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Playing to capacity audiences, Broadway’s now classic 1957 musical is proving to be a hit for the 2009 season at Stratford’s Festival Theatre. The production staff has ably navigated through the minefield that a project like West Side Story presents: complicated dance sequences, memorable and sophisticated musical numbers that create audience expectations as to how they should sound; a dark plot based on the Shakespearean tragedy Romeo and Juliet transported to New York City in the mid-1950s; the temptation to morph the Jets into a version of “The Fonz” in television’s Happy Days; and the use of a stage which is configured differently from the one for which the play was originally written.
The plot is a timeless one of conflict centred on the clash of culture, family values and a love triangle. These ingredients alone are the makings of a good play. In this case they are made to come alive because of the 1950s New York City backdrop along with the score and lyrics of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. An astounding number of the songs have achieved an eternal life of their own from this work.

I entered the theatre as a sceptic. Two hours and forty-seven minutes later, I was as eager as everyone else in the audience to give the production a standing ovation. The sets, which included fire escapes, a subway vent, balconies and windows reminiscent of Ralph and Alice Kramden’s Chauncey Street tenement, are incredible versatile. The enhanced stage area is used to create space for the well-executed dance and fight sequences and the impressive handling of the well-known songs by the cast in general along with Paul Nolan (Tony) and Chilina Kennedy (Maria) in particular. The skillful comedy by Dan Chameroy (Schrank), Bruce Dow (Krupke) and Randy Ganne – replacing Mike Nadajewski for the performance as Glad Hand) – also made for a memorable production.

It is difficult to find anything negative to say beyond my oft-made remark about the periodic loudness of the orchestra, which in this production managed not to muffle the clarity of the singers. In all, this production of West Side Story is electric. It draws the audience into the plot, which is exactly what a superb production is supposed to do. There were more than a few audience tears shed when Tony was shot dead. I wonder how many audience members of a certain age were thinking of the black leather jackets and bottle cap belts of their youth during the fighting? For others, there will be the experience of humming the tunes for days. See it for any or all of these reasons.