West Side Story - Broadway

‘West Side Story’ Revival Breaks All the Rules for All the Right Reasons - Rolling Stone

So how and, more importantly, why do you re-stage the musical on Broadway in 2020? For Belgian director Ivo van Hove - an outsider who has an uncanny ability to see past the tired tropes of classics (The Crucible, A View From the Bridge) and focus on their essence - the ethnic tensions and tale of a divided society at the heart of West Side Story needed to be dismantled and reimagined for our current sensibility. And after years of preparation and millions of dollars, he has done it brilliantly. This new staging of the classic - with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's powerful new choreography and Jan Versweyveld's stunning minimal scenic and lighting design - is fantastic.

‘West Side Story’: Theater Review - Variety

There's no doubt that the sensibility has shifted in this revival, but not enough to seem theatrically radical. Although we no longer seem to be in the 50s, the modern elements are mainly structural, like the gigantic scenic projections (designed by Luke Halls) on the back wall. At first they seem intrusive, more aggressive than enlightening because they're competing with, and often overwhelming, the stage action below. They become integral to the show only when they reveal things we can't see for ourselves, like the confidential exchanges between Maria and Anita in the back room of Doc's Drugstore, and the electrifying night run that Tony takes on the rain-slicked streets of Hell's Kitchen.