Reviewed by Tony Annicone
New Bedford Festival Theatre’s summer musical at the Zeiterion Theatre is “West Side Story”, the classic 1957 musical hit. It is based on Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” and the story is as fresh and meaningful to contemporary audiences as it was for audiences in 1591 for the original play as it was in 1957 for the musical version. Hatred and violence don’t solve problems, they create new ones. Love and understanding are the solutions to these problems, not only in these shows but in real life, too. The well known story of star crossed lovers Tony and Maria takes place in New York City. The outside forces of enemies, friends, gang members and adults keep them from fulfilling their dream of everlasting happiness due to hatred and bigotry. The twenty member cast under the insightful direction of Michael Susko, delivers the goods in a powerful and poignant presentation which propels the audience to their feet at the curtain call.
Michael takes Arthur Laurents well written script and makes it soar in both the comic and dramatic aspects. Just when you feel your heart is going to break in two, the script has a comic moment to lighten it up. Michael casts the show beautifully from the major roles to the minor ones. He is aided in his task by music director Juan Rodriguez and his twelve piece orchestra especially impressive are the brass players. He makes the music stand out in the ballads and up tempo numbers with his attention to annunciation and vocal training. The Bernstein and Sondheim score is rendered excellently by the musicians and vocalists. The most difficult vocal number is the Quintet and Juan has Tony, Maria, Anita, the Sharks and the Jets carry it off splendidly. One of the most important aspects of this show is the choreography and the audience isn’t disappointed here either. Choreographer Victoria Casillo recreates Jerome Robbins original choreography and has her talented cast dance their shoes off with ballet, modern, jazz dance with mambo and salsa to name a few. Her dancing expertise is witnessed in “Prologue”, “Dance at the Gym” which stops the show, “Cool” with the men doing amazing splits in it, “America” and the breathtaking ballet to “Somewhere” which is sung by Tanner and Samantha with their strong voices. This displays how what starts out as a wonderful dream turns into a horrible nightmare. Another standout dance segment is the Rumble which leads to the death of two of the characters. The mixture of movements and direction of this fight at the end of Act 1 leaves the audience but begging for some more good things to look forward to follow. Kudos to Emily Taradash for the amazing costumes and Robert Andrew Kovach for the fantastic sets.
The two leading players are amazing performers. Tall, dark and handsome Tanner Callicutt makes Tony a strong hero that the audience can identify with from his first entrance onstage. Tony’s first song “Something’s Coming” is usually a throw away number since it’s not as well known as the others. Tanner makes this one as memorable and impressive as “Maria” and “Tonight.” His majestic tenor voice soars off the charts with every note as clear and strong as the other especially impressive is his falsetto at the end of “Maria.” Tanner’s acting is superb with the love at first sight, the ensuing exuberant pure love, the horror at killing someone, the anguish of thinking a loved one is dead and finally making your own death onstage believable. The pathos pours forth at the end of “Somewhere” where he is choked up with emotion. Samantha Williams as Maria is Tanner’s equal in every way. From her first scene in the dress shop, she displays the spunkiness of Maria. Samantha makes her strong character who stands up for herself and her high soprano voice soars up to the heights. She and Tanner have excellent chemistry together so you cry right along with her in the death scene. Samantha’s yelling at the others to kill her is astounding and frightening after all the shooting sprees lately in America which makes the show very relevant to contemporary audiences. Their duets are terrific especially the fire escape duet “Tonight” which is exhilarating and “One Hand, One Heart” which is tender and emotional. Also impressive is the “Somewhere” duet which starts off with everyone getting along as they dance only to disintegrate into a nightmare when Riff and Bernardo get killed again. Tanner and Samantha capture the naivete of Tony and Maria, making the audience remember their first love. She displays the comic side of Maria at the start of Act 2 with her “I Feel Pretty” number where she and the girls since and dance before they learn of Bernardo’s death.
The two leads are strongly supported by the other cast members. The dancing in this show is outstanding by one and all. Gang leaders, Riff played by Taylor Wright and Bernardo by John Paul Batista are excellently cast. Both deliver strong performances especially in the confrontation scenes and the fight leading to their death scene. This scene is handled splendidly with its realistic presentation. Taylor does a marvelous job in “The Jet” song with his gang members and in “Cool” where he exerts control over them especially hot headed Action who is always ready for a fight. Taylor and Tanner play best friends as Riff and Tony who are as close as brothers with their credo from womb to tomb. Taylor’s dancing prowess is astounding especially in “Cool” where he does some impressive flips. I previously reviewed Taylor as Kenickie in “Grease” in 2016 and Bert in “Mary Poppins” back in 2015 for NBFT. John Paul as Bernardo displays his dancing prowess in Dance and the Gym and the rumble. NaTonia Monet plays Anita, the spitfire girlfriend of Bernardo wonderfully. She sells the comic song “America” with the girls while they dance up a storm and in my favorite dramatic duet “A Boy Like That” with Samantha. Her hurt and anguish are displayed in this number and in the assault scene where the Jets become as depraved characters like they sang about in “Officer Krupke” earlier in the show.
The usually underwritten adult roles are played with the right amount of conviction by Eric Paradis as the mean spirited Lt. Schrank, John Costa as the foppish Glad Hand, the funny Matt Quinn as Officer Krupke and Georges Charbonneau as Doc, the weak drugstore owner who finally develops a backbone after the gang attacks Anita. He throws them out of the drugstore and then slaps Tony into reality when he tells him that Maria is dead. The fantastic Jet members are Beau Hutchings as hot headed Action who frightens the audience with his angry outbursts, Trevor Michael Schmidt as Baby John, the young naive gang member, Morgan Blanchard as Diesel, Andrew Winans as Big Deal, Brian Pereira as Arab and last but not least Zuzu Park as Anybodys, who plays the role with a lot of grit and heart and helps Tony escape at the end of the rumble. Jose Useche as Chino makes a nice transition from shy boy to murderer after Tony kills Bernardo. So for a magnificent rendition of this classic musical that still resonates with contemporary audiences, be sure to catch “West Side Story” by New Bedford Festival Theatre at the historic Zeiterion Theatre before the entire run is sold out. Tell them Tony sent you.
WEST SIDE STORY (20 to 29 June)
New Bedford Festival Theatre @ The Zeiterion Performing Arts Center, 685 Purchase St., New Bedford, MA
1(508) 994-2900 or www.nbfestivaltheatre.com
