West Side Story, one of the great musicals of the 20th century, possibly the greatest, premiered in New York in 1957 and in London in 1958. Sadly, no revival since then has ever been able to equal the impact Jerome Robbins’s production had. Joel McKneeley’s touring version is very much a period piece now and comes across as too clean and too mechanical. The enduring strength of the show, however, remains in the integration of Arthur Laurents’s book, Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics, Leonard Bernstein’s music and Robbins’s choreography. To this day West Side Story, a dance-driven show, can only be performed professionally with his original choreography. The dancing is exciting, moving and articulate. The dream sequence, Somewhere, all in white, is particularly poignant.
The strong story line has its roots in Romeo and Juliet, the definitive love story, which has been endlessly reinvented and is always timely. Poverty, racial prejudice, juvenile delinquency and knifings are still with us. The Capulets and Montagues are now two feuding New York street gangs and in some respects Laurents’s book actually improves on the source material. The melodramatic finale (so different to Shakespeare) audibly shocks the audience. Bernstein has provided a wonderful score. Hit number follows hit number. The star-cross’d lovers are sincerely sung and acted by Liam Tobin and Elena Sancho-Pereg.