in a clearly ethnic part; few who remember the original production can forget watching Carol Lawrence singing Maria beautifully while wondering how she got to be a Sharks sister (even Natalie Wood, in the movie, felt more Hispanic). More important, Duncan and Semevolos have wonderful chemistry, of the sort that makes songs like "One Hand, One Heart" feel not at all outdated, but charming, and that makes "Tonight" spark with electricity.

Other cast members shine as well. Zoe Raphael's Anita takes charge of a stage with little effort and turns "America" and "A Boy Like That" into dazzlers. The entire production number of "America" is a sizzler, one of the best moments of song and dance on stage in the region this season. Jessie Lawyer plays Anybodys, the gal who wants to be in the gang, with enough flair to walk off with every scene she's in. And the male ensemble's humor comes through loudly and strongly on "Gee, Officer Krupke," the iconic comic number from the show that's one of the greatest theatre music earworms ever.

JP Meyer's pit band easily handles the sharp jazz riffs that make up the score for WEST SIDE STORY, and one could hope to hear yet more jazz from them. This is still one of the brassiest, edgiest, scores out there, particularly for anything that isn't a rock musical, and more innovative in many ways than many of those - but then, you're talking about Leonard Bernstein. Kudos to Meyer and company for making Bernstein sound like Bernstein, because there's not much that sounds better than playing Bernstein right.

WSS is a show that has everything - book, lyrics, music. What it takes is a strong choreographer, and great dancers and singers. Dutch Apple has given us that, and we should rejoice. The story isn't a cheerful one, but the production is a near-flawless one once the dancers have warmed up. If your only experience of this show is the movie version, be aware that there are some serious differences between the show and the movie. Every movie version has its changes from the stage version; here, there are many. No, the stage version isn't "doing it wrong." The Dutch Apple production is going right by the book on song placements and characters in musical scenes.

If your only experience of WSS is seeing the movie on small screen, be even more aware that in truly living color, the show is much grittier than it seems on a television. While Laurents carefully avoided obscene language in the book, the story really is violent, and the scene when Anita enters the drug store in the Jets' territory to deliver a message to Tony is much more alarming when seen in person, on a large stage rather than on a small screen. These scenes are supposed to be uncomfortable, and removing the filter of distance and recording makes them much more uncomfortable than the film version.

At Dutch Apple through September 19. If you love dance, don't miss it. Call 717-898-1900 or visit www.dutchapple.com for tickets and information.