“West Side Story” at the Orpheum Theatre

 

There’s still time to make a performance of West Side Story brought to the Twin Cities by the Hennepin Theatre Trust – and you should! This recent revival keeps all the grace and beauty of the original Broadway production, adding a little contemporary raunch for enough punch to reach today’s audience.

Inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the show is set in 1950’s New York City in a rough neighborhood where the locals, including a young gang, resent the new influx of Puerto Ricans. Led by Riff, the Jets are determined to hold on to their turf. Riff’s best friend, Tony, who helped found the gang, falls in love with the rival gang leader’s sister, Maria, and the unraveling – and heartbreak – begins.

With local musician’s augmenting the small touring musical crew, Leonard Bernstein’s music still amazes with its emotional precision, guts and pure wonder. Gratefully, this revival shows equal respect for Jerome Robbins ground-breaking choreography, too – part exquisite ballet and part highly choreographed violence. It is conceivable that you could skip the dialogue and still understand this show, top to bottom, and enjoy it on every level.

But then you’d miss Arthur Laurents’ own rewrite of the book – still the tightest script ever written for a musical. There is not one extra word, even with the updates that are just enough to make it feel more immediate but not enough to jar our memories of the original too much. And it was a good call to use Spanish (even in some lyrics) in about 20 percent of it.  

A gifted cast, with the dancing and vocal chops to carry this monster hit on their shoulders, still has enough left to re-imagine the iconic characters. German Santiago as Sharks leader, Bernardo, was spot on – attitude, charm, bravado and classic sex appeal. Michelle Aravena as his girlfriend, Anita, was simply spectacular. Beyond her first-class dancing and powerful voice, she above all others filled the role. The song, the stage, the scene – none of it was too big for her to fill with her glorious performance.

Joseph J. Simeone as Riff was a great dancer, wonderful singer and skilled actor, but didn’t quite have the monumental presence this character requires to keep the lid on the situation boiling up with the Sharks. Action, played by Drew Foster was a little over the top in Act I, but it all made sense in Act II as the chaos set in. With the gang’s leadership (such as it was) gone, and nothing left but their anger to motivate them, the Jet’s taunts get more dangerous and the threats more violent – all choreographed at a blistering tempo.

Kyle Harris certainly has the voice and appeal for Tony, but I puzzled about his static interpretation of “Tonight” and “Maria” on a bare stage. I picture Tony as a kid, really, crazy in love and bursting with joy. How could he just stand there? Ali Ewoldt as Maria was adorable. She, too, has a magnificent voice, so why is she singing in this pinched, nasaly tone that’s now seems to be the norm for musical theater? (“Tew-night?”) This is Bernstein. You’re allowed to pull out the stops with your classical training and give us the full spectrum of sound waves inside that tiny frame!

But she can be forgiven after pulling off one of the most challenging endings written for musical theater. You may be pinned to the back of your chair, rather than leaping to your feet.

West Side Story runs through July 17.