By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Maybe if the Sharks and Jets had a chance to put on a musical, they wouldn’t have ended up killing each other.
Of course, I doubt the young people in the cast of The Toledo Rep’s production of “West Side Story: School Edition” would be inclined to rumble, but who knows.
The Rep’s teen show draws young people from rival camps. Cast members come from a number of high schools with the Toledo School for the Arts and Rossford being particularly well represented. Andelus Elwazani, a home schooled junior from Bowling Green, plays the lead role of Maria. And rival Falcons from Bowling Green State University, including Kamron Girardot as Tony, and Rockets from University of Toledo share the stage, and the well-deserved applause.
This gang of thespians whips up an energetic performance of this classic show.
“West Side Story” opens tonight (July 11) at 7 p.m. at the 10th Street Stage at 16 10th St., Toledo. The show continues Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Tickets available at www.toledorep.org or by calling (419) 243-9277.
This “school” version was just released last year, and according to a story in Playbill.com, the goal was to smooth out some of the musical, production, and choreography difficulties facing young and amateur troupes.
What’s not changed is the timeless tale, a variation on Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” nor the raw energy needed to stage it.
That energy needs to be harnessed into dance routines, singing ensembles, and fight scenes.
Director Julie Zatko, choreographer Dom Glover, and vocal director Amy Johns shape the action, far more effectively than the hapless adults in the play can control the gangs.
Despite efforts to get the teens to cross lines to dance, the dance sequence in Act 1 explodes as the two gangs try to top each other with their moves.
The dreamlike “Somewhere” captures the characters’ longing of finding some release from the grimy city streets.
In the meantime, the gangs fight over control of that territory. The Jets are the ethnic whites who haven’t been able to escape the tenements and now they’re having to share the neighborhood with the Sharks, the newly arrived Puerto Ricans. They’ve come seeking a relief from the poverty of their home island only to find more poverty and antagonism.
Gang leaders — the Jets’ Riff (Giovanni DeSantis) and the Sharks’ Bernardo (Zachary Farrugia) — rely on these tensions to keep their people, boys and girls, together. Both seethe. Riff is more committed to controlling the rage as in “Cool,” while Bernardo embodies his gang’s sense of grievance.
But two of those closest to them rebel. Tony, the founder of the Jets, has drifted away from the gang and would love to transcend the situation. This longing leads him to be smitten by Maria, Bernardo’s sister, just arrived from Puerto Rico. She’s chaffing at the contradiction of being in a new place yet having to abide by the old ways. That includes the expectation of marrying the shy Chino (Ben Schwan) who lives in her brother’s shadow. It’s as if the spark of love between Tony and Maria is struck on the long simmering hostilities.
Once at intermission for a performance of the opera version of “Romeo and Juliet” I heard an elderly gent grump about who would fall in love so quickly. Maybe not so unreasonable when two middle-age singers inhabit the roles. That’s the advantage of having an age appropriate cast. We believe in Girardot and Elwazani as two teenagers falling so deeply in love. Their love based as much because of their differences as despite them.
Olivia Urban as Anita, Bernardo’s girlfriend, shines. She’s a complicated, frankly sexual character, who resents the Jets and their ilk because they are blocking her from the liberation she seeks.
Anna Giller does a great job as Anybodys, the girl who wants to hang with guys despite their constant rejection and insults. She’s an enigma who moves on the margins, the outsider who wants to be on the inside. I can’t help but wonder what’s in store for her in the social revolution that lies ahead.
The play ends with Maria, kneeling over Tony’s body, pleading for peace, arguing against the constant violence. The message hasn’t lost its urgency, and until it does actors will still come together to stage “West Side Story.”
