In the last scene of “West Side Story,” as Tony runs toward peace, quiet and Maria, a shocked cry of pain rang out in the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire Wednesday as Tony was felled by the sound of Chino’s gun.
On the face of it, the reaction seemed weird. Did the audience member anticipate a happy ending for this pair? Had the person not seen, or at least heard about, the buzz-laden Steven Spielberg movie of this iconic musical? Had they never sat through a show that some of us consume at least once or twice a year? “West Side Story” is known as a musical that always sells, which explains why the Lyric Opera of Chicago is reprising a production in 2023 that was just staged there in 2019.
For me, at least, “West Side Story” is perennially pleasurable: to hear “Maria” is to know that “Tonight” is just moments away. And there are notes in “A Boy Like That / I Have a Love” that somehow work upon the body almost like a drug; the harmonies are that visceral as determined sweetness wars with staccato. And, of course, Stephen Sondheim now is gone. So when you hear a lyric like “all the beautiful sounds of the world in a single word,” it’s easy to become emotional. (We’ll look past “it’s alarming how charming how I feel.” Blame that one on Leonard Bernstein).
Still, for most of us, narrative surprise is not one of the usual attractions. But that’s not true for everyone; at that moment, someone was living it, feeling it and believing. For most actors, the best reasons to come to work.
The Marriott production is not heavy on concept nor (ahem) the unexpected. The set is the usual metallic pieces, the choreography by Alex Sanchez is a tad gesturally on the nose, but in the workable Jerome Robbins pallet. There are no Ivo Van Hove-style risks nor radical moves nor Tony Kushner-style radical embellishments. You don’t get the full orchestrations, as you will at the Lyric. And if the director, Victor Malana Maog, had something burningly revisionist he wanted to do with this show, it’s not easy to find.
Then again, that cry. It was a response to the production’s youthful veracity, I think. Jake David Smith, the delightful high tenor playing Tony, conceives of his guy as a total nerd, which makes sense. After all, Maria at one point mocks him with “imagine being afraid of you,” and both Smith and Lauren Maria Medina are convincing in their naivety, a quality the show demands, given their mutual lack of awareness of how, over time, the Earth pulls back those who hope to wake up in the air. Medina is exuberant, honest and infectious (which is the perfect contrast with Lance Baker’s hyper-cynical Lt. Schrank and Matt DeCaro’s gruff lost cause of a Doc).
Another grace note comes from Vanessa Aurora Sierra, who works against the usual Anita stereotypes in favor of a character who is palpably vulnerable and, of course, hardly that much older than anyone else at the fateful dance.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
Review: “West Side Story”
When: Through March 27
Where: Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, 10 Marriott Way, Lincolnshire
Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
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Tickets: $50-$60 (dinner packages available) at 847-634-0200 or marriotttheatre.com
