Michelle Aravena News

Multi-Tony award winning choreographer and director Jerome Robbins gives us a contemporary version of Arthur Laurents' classic book. Unfortunately, I did not care for several of Robbins' creative liberties.

The tour of the smash hit Broadway revival of WEST SIDE STORY is coming to SAN JOSE. WEST SIDE STORY will open at the SAN JOSE CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS on Tuesday, January 17, 2012. Tony Award-winning librettist Arthur Laurents' Broadway direction will be recreated for the tour by David Saint, the Associate Director on Broadway. The original Jerome Robbins choreography is reproduced by Tony Award-nominee Joey McKneely (The Boy from Oz, The Life).

WEST SIDE STORY is currently touring the country, and now stars Ross Lekites as Tony, Evy Ortiz as Maria, Michelle Aravena as Anita, Drew Foster as Riff and German Santiago as Bernardo. Also featured are Mike Boland as Schrank, Stephen DeRosa as Glad Hand, Jon Drake as Action, Wally Dunn as Krupke, Alexandra Frohlinger as Anybodys, Jay Garcia as Chino, Casey Garvin as Diesel, Nathan Keen as Big Deal, Harris Milgrim as Snowboy, John O'Creagh as Doc, Christopher Rice as Baby John, Clay Thomson as A-rab, along with Karolina Blonski, Alicia Charles, Lauryn Ciardullo, Dean Andre De Luna, Lori Ann Ferreri, Ryan Ghysels, Tim Hausmann, Nicole Hellman, Laura Irion, Thayne Jasperson, Gizel Jimenez, Eric Anthony Johnson, Patrick Ortiz, Kristen Paulicelli, Christie Portera, Waldemar Quinones-Villanueva, Alexandra Blake Redelico, Michael Scirrotto, Jeffrey C. Sousa, Dani Spieler, Jessica Swesey, Kathryn Lin Terza and Kirstin Tucker.

Casting has just been announced for the second year of the national tour of the smash-hit revival WEST SIDE STORY. Star-crossed lovers Tony and Maria will be played by Ross Lekites and Evy Ortiz, respectively. Drew Foster, the tour's original Action, now stars as Riff. Mike Boland, the tour's original Krupke, now stars as Schrank. The tour also welcomes Jon Drake as Action, Wally Dunn as Krupke, Casey Garvin as Diesel, Harris Milgrim as Snowboy, Christopher Rice as Baby John and Clay Thomson as A-rab. Laura Irion, Gizel Jimenez and Eric Anthony Johnson join as new ensemble members.

A near-perfect blend of story, lyrics, score and movement, the terrific 2009 Broadway revival of WEST SIDE STORY--now playing at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Orange County through September 18--bursts forth with a kind of style and intelligence that arguably reiterates its place as one of the greatest musicals of all time. This stirring, energetic reboot--spearheaded by the late original book author Arthur Laurents--has been smartly touched up with an awareness of current sensibilities and a healthy dose of heightened reality. Do yourself a favor and see this important stage musical while it's still here.

Ali Ewoldt, the standout star of the on-going national tour of the latest Broadway revival of WEST SIDE STORY, wanted to really follow her dreams. Though always drawn to musical theater all her life, she decided to graduate from Yale with a degree in Psychology, thinking it was a 'safer' bet than to pursue a life in the theater. But her dreams proved to powerful to ignore, prompting her to take on musicals full-tilt, culminating in her Broadway debut as Cosette in LES MISERABLES. Now she's wowing audiences across America with her take on Maria, in the smash hit revival of WEST SIDE STORY, now playing at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Orange County, CA through September 18. Before landing in Costa Mesa with the tour, Ewoldt chatted with BroadwayWorld's Michael Lawrence Quintos to talk about her early theater experiences and working with the late Arthur Laurents.

Excitement pulses through The Colonial Theatre from the opening notes of the Prologue and song after classic song by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. With revamped book by Arthur Laurents and Jerome Robbins' choreography, the National Tour of the 2009 Broadway revival that ran for 748 performances settles into Boston for a four-week engagement.

Book writer Laurents' final revival of this classic musical manages to be faithful and flawed.

