When love comes so strong, There is no right or wrong, Your love is your life.

 West Side Story - Oper Halle, 28th September 2014

 

I had considered seeing the production with the alternating casting of Janko Danailow and Stefan Reil as Riff but it was a most spontaneous decision to see the premiere of West Side Story at the opera in Halle (Saale) with a couple of days off, sorting out a certain issue sooner than expected and a front row ticket turning up on the theatre's website four days before the show. So on a bright warm September day I was off to Halle...

I have seen West Side Story I do not know how often, I saw the international 50th anniversary that toured for a few years several times it being so incredible with the original choreography by Jeremy Robbins usually performed so outstandingly by the cast.

Any other production since could never really took on with it so I was not sure whether to see this but with above reasons I changed my mind - and while it certainly also cannot compete with the tour I was pleasantly surprised with this production that was only letdown by two things, well people in form of the casting of the two leads as Tony and Maria on that night...

Creative Team

Musical Director - Robbert van Steijn
Direction and Choreography - Ralf Rossa
Stage Design - Matthias Hönig
Costumes - Wiebke Horn
Dramaturge - André Meyer

Cast

Maria - Ines Lex/Joanna Nora Lissai
Tony - Björn Christian Kuhn/Martin Markert
Riff - Janko Danailow/Stefan Reil
Anita - Anna Thorén/Lucía Isabel Haas Muñoz
Bernardo - Markus Maria Düllmann/Janko Danailow

Action (Jets) Frank Schilcher
Arab (Jets) Dalier Burchanow
Baby John (Jets) Martin Zanotti
Snowboy (Jets) Zdenko Galaba
Big Deal (Jets) Johan Plaitano
Diesel (Jets) Martin Markert/Thiago Fayad
Gee-Tar (Jets) Thiago Fayad

Graziella (Jets girl) Yuliya Gerbyna
Velma (Jets girl) Marion Schwarz
Clarice (Jets girl) Laura Busquets Garro
Anybodys (Jets girl) Paloma Figueroa
Betsy (Jets girl) Margherita Sabbadini
Sandy (Jets girl) Janina Strejcek

Chino (Sharks) Andriy Holubovskyy
Pablo (Sharks) Jonathan dos Santos
Pepe (Sharks) Vaclav Sutorka
Indio (Sharks) Pietro Chiappara

Rosalia (Sharks girl) Elizabeth King/Olivia Saragosa
Consuela (Sharks girl) Lucía Isabel Haas Muñoz/Franziska Faust
Francisca (Sharks girl) Denise Dumröse
Teresita (Sharks girl) Ayana Kamemoto
Marguerita (Sharks girl) Johanna Raynaud
Estella (Sharks girl) Anastasia Melero Marchal

Schrank Axel Gärtner
Krupke Stanislaw Brankatschk
Doc Joachim Unger
Gladhand Kristian Giesecke/Till Voß
Ballett Rossa
Choir of the Opera Halle
State Orchestra Halle

Is there anyone interested in musicals who does not know the musical, either the iconic movie, a (or more) stage production(s)? But even if you are not so interested in musicals, I suppose, everyone above a certain age knows at least one, if not more, song from it with well known songs as "America", "I Feel Pretty" or "Tonight".

As an adaption of the famous "Romeo & Juliet" story West Side Story is an American musical with a libretto by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and conception and choreography by Jerome Robbins (long synopsis on MTI >> here) and it, set in the west side of New York's Manhattan in the mid 1950s (>> source) "is a story of racial hatred and the tragedy that results from it. 

The protagonists are two rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, who live in the same neighborhood and both want control of the streets. 

The sister (Maria) of the Shark's leader (Bernardo) falls in love with the best friend (Tony) of the leader (Riff) of the Jets and their romance is used as a reason by the gangs for an all-out fight that ends tragically for both gangs" (taken from here).

So much about the musical itself, this production is, as said already, worthwhile a visit with a lot of thought and even if the thought just was often to find inspiration for direction and choreography in the original production (not sure how tight the legal situation is when getting the musical rights though and what obligation in regards to directing or choreography each production has) - but let's be honest I prefer better copied than badly self designed to fail at end as it cannot live up to people's expectation when they especially know the movie.

