I have to hand it to Musical Theatre of Los Angeles: they don’t shy away from a challenge. Their most recent offering is West Side Story but minus Jerome Robbins' choreography. To attempt a dance musical, especially one as famous as this, without real dancers (with a few exceptions) could be considered folly. Indeed, the results are mixed, but once again the extraordinary talent that exists in Los Angeles almost pulls it off.
First, this company uses a relatively large orchestra considering that most Broadway shows have only fourteen instruments and now can get by with as few as six with use of synthesizers and prerecording. Musical Theatre of Los Angeles uses from eight to twelve instruments, and this is in a small, 99-seat house. The sound can be glorious. How wonderful it is to hear the sounds of Leonard Bernstein and the haunting lyrics of Stephen Sondheim.
If only there could have been more dance. Two numbers, the dance at the gym and the rumble, borrowed heavily from the movie and were quite effective. It helped that Artistic Director Bonnie McMahan was front and center as one of the dancers, but she was in only a few numbers. The rest of Arthur L. Ross's choreography was vague and unaffecting.
The same might be said of the direction by Kenneth Gray-Scolari; some scenes were focused and even offered some new ideas, but others were, like the choreography, vague and unfocused. But the director must be forgiven. The program states that his partner, Richard Gray-Scolari, who was also the assistant director, died on Nov. 8th; this loss probably left the show in limbo. It is a tribute to the director and the producers that the show went on.
The cast is uneven, ranging from adequate to outstanding. Two women, Janet Krupin and Laura Darrell, are standouts. Krupin takes on the demanding role of Anita, acting, dancing, and singing with great verve and presence. Ms. Darrell displays a spectacular voice. There is also good work by Jesse Jensen as Riff and Benjamin Marquis as Bernardo.
Clint Carter was an effective Tony. Though he had a tendency to go flat and had trouble sustaining notes, his duets with Ms. Darrell were terrific and full of feeling. Paul Ziegler does a commendable job as Doc, as does Nick Campbell in the role of Glad Hand. Lindsay Day sang “Somewhere” beautifully while the cast attempted the ballet near the end of the piece. Applause all around for this adventuresome group.
West Side Story runs at the Hudson Backstage Theatre until December 21.
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