West Side Story, which is playing at Providence Performing Arts Center through May 1, 2011, holds up pretty well in the current tour.

The votes have all been counted and audited and we're VERY excited to announce the results of the 2010 BroadwayWorld.com San Francisco Awards! Tens of thousands of votes were cast during six weeks of intensive voting on over 190 nominees in 25 categories. Thank you to all who voted and congratulations to all the winners!

WEST SIDE STORY was a landmark work when it premiered some fifty odd years ago. There had been ‘serious' musicals before; SHOW BOAT from decades earlier was certainly not a musical comedy. I do believe WEST SIDE STORY was the first successful musical driven by dance. How intoxicating those dance sequences in WEST SIDE STORY remain all these decades later. The dance in WEST SIDE STORY is from the genius of Jerome Robbins. If we are to believe some sources, including the show's original Anita, Chita Rivera, the ‘shark' dances were done by Robbins' assistant, Peter Gennaro.

The smash hit Broadway revival of WEST SIDE STORY is touring North America! Tony Award-winning librettist Arthur Laurents' Broadway direction is recreated for the tour by David Saint, the Associate Director on Broadway. The original Jerome Robbins choreography is reproduced by Tony Award-nominee Joey McKneely (The Boy from Oz, The Life).

The Jets and the Sharks have taken their turf war to the stage of Houston's Hobby Center in the US National Tour of the 2009 Broadway Revival version of West Side Story. West Side Story is a remarkable collaboration of two theatre geniuses: Leonard Bernstein who composed the score and Stephen Sondheim who wrote the lyrics. But this revived production is a sharp departure from the original musical which opened at Broadway's Winter Garden Theatre back in 1957.

Between the Southern California arrivals of Lincoln Center Theatre's impressive SOUTH PACIFIC revival and the Tony-winning NEXT TO NORMAL tour starring Alice Ripley, to the incredibly entertaining offerings from regional and smaller theaters in the area, 2010 was a banner year in musicals and plays.

WEST SIDE STORY will end its Los Angeles engagement on January 2nd, 2011.

More than fifty years ago one musical changed theater forever. From the first note to the final breath, WEST SIDE STORY soars as the greatest love story of all time. The national tour of Broadway's current smash-hit revival kicked off to rave reviews at The Fisher Theatre in Detroit on September 30 and is now touring the country. We've got the first look at video from the show!

More than fifty years ago one musical changed theater forever. From the first note to the final breath, WEST SIDE STORY soars as the greatest love story of all time. The national tour of Broadway's current smash-hit revival kicked off to rave reviews at The Fisher Theatre in Detroit on September 30.

Armed with current sensibilities that earlier versions could only lightly tap, the latest Broadway stage revival of WEST SIDE STORY--its touring version is currently taking up residence at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood for an extended engagement through January 2--truly excels with its fresh new 21st-Century coat of theatrical paint. This moving, energetic reboot is so much more grounded in reality than ever before, creating a vivid and altogether riveting production of one of musical theater's iconic classics.

Ask musical actors/actresses for their choice of favorite Broadway musical of all time and they most often concur, West Side Story. Why? It has phenomenal music by Leonard Bernstein, with concise poetic lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a tight and gripping book by Arthur Laurents, who directed two years ago, and brilliant choreography established in 1957 by Jerome Robbins. It is one of the most powerful love stories ever, next to Romeo and Juliet. With all these elements complementing one another, from the first downbeat of the orchestra and the appearance of the Jets creeping in one by one on a half-lit stage, the show pulls you in and doesn't let you go for its two and a half hours ... and its message of and images of love linger long after.

More than fifty years ago one musical changed theater forever. From the first note to the final breath, WEST SIDE STORY soars as the greatest love story of all time. The national tour of Broadway's current smash-hit revival kicked off to rave reviews at The Fisher Theatre in Detroit, Mich. on September 30; and this groundbreaking new production of WEST SIDE STORY will play San Diego CIVIC THEATRE in a Broadway/San Diego ~ A Nederlander Presentation on January 4-9, 2011. Tickets go on sale to the general public Sunday November 7 at 10AM!