Review: WEST SIDE STORY at Actors' Playhouse

Just Another Week In Hell's Kitchen

You may not realize this, but if you're under fifty nine, WEST SIDE STORY has been sharing space with you your entire life. So move over; give it a little room. The classic show that crashed onto Broadway in '57 is back.

Forgive me, but just in case... Jerome Robbins snitched a little from Romeo and Juliet and choreographed the story of the Jets and the Sharks, two NYC gangs, so maybe you can guess the plot. Sure, boy meets girl, boy gets girl, but fate sashays in. Anyway, that's the book, written by Arthur Laurents. Leonard Bernstein wrote the music, Stephen Sondheim the lyrics and those two gave us Something's Coming, Maria, Tonight, America, I Feel Pretty. And more. Lots more.

So now it's all here again on the big stage at Actors' Playhouse. There's a cast of 27 directed by David Arisco, the king of big musicals, who doesn't let a flat moment slip into the two hour performance.

Tim Quartier, a terrific tenor and actor, is outstanding as Tony, former member of the Jets who falls in love with a sometimes shrill Maria (Sarah Amengual) of the Sharks. Isabelle McCalla is a fiery singing and dancing Anita.

Spectacle? Ten. Dancing and singing? Ten plus. Acting? Seven. Hey, it's a musical. An old one. And being true to its age, the posturing and gestures and dialogue seem gosh, I've seen all this before. Watching West Side Story is like admiring a classic automobile. Beautiful to look at, but locked forever in its era.

The musical director is Eric Alsford, who also leads the excellent nine piece orchestra

And the choreography? Wonderful work by Ron Hutchins.

Actors' Playhouse designers include Tim Bennett, set; Eric Nelson, lights; Shaun Mitchell, sound; Ellis Tillman, costumes. And a note about the lights: the upstage lighting beautifully reflects the mood on stage, but unfortunately the lights on stage are too often artistically dim. The pop up spotlights did little to help.

WEST SIDE STORY plays through February 21 on the main stage at Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, 280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables. 305-444-9293 http://www.actorsplayhouse.org

Sarah Amengual as Maria and Tim Quartier as Tony in Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre's production of West Side Story. Photo by George Schiavone.