Review: WEST SIDE STORY at White Theater

From its first electrifying notes to its tragic final act, WEST SIDE STORY continues to captivate audiences with its blend of urgent drama, iconic music, and groundbreaking choreography. Each new staging of this classic presents a fresh opportunity to rediscover its timeless tale of love and rivalry. This latest interpretation seeks not only to honor the legendary legacy of the original but also to breathe new life into its unforgettable characters and vibrant score.

Now playing at the White Theatre on the campus of the Jewish Community Center is a new production of Leonard Bernstein’s WEST SIDE STORY in a partnership with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Kansas City.

WEST SIDE STORY has always been an extremely formidable undertaking. This new production is directed by Jerry Jay Cranford with choreography by Christina Burton. Excellent set designs have been imagined by Kathy Voecks and executed by Seth Sneary, Madi Richter, and Choe Peterson.

As originally conceived by Jerome Robbins, the cast of WEST SIDE STORY was mostly to have been young men and women in their late teens and early twenties.   This cast is led by two exceptional voices. 

As the doomed lovers, Tony is Alec Bridges and Maria is Elise Bowles.  Both are blessed with excellent voices to sing the challenging score by the late Leonard Bernstein and a young Stephen Sondheim.  The two gang leaders are Riff (James Billbruck) and Bernardo (Jaden Castinado).  Bernardo’s girlfriend and the featured secondary lead is Anita (Pancha Brown).  The Anita character has earned the actor playing the part at least one Tony and two Oscars.

WEST SIDE STORY has always been a dancer’s show.  Choreographer Burton has right-sized the complex dance numbers and retained much of the original flavor of the Jerome Robbins movement that has always characterized this memorable show.

It is remarkable that this production of WEST SIDE STORY should be mounted inside JCC’s White Theatre.  The original production of WEST SIDE STORY opened in September of 1957 at the Winter Garden Theatre. 

The show had been in process since 1949 when Jerome Robbins approached Lenard Bernstein and playwright Arthur Laurents about an idea that adapted Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.  His idea was for a show to be called EAST SIDE STORY.

The conflict was to have been between an Irish Catholic Family and a Jewish family living on the lower east side of Manhattan.  The girl in the piece was to have been a holocaust survivor.  The conflict centered on antisemitism.  The Catholic “Jets” fought the Jewish “Emeralds.”  A similar show shelved the original idea until 1955 and the location shifted to the west side.  The girl became a Puerto Rican emigre and the boy became a member of a juvenile delinquent gang still called “The Jets.”

WEST SIDE STORY continues at the White Theatre until July 25. Tickets are available online or by telephone at 913-327-8054.

Photos courtesy of the White Theatre