West Side Story

The stage version of West Side Story is, to me, grittier and more immediate than the film and this is a full-on production. The music is, of course, exceptional and the choreography quite breathtaking. The set is huge and classy with projection filling in the background - more than adequate and very versatile. A couple of the big numbers were quite stunning, especially "America" and "Officer Krupke" though the stand-out for me was "There's a Place for Us" .. quite lovely.

Spoiler alert: Shame the audience laughed when Tony was shot, it was only a post-shock reaction (did so many people really not know it was coming?!) but it did destroy the moment somewhat. And on the matter of Tony, was it just me or was Louis Maskell's voice just a bit off last night - it didn't always sound quite right, more like two different voices often mixed into the same phrase....

There would probably have been 5 stars but the acting between the "numbers" just didn't reach the same heights as the rest of the production being often either a bit shouty or flat. Oh, anmd the scenery, splendid as it was, did squeak from time to time as it spun around the stage as di the curtains upstage as they pulled back for the finale - a shame that.