Something’s Coming, and it’s Gonna Be Great
On November 15th, 2014, I went to see the Harlem Repertory Theatre’s production of Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. The production took place at the The Tato Laviera Theatre on 240 East 123rd Street and starred Mario C. Brown as Tony and Katie Lugo as Maria. Although this production of West Side Story took risks with staging and casting, a lot of dialogue was muddied due to either the sound system or diction.
West Side Story is a contemporary adaptation of William Shakespeare’s famous drama Romeo and Juliet. The story is set in New York City during the mid-1950s and follows two star-crossed lovers named Tony and Maria. Their love for each other is twisted and mangled by the ongoing gang warfare between the Jets and the Sharks. Tony, Maria, and the gangs’ stories are told through famous songs such as “Tonight,” “America,” and “Somewhere.” Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, and Jerome Robbins worked together to mesh the elements of love, race, loyalty, and history into a cohesive musical. West Side Story’s release to the public reshaped the musical theatre landscape due to its controversial content and more classical-based music. The musical is not only an artistic masterpiece, but also a time capsule that accurately discusses New York City’s history.
West Side Story has always had a special place in my heart; it opened my eyes to the wonderful world of musical theatre. The first version of this musical that I saw was Robert Wise’s spectacular film adaptation, so I had high standards when I walked into The Tato Laviera Theatre. The venue itself is located in Spanish Harlem, a neighborhood still crawling with gang activity and street violence. The theatre is basically an enlarged black box theatre. I sat down in one of the seats that lined the perimeter of the stage. At 7PM, I felt the lights dim, heard the famous overture wash over the audience, and saw the show begin.
The first word that comes to mind for this production of West Side Story is “immersive.” The Harlem Repertory Theatre’s production used the entire venue as their stage. The cast often ventured off stage and performed in the aisles and the back of the house. At times, the Jets and the Sharks went as far as to break the fourth wall and interact with the audience during their dialogue. It was interesting to be involved in famous scenes and musical numbers such as “The Dance at the Gym” and “Gee, Office Krupke” rather than just watch the story unfold. The cast made sure to include the audience into their story, which definitely kept me engaged.
The production also featured an unconventional but strong cast. The reason the cast was so unconventional is because there was little regard to the racial aspect of the story. The Jets are usually a pre-dominantly white European gang. In this production, the Jets were a racial melting pot: Tony and Riff were African American, Snowboy was Korean, Diesel and Action were of mixed backgrounds, etc. The casting did not distort the story, though. The most important element was that there was still a strong sense of brotherhood shown between the Jets. I loved that the Harlem Repertory Theatre took such risks with casting the Jets. With it, they stayed true to their mission statement: “Critical themes of race, class, and politics will be addressed…to inspire, entertain and educate our audiences…”
A lot of Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics and Arthur Laurents’s book writing were unfortunately ruined due to sound issues and lack of enunciation from the cast. There were a lot of leveling issues between the actors’ microphones and the pre-recorded orchestrations. One particular number that was not done justice that night was my favorite song, “Gee, Officer Krupke.” In order to make the song even more boisterous and frantic, the sound engineer seemed to crank up the volume louder than any other piece in the show. This led to the performers onstage to shout over the music in order to hear each other, instead of focusing on pronouncing the lyrics to the extremely wordy song. The song gave me a headache from the poor sound quality, rather than a bellyache from laughing.
Despite this glaring issue, the Harlem Repertory Theatre’s production received a wonderful reaction from the audience. The audience was filled with people of all ages and backgrounds. Everyone was respectful throughout the performance and graced the performers with thunderous applause after every number. Sometimes, I found the audience could be a bit too enthusiastic with their reactions. One specific instance of this was when Tony was shot by Chino at the end of the musical. When the gunshot rang out into the audience, there was an almost a comical gasp from the audience. It is okay for the audience to react to such an upsetting moment, but to draw that moment out longer than it should with murmurs and gasps can ruin such a sensitive moment.
Overall, the Harlem Repertory Theatre’s production of West Side Story was satisfactory. My favorite aspects of the show were in the excellent staging and casting decisions. The cast took advantage of the venue and used the entire theatre as their stage. The production took me into the streets of New York City during the Jets and Sharks’ gang war and immersed me in the lives of the opposing groups. The cast was also selected well. Although the production did take liberties with the casting’s racial profiles, I did not mind it at all. The fact that the Jets were so diverse only strengthened the powerful connection the Jets share between each other. The issues of sound and diction were definitely distracting. Like I said, though, I walked into this production with high standards. I believe the Harlem Repertory Theatre did great justice to this unforgettable musical. That night was most certainly not just any night.
