Must Come See Productions probably had every intention of rocking Queen’s Hall last Friday but nobody expected that a 5.3 earthquake at Act 2, Scene 5 of West Side Story would have done what even a top quality performance could not have metaphorically achieved.
It took about 15 minutes for the orchestra, players and crew to compose themselves before resuming the action on stage to nervous chuckles from a marginally-diminished but shaken audience.
In the end, moderate earthquake notwithstanding, seasoned theatre-goers were convinced they had witnessed one of the most ambitious and successful engagements of musical theatre within recent memory.
Last weekend’s performances of the musical were not a first on a T&T stage. Caribbean Theatre Productions staged a similarly inspiring project in 2011.
However, under musical director Jessel Murray, almost flawless orchestral support and generally competent vocals from the cast, last weekend’s production established this latest effort as uniquely strong on musical quality.
St Kitts-born Kyle Richardson as Tony and Zaynah McDonald as Maria brought refreshing, young talent to the stage. McDonald’s strong background in dance helped meet the musical’s heavy choreographic demands.
In fact, in some quarters— despite the immense success of Leonard Bernstein’s celebrated musical score—Jerome Robbins’ original dance choreography is described as having substantially driven the narrative of a story derived from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Such a task fell this time to choreographer/ instructor, Dr Sally Crawford- Shepherd.
Richardson’s superb renditions of Something’s Coming and Maria, and his duet with McDonald on Tonight, established him as an outstanding prospect.
In fact, he already made the point forcefully in the past as Raul in Phantom of the Opera, the Scarecrow in The Wiz and roles in Cinderella and Jesus Christ Superstar. McDonald, an accomplished
dancer with impressive vocal skills, is fantastic on I Feel Pretty and Tonight. The demands of West Side Story are multidisciplinary in nature and fall to everyone on stage.
The core cast members all appeared equal to the task.
Syntyche Bishop, playing Anita, Anton Brewster as Chino, Venezuelan Albert Smith as Bernardo and Michailean Taylor as Riff displayed a high level of competence on all fronts.
In fact, Bishop’s outstanding portrayal of Maria’s workmate and confidante, and eventual author of the couple’s tragic fate, established her as a leading light among a stellar cast.
There is also much about the play that resonates, albeit remotely, with the modern day reality of T&T. Though youthful gangland conflict is depicted as playful and generally benign, save for a deadly gang “rumble” and a revenge killing, there is every hint at baseless tensions which eventually lead to tragic consequences.
Smith and Taylor are turfseeking gang leaders Bernardo and Riff. Bernardo leads a band of native New York gangsters ( Jets) while Riff heads a group of Puerto Rican immigrants (Sharks) in 1950s New York.
Maria is Bernardo’s sister and Tony is Riff’s close friend.
In Romeo and Juliet style, Maria and Tony fall in love across enemy lines. All the while, Lt. Schrank (Mikell Joseph) and Officer Krupke (Robert Inniss)— armed only with truncheons— offer dubious support to the Jets and, in the end, prove useless in averting the risk of a deadly showdown.
The threatened armed “rumble” eventually occurs and Bernardo stabs and kills Riff.
Enraged, Tony stabs Bernardo.
This leaves Tony both on the run from the police and faced with the challenge of facing Bernardo’s sister, Maria.
As the gangs prepare to rumble once more, Tony and Maria make plans to leave the city for a happier place. But when a reluctant Anita is intercepted and attacked by an agitated Jets, she falsely claims that Chino—who has his eyes on Maria and was also Bernardo’s close friend—had killed Maria.
In fact, Chino is in pursuit of Tony whom he eventually finds in the presence of Maria who had appeared before her shocked lover. Chino shoots Tony and Maria is left with his lifeless body in her arms. Both gangs join to take Tony’s body away.
A musical with a repertoire that includes standalone hits such as Maria, Tonight, I Feel Pretty and Somewhere is guaranteed to please, but only if expertly produced.
Must Come See achieves this objective by bringing together some of the country’s best young skills on a single stage under the direction of Louis McWilliams, Crawford-Shepherd guiding dance talent and with accompaniment by a 13-member band under the leadership of a prolific musical mentor.
Queen’s Hall rocked all right. In more ways than one.
