West Side Story @ Artisan Center Theater
—Jan Farrington
I’ve got to admit, I’m an easy target for West Side Story. The music alone lays me flat with its power and beauty. The story is romantic, funny, heartbreaking—and still (more than a half-century on) so painfully true about the ways we Americans find to divide ourselves. (In case you don’t know, it’s about teenage street gangs in 1950s Manhattan, one made up of new immigrants from Puerto Rico, the other of more “Americanized” working-class kids whose parents came from Poland, Italy and other European countries. A boy from one “side” and a girl from another fall in love. It’s Romeo and Juliet on the Upper West Side.)
I’ve seen WSS on screen and on tour, from a couple of big-name theater companies—and now from the small but durable Artisan Center Theater in Hurst. Under very fine direction from Chris Gallego Wong (a Texas native recently returned after years of theater and film work in New York and Los Angeles), Artisan’s production is startlingly well-acted and full of fine voices used well—and unlike some area musicals I’ve seen lately, has great sound quality (Music director Thomas Bartke’s skill set needs special mention.) The pre-recorded music is excellent, almost never overpowering the singers, and the microphones worn by the cast pick up dialogue and singing with crystal clarity.
On the day I reviewed, Tony was played by Jae Medlin, and Maria by Sahara Donna. (Some of the lead roles are double cast; at other performances, Dominic Norris and Paloma Magaña play the lovers.) Both are engaging actors, bringing an intimacy and tenderness to the parts of these star-crossed lovers that make us wish hard for a happy ending—this time, maybe? Medlin has a promising musical theater voice, light but strong; Donna has a lovely soprano, just operatic enough when needed, but she (and he, come to think of it) can also do that music-theater trick of making a song sound like a natural conversation.
As Riff, Tony’s best friend and leader of the Jets, Hunter Friederichsen (the role is also played by Hayden Casey) has a leader’s quick decisiveness and bravado. His counterpart, Bernardo (leader of the Sharks), is played by Jayson Diaz with a sense of honor and dignity that lets us feel his immigrant’s anger at how America makes him feel small and unwanted. Bernardo loves his little sister, Maria. Lizzy Davis plays Anita, Bernardo’s fierce girlfriend. She shows off some great dance moves (choreography is by Kianna Dugan), has a rich voice, and is a vivid presence onstage.
The show’s staging keeps things lively and in motion, with cast members swiftly rolling set pieces (sections of fence, a juke box, a girl’s curvy vanity table) on and offstage. The audience sits on four sides, and some dance sequences expand outward along the aisles: you might find yourself within inches of a Jet or Shark. And blocking for this theater-in-the-round setup is unusually good—the actors, without calling attention to it, do a great job of turning (and turning) so that each side of the theater gets a piece of the song or action. Costumer Faith Hilsinger dresses the women in swishy ‘50s skirts and petticoats, and the guys in subtly period looks. Fight choreography is by Hayden Casey, and adds an element of danger and emotion. I found myself tensing and flinching as Riff and Bernardo went after each other.
Today we might scoff at a show about ethnic immigrant groups being written by three upper-class white guys (Leonard Bernstein, music; Stephen Sondheim, lyrics; Arthur Laurents, script). Of course their portrait of the immigrant experience is a bit generic. But there’s not a chance you’ll be thinking of that in the moment, as what they did accomplish pours into you—music for the ages, and a story whose humanity just plain gets you…every time.
WHEN: Through May 6
WHERE: Artisan Center Theater, 444 E. Pipeline Road, Hurst TX
WEB: artisanct.com
