West Side Story: A Bronx Science Production

So recently my high school put on a production of West Side Story for our spring musical. Honesty, I am slightly ashamed to admit I did not know what it was about until one of my friends told me. And though it is not public theater, it was definitely a performance that's worth giving recognition to.

I had never seen West Side Story and some of my friends had pulled off some lead roles in the show so I had been anticipating it for weeks (Mostly because many of them were inconspicuously dropping hints that the show was going to be amazing). My friends were of course aware of my current Broadway frenzy and had to remind me many times not to have too high expectations. Still, the performance exceeded them. The entire show was well done, obviously the story is riveting and the music is wonderful, but I really need to make a huge shout-out to the cast. It's truly amazing how incredibly talented a group of high schoolers can be.

The entire cast

The thing about high school productions is that you have really little control over casting. There are only a handful of amazing singers, dancers and of course actors and an even smaller group who have the courage to audition, let alone perform in front of our school. Still, something tells me it was little more than just luck that made our cast so incredible.

Shanti Kumar and Shawn Geller as Maria and Tony

First, Maria and Tony. The two who played them (in the production I saw) had incredible chemistry, were phenomenal singers, and overall performed so well. In the auditorium filled with fidgeting teenagers, both of them had this strange ability to cause everyone to get quiet and still the moment one of them opened their mouth to sing. When Tony died and Maria made her final speech while holding the gun that was used to kill him, I was legitimately brought to tears.

Finally, apart from the incredible cast, the other thing that stood out to me was the choreography. West Side Story is a very dance dependent musical and in the numbers where virtually everyone was dancing, everyone was really great. Okay, so maybe the whole "synchronized" thing didn't really work out, but it added more the the show. I mean, a show about disputes between gangs and such, how much organization and synchronization actually is realistic?

And lastly, one of the greatest scenes (dancing-wise anyway) is in the ballroom right before Tony and Maria meet, when Anita and Riff's girlfriend, Velma, have a "dance-off" there were these two incredible lifts done by Anita and Velma. Honestly, I am astounded that this show was put together in only three months!