West Side Story

West Side Story (School Edition)

Book by Arthur Laurents, Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Music by Leonard Berstein

Performed by the cast of St Peter’s C of E Aided High School on 13th March 2026

At St Peter’s School, Exeter.

Produced and Directed by The Production Team consisting of Ms Vallis,Mrs Comerford, Mrs Diment, Mr Balletto and Mrs Middlebrooke

 

West Side Story School Edition is a powerful and emotional musical that reimagines Romeo and Juliet in 1950s New York. It explores themes of love, prejudice, and conflict through music, dance, and drama. Even in its school-friendly version, this company of actors kept the intensity and impact of the original, making it both engaging and thought-provoking for audiences.

The story follows Tony and Maria, who fall in love despite belonging to rival gangs—the Jets and the Sharks. Their relationship develops, secretly at first but then threatened by violence and hatred between the groups.  

The audience when entering the auditorium were greeted with a large open stage with the painted words of JETS and SHARKS as if hopscotch on the ground. The Cyclorama was a painted backdrop of NY downtown with fencing in front to signify a baseball court. Upstage right a building with a fire escape and entrance above used to great effect by Tony and Maria during the duet of Tonight and upstage right is Doc’s. Three Officer Krupkees patrolled the stage and auditorium staying in character throughout.

With a cast of more than a hundred this production was remarkable as it kept the sincerity and sensitivity needed for the piece. My congratulations to the production team in involving so many of the pupils and choreographing such a huge amount of people, especially to those current pupils who assisted in creating the incredible dances and movement performed.

This is most definitely a musical that requires teamwork and a talented supporting cast of Jets and Sharks. These two teams of actors created the atmosphere of rival and tension immediately. The Jets were led by a confident actor playing Riff with a good Bronx accent and a strong singing voice. He was supported by his ‘crew,’ who all shone in their individual roles notably Arab, Snowboy, Baby-John, Big Deal and Anybody’s.  Bernado, the leader of the Sharks, was portrayed by an actor with excellent stage presence and a cool Latino accent with his right-hand man, Chino also a confident actor. Pepe, Juano and Torro along with the rest of the Sharks gave believable performances and I could feel the conflict between them all when Chino murders Tony.

Tony was beautifully acted by this young actor who clearly revelled in the role. With a lovely tenor voice the duets with Maria in One Hand, One Heart and Tonight were just lovely and his rendition of Maria was delightful and not an easy sing.  Maria was portrayed with such poise and tenderness required for the role by an actor who is clearly comfortable on a stage. Her singing had such emotional depth to every song and I loved I Feel Pretty with the female ensemble and Anita. Anita, Bernado’s girl, is a feisty role especially during America and this actor gave a wonderfully bold and confident performance, using a Latina accent and with expert dance abilities too.

 I must at this point congratulate the principal dancers who throughout performed with expertise and style. Dance plays a huge role in storytelling. The choreography should express tension between the gangs and add energy to the performance and in this production was performed with confidence and precision.

All the cast kept in character which is very important as West Side Story deals with serious issues like racism, belonging, and the consequences of violence. It shows how misunderstandings and hatred can lead to tragedy, making it still relevant today.

With great cameo roles such as Doc and Inspector Shrank adding to the enjoyment of this piece and a chorus who all exuded confidence and pleasure in their individual performance, this was an absolute joy to watch.  There was so much to look at and relish as we watched everyone on stage throughout the whole production. 

Special mention must be made to the orchestra, made up of both past and present pupils and staff, they made a terrific sound which supported the cast perfectly. I honestly can say they were as good or better than some of the professional accompanying orchestras I have witnessed, so hats off to you.

The lighting was expertly handled with good use of gobos. The sound operator kept the balance right between the orchestra and actors performing with personal mics, even keeping the underscore low when the actors were speaking.

I also loved the costumes which I am sure were partly provided by parents. The clever idea to have the Jets in black, greys and whites and the Sharks in Red was ingenious.

This was a brilliant production which combined music, acting, and dance to tell a meaningful story. With strong individual performances and good coordination, it was very entertaining and deeply moving especially Maria as she said goodbye to her love, Tony.

The story of Romeo and Juliet delivers an important message of love and hatred and how destructive revenge can be because of differences. The cast of West Side Story School Edition at St Peter’s School gave their audiences, parents, and teachers a production to be proud of.  Well done to all involved and thank you for such a wonderful welcome as your Noda Representative.

Lyn Burgoyne 

Noda Representative South West – District 5 (Mid and East Devon)

NODA REPORTING:

Any observation made by the reviewer can only be based on what he sees at the performance in question.  The reviewer may have received information in advance of the performance and it is inevitable that his assessment will be affected by that knowledge.

The N.O.D.A. Representative’s intention is to give an objective critique of the overall production, and particularly the performance viewed.  It should be remembered that any review of this nature can only be objective as far as the techniques used during the performance observed.  Any criticisms expressed may not have been valid at other performances, and are only made to encourage higher standards in Amateur Theatre.

It is hoped that the audience’s appreciation of your efforts will have given everyone a lift and encouraged you to greater achievements in the future and that the observations made by the reviewer will prove helpful in improving future productions.

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