“West Side Story” – musical theater at LA Opera

Mean Streets

“West Side Story”

by Bondo Wyszpolski

Here’s a show that shouldn’t be here. LA Opera opened its 40th season not with an opera, but with a musical, a work that normally would have been a perfect fit for the Ahmanson Theatre, across the Music Center Plaza, and not the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

Having operatic leads (Gabriella Reyes as Maria, and Duke Kim as Tony) may have been the rationale for LA Opera to greenlight “West Side Story”, but when you place opera singers in a fast-paced musical you really are mixing oil and water. That’s not to say we have a disaster on our hands, because the production works well enough, but the whole thing is problematic, and that’s not to take anything away from the vocal prowess of Reyes and Kim.

“West Side Story” is one of the most successful musicals of modern times. It premiered on Broadway in 1957 and featured music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Arthur Laurents, and choreography by Jerome Robbins — an allstar team if ever there was one.

The 1961 film version, directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, as well as Steven Spielberg’s 2021 remake, have only enhanced its legacy. In short, this reconfigured “Romeo and Juliet” is firmly entrenched in our cultural consciousness.

Its themes of immigration and assimilation — and the racism that sits between the two — is as relevant today as it was in the 1950s as well as in Shakespeare’s time. Instead of the Capulets and the Montagues we have two street gangs, the Polish-American Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks, both of them tussling over some “turf” and even willing to die in the process. One could substitute Palestinians and Jews or Russian and Ukrainians and it would all come down to the same thing… us versus the “other”.

The core of “West Side Story” is this: Tony wants to leave ganglife behind, just as Maria would like to step away from the bigotry of her brother and his cronies. Tony and Maria envision an idyllic future, with shades of Rodney King’s “Can’t we all just get along?”

Well, apparently not. The headlines remind us of this daily.

The original choreography has been “reproduced” by Joshua Bergasse, which means that there’s a lot of frenetic dancing, mostly ensemble pieces with either the Jets or the Sharks or both, especially when they rumble. It almost resembles capoeira, the Brazilian martial arts style that combines dance, acrobatics, and combat. Needless to say, this is not typically what you find on an opera stage.

The set or scenic design by Peter J. Davison is serviceable, with the tenement where Maria lives with her brother, Bernardo (Yurel Echezarreta), and Bernardo’s girlfriend, Anita (Amanda Castro), on one side of the stage and a rundown hotel on the other, with water towers silhouetted against the background. It all feels kind of bleak. The set is also jiggered to serve as a gymnasium, Doc’s drugstore, and also as Maria’s bedroom.

There’s enough fine acting here, but my nod goes to Echezarreta and Castro; and the latter shines best during “America” with its lively singing and dancing. Castro is also a sympathetic figure towards the end of the story when she enters Jets turf to deliver a message to Tony, only to be abused and humiliated by the other Jets before she can get to him.

It has been pointed out by a critic or two that, visually, Reyes and Kim do not necessarily look the part. Reyes is plump and Kim, who is Korean, cannot deceive the eyes. Performers can get away with looking like Medusa or Jabba the Hutt when it comes to opera, because ideally it’s still about the voice, but you don’t get a free pass when it comes to musical theater. Perhaps we can point a finger at costume designer Jessica Jahn, because when we see Maria at work in the dress shop she’s wearing skintight jeans and, look, this is one of the worst costumes they could have put her in. If she’d been wearing a loose smock, for instance, her plus-size figure might have been nicely camouflaged. And as for Kim, well, he’s not going to pass as a Pollock.

But clearly they have been cast for their voices. Yes, Kim does a nice job with “Maria,” but it’s somehow isolated from the rest of the story. “Tonight” is fine, because this is a duet, but “Somewhere,” sung solo by Maria, should sound a little more wistful. Most of the other songs have weathered the years, although there are a couple, like “Gee, Officer Krupke,” which clearly show their age.

I might point out that it’s possible to feel two emotions at once, namely to suspend one’s disbelief while still holding on to one’s critical eye. I mean, we often do this when we attend a performance of “Madam Butterfly” and Cio-Cio-San is awaiting the arrival of Pinkerton. The singer is never a teenager, but if you’re caught up in the story then you’ll sob or wail (as I often do) even though the performer is usually in her 40s with a body to match.

And so, when Tony and Maria first eye one another across the dance floor, and it’s chemistry at first sight, I was touched by the scene as they moved towards one another. At the same time, I knew the moment was rushed and impossible. But I bought into it. I only wish I could have bought into a lot more of the story.

It all concludes with a gunshot with the Jets and the Sharks standing around as if stunned and unable to move. In some versions they come together to make amends, to at least give the impression via hugs or handshakes that maybe they’ve seen the errors of their ways and, for the sake of Tony and Maria, will make peace or call a truce. But there’s nothing here to indicate that violence won’t beget more violence.

This production is directed by Francesca Zambello, who’s done a batch of operas here in Los Angeles, and it’s solidly conducted by Maestro James Conlon, now in his last season as Music Director of LA Opera. He’ll be missed when he’s gone, and his pre-performance talks as well.

So there you are, a decent show but an uneasy alliance between opera and musical theater. I think that a different season opener could have been found, but this is one that the company must have figured would have a larger appeal, especially for a younger audience. That said, the opening night crowd included the well dressed and the shabbily dressed. A couple of extra shows have been added, so presumably the financial risk has outdistanced the artistic risk.

West Side Story is onstage in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave, downtown Los Angeles in the Music Center. Performances: Saturday, Oct. 4, at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 5, at 2 p.m.; Wednesday, Oct. 8, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 11, at 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, Oct. 12, at 2 p.m. Tickets begin at $27.50 and go up to about $300 if you sit in the lower orchestra section. They’re available at the box office, by calling (213) 972-8001, or visiting LAOpera.org. ER