Lyric Stage brilliantly brings 'West Side Story' to life Lyric Stage stirs audience members in a stunning revival of “West Side Story”
by Mark Lowry
There is a stunning moment in Act I that encapsulates Lyric Stage's glorious revival of West Side Story.
After Tony (Micah Shepard) has been smitten with Maria (Kimberly Whalen in a phenomenal performance) at the dance, he beautifully sings Maria. Shepard is downstage-left on the Irving Arts Center's expansive and deep Carpenter Hall stage. He's the only actor out there, but a short distance behind him is a 33-member orchestra and the spotlighted music director/conductor Jay Dias.
As the song shifts in intensity ("Say it loud and there's music playing/Say it soft and it's almost like praying"), so does Dias' impassioned baton-wielding -- and Leonard Bernstein's legendary score. It's simple but spectacular.
This is the second time that Lyric Stage -- led by Steven Jones, who has to be one of the most astute, brave and visionary producers of musical theater in the country, including on Broadway -- has staged a landmark musical with a full orchestra. Last year, it was Carousel with a 40-piece orchestra. In that show, the orchestra in the pit left room for a giant set.
But in director Grover Dale's vision, West Side is spare, using mostly rolling industrial ladders and stand-alone doors (the set changes are surprisingly fluid) to represent the New York City locales, from fire escapes and fences to the stairs to the basement of Doc's store. That leaves the spectacle where it rightly belongs: Bernstein's music, Arthur Laurents' book, Stephen Sondheim's lyrics and Jerome Robbins' iconic choreography (re-created here and ingeniously embellished a bit by Kate Swan and the athletic dancers).
None of the performances of the young characters, especially from the women (Whalen, Christie Peruso's Anita and Lili Froehlich's Anybodys) rely on previous versions or stereotypes. They are completely new to us. It's saying a lot that Gordon Fox, in the show's smallest part, Glad Hand, makes you care about a character to whom you had never paid attention.
One quibble (aside from sound problems with some of the cast's dialogue Saturday night) is Shepard, who is not the most compelling Tony -- but he does have a terrific voice.
The dancing is even better than the acting. The Jets, Sharks and their ladies are appropriately young but obviously have the training to master the challenges of Robbins' moves (Dale, who played Snowboy in the original West Side Story on Broadway, has worked with Robbins). The dance at the gym could be tighter, but Cool, the opening gang fight, Gee, Officer Krupke and the Somewhere dream ballet are the best I've ever seen in a production of this show.
Speaking of dreams, that's another interesting insight from Dale: The spare set allows the audience more power of imagination. After Tony sings Maria, it's as if he magically wishes himself outside her window. And the audience is transported as well.