Yes, you can tell that Ralf Rossa, as the boss of the ballet ensemble not the most experienced director reading his CV, is sticking to the original material, without taking it further unlike a recent production of WSS in Berlin, but I personally can live with it as the original material is so strong.

It is one of these shows I actually simply to do not want to be 'modernised' as it speaks for itself and the subject, still a current issue in many cities, even in German cities, maybe not to that extent, but you still have fights in some problematic quarters between groups of often teenagers of different nationalities and with all the problems seeming to grow for such kids as they regularly to manage to build a proper life for themselves, often society not giving them a chance, they find a way to release some of the frustrations in such groups. 

So with this show sticking to the 1950s setting it kinda shows that it is not a new subject but reminds people that there may now be a chance to change things for the better. 

The set is simple but effective with the only major set item being a metal bridge across the stage and a flying in wall to indicate doc's shop, a bed on a podium for Maria's bedroom and the odd chairs or so. What though slightly annoyed me were the appearance of a ghetto blaster - which did not exist back then - and neither were the graffitis on the walls "carrying" the bridge very 1950s. Yes I know they already existed then but reading up on them the style was a different one. 

Costumes though were generally neat and matching the period with the gang differences being particularly well shown through colours and designs.

An issue often rep theatre productions of West Side Story have is the lack of satisfying supporting cast with the smaller parts as the Jets and Sharks members being cast with rather inexperienced people from opera choir or extras not properly trained to be up to do the job. 

The Halle Opera fortunately, while still casting largely from the in house ensemble or other theatres in Halle, invested time and effort in training. The gang members were largely cast, so some of the girlfriends, with members of the in house ballet ensemble, largely non German speakers and non singers, but surprise, it was worked on proper pronounciations, even singing. Yes, accents were still there but it somehow, especially for some guys originally from Southern Europe, worked!

Unfortunately what did not work for me were the two leads being the ones who cannot convince, especially Björn Christian Kuhn as Tony is a disappointment. 

Yes, he surely can sing (for the record I liked him in Young Frankenstein the other year) but he is everything but a Tony.

In the programme there is some kind of a diary, written by Leonard Bernstein (?), extract printed and one bit is about the rehearsal process. There it says how right it was to cast the parts with non singers as everything that sounds more professional sounds more experienced, wiser, so that the youthful freshness is gone - and that is exactly the problem with casting a 40ish old performer as a late teen for me.
He just simply could not portray this young man falling in love head over heels so strongly for the first time being way too grown up and the spark with Ines Lex was so little.
Particularly when they meet for the first time at the dance there needs to be a fireworks to be at least a bit believable but here there is pretty much none.

Saying that Ines Lex is also one of the weakest Marias ever seen being usually that tiny bit too much OTT to be adorable but annoying. Yes being vocally fine she cannot be faulted on that, but she also came across not only to grown up as well but one that does not want be a grown up and tries hard to be girly - too hard that it bugs me massively. Neither can she portray the Maria facing Tony's death and addressing the crowd passionately enough for me. Such a disappointment!

The rest of the cast though made up for it. So pleased to see Markus Maria Düllmann finally on stage again. He but also the others as Anna Thorén, Janko Danailow, Frank Schilcher and Martin Markert managed wonderfully, despite being partly significantly older than the characters, to catch the spirit and could convince and impress.

Especially Frank Schilcher as Action was full of life giving the part depth and humour at the same time.
Seeing Janko Danailow so soon again after "Die Schwarzen Brüder " finished two weeks before was also such a welcome being such an edgy wayward Riff full of tense and anger - as he alternates also the part of Bernardo I cannot wait to see him in that part (was to last weekend but thanks to German rail, well the trade union GDL I could not go :-( ), so looking forward to a show in the new year!

And as already said the rest of the ensemble was a delight, beautifully danced especially and drivenly full of strength and vibe catching the story's development and flow through the dance, not the common bored ballet ensemble you regularly get in other musical productions where the ballet ensemble has to take part in, no, there were passion, motivation and newly discovered talent.

There was heart and soul, also from the orchestra conducted strongly by Robbert van Steijn - something so rarely seen when rep theatres do musicals in this country these days - can they "give" some to theatres as the TfN? Please? 

Well I cannot wait to see it again with the alternate leads, but even with the two weak leads it can certainly win over with everything else and is therefore a top candidate for my favourite shows list of the year.

Curtain Call - Janko Danailow as Riff