West Side Story

West Side Story returns to the Sydney Opera House. If that statement gives you deja vu, you may be thinking of the Opera Australia production on Sydney Harbour earlier this year as part of Handa Opera.

This time, the other production of the original Broadway classic from OA, is inside the Joan Sutherland Theatre. Technically, it's a faultless production. The original choreography is executed with precision by a talented cast, the music is performed to pitch-perfection and the orchestra is fine-tuned.

Yet in spite of all this perfection, West Side Story is not a particularly engaging story, to be quite honest. It’s a musical that drags its feet to get to where we know it’s already going, particularly during the lulls in the first act.

In this modernisation of Romeo And Juliet from Bernstein, Laurents and Sondheim, two young lovers from different backgrounds fall in love amid the rivalry of two opposing teenage gangs scrapping over a blue-collar neighbourhood. The Jets are American boys with Polish roots, and The Sharks are recent Puerto Rican immigrants.

The show rightfully holds a place as a turning point in the musical theatre canon. It’s packed with more jazzy, athletic dance-fighting than you could poke a knife at (and poke a knife at it, they do) and is awash with the campy innocence of a bygone era. No matter how familiar you are with show, you're bound to have come across songs that have embedded into pop culture, like Maria and I Feel Pretty.

This is a notoriously difficult show to cast, demanding the highest calibre of dance and singing ability. This Australian production also faced its own criticisms for casting white performers in Latin American roles.

Sophie Salvesani serves up striking operatic vocals in the leading role of Maria, and with Todd Jacobson unable to perform on opening night, Daniel Assetta more than filled the shoes of star-crossed lover Tony.

Chloe Zuel is a stand-out as Maria’s sister-in-law Anita. Among a set of largely two-dimensional characters, Zuel brings much-needed warmth and passion. Anita also arguably brings the most iconic attitude to the whole production, looking forward to “getting her kicks” with Bernado after “the rumble” (get it girl!).

The execution of the choreography and the music is this musical’s greatest strengths, however, there is something more to be desired in character development and emotional charge. The downfall of the mainstage musical is that it is a format that often sanitises marginalised stories, and nuance in character and story can be lost to the spectacle.

There could be room for a more nuanced examination of the racial tensions and working class aspects at play here, which remain relevant today. This is best approached in Gee, Officer Krupke, the surprising stand-out comedy number in the second act. It will be interesting to see how this is handled in the new movie adaption from Steven Spielberg, slated for release in 2020.

The jazzy dance-fighting really is something to behold, though.