West Side Story

For over fifty years this wonderful musical has thrilled audiences. Musical score by Leonard Bernstein and the wonderful lyrics by Stephen Sondheim had the full attention of the audience. The story was a modern version of Romeo and Juliet but their love was held back by two rival Gangs the Jets and the Sharks.

The leader of the Jets Riff played by Lucas Martin done a brilliant job with his singing and dancing and acted well above his young age which just goes to show how much talent he has.

His Rival Bernado the leader of the sharks played by Ryan O’Hagan was equally as good in this role, the interaction between him and Riff was so powerful and effective it had the audience on the edge of their seats.

Tony played by Andrew White gave an outstanding performance of this character alongside Maria played by Sophie Mills, both had fantastic vocals and stage movement which certainly delighted the audience. They both delivered the show’s big numbers including Tonight, Maria and I feel pretty with so much precision and with their high-quality acting it made their relationship so real.

Anita played by Jasmin Smith was once again stunning, her accent was good and her vocals were very powerful and of the highest level, my favourite moment of the show which gave me goosebumps was the scene where Maria was on one balcony and Anita on the other balcony with the cast on stage, the harmony and powerful singing was majestic.

To put on such a big show needs a good Director and Choreographer and both roles were done by Natasha McKenzie, the fine details and movement on stage was very good. A lot of hard work must have gone into this, and it was clear to see from the audience responses what a good show you had done.

The ensemble all played their part. Their energy, movement and singing sounded and looked great.

There was a lot of music in this show and it’s not always easy to get a cast harmonising to the tunes, but I must say well done to Liz Condron you absolutely nailed this, as I have already mentioned above with Maria and Anita.

Shout out to Andrew McMinn and his team as the set looked very good, as did the lights and sound.

Once again, a massive well done to everybody involved you put on another wonderful show.

 

Jim Morgan

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