West Side Story - Curve Leicester

Cool - thanks!

Not seen this show since I was a kid in the 80s (in a fairly average production at the Bristol Hippodrome) so would like to see it.
Love Jamie Muscato so a shame I can't get to Leicester (although I am still protesting their removal of the central stalls aisles anyway lol)

From what I remember at the Curve new season launch night when they discussed West Side Story they mentioned being able to use the whole stage space for the set and weren’t constrained to make sure it fits into another theatre. At the time they were also talking about the transfer of White Christmas and how the Dominion Theatre has a smaller stage than Curve. It was implied that White Christmas was designed so that it had the potential to transfer whereas West Side Story won’t be.

I’m really looking forward to this production as it’s my favourite ‘classic’ musical. Interestingly I think the last professional production I saw was at the old Haymarket Theatre back in 2002/2003.

#traingate

Anybody wanting a last minute trip or cheap way of seeing the show , there's a public dress rehearsal at 2.15 today for the grand total of £1 a ticket. I've been to them before, you get the full show as normal and they are quite interesting to be at because all the tech desks and creatives are around.

On sale via the Curve website at 11am.

^Yes,I saw the £1 dress rehearsal for An Officer And A Gentleman and whilst part of the stalls still had the directors’ table laid across a few rows and a lighting/sound board in situ taking up some seating,it was still really good.Nikolai came on stage at the start to say there might be some stops for technical reasons,but in the end it ran through without any probs.

Checked my email just in time and snagged what looks like the last £1 ticket for this afternoon! I'd better get dressed...

Show came out tonight just after 10pm -From a 7.35ish start - had forgotten how short the second act is and bearing in mind this was first performance no doubt minutes will be cut from run time - I loved it - Ellen Kane’s choreo is amazing in my opinion - but then I don’t think I’ve not loved anything I’ve seen that Nikolai Foster has done at the Curve

Managed to catch the public dress rehearsal yesterday afternoon and what a show! Probably my favourite Curve production to date.

Fantastic lighting, set and cast. Great use of the full Curve stage and the 16 piece orchestra sounded stunning. Very strong cast all round. Tony (Jamie) has a beautiful singing voice and hearing him sing Maria was a real treat!

Booked already to see it again close to the end of the run but wondering if I should make of the most of it being on my doorstep.

A beautiful production!

This is a good show. Not quite up there with the Royal Exchange version, but different enough that it's worth seeing both.

There's a large stage area, band sounding good at the back. Much of the set is created with large cage style walls which are moved about (and there's an important scene essentially set inside what looks like a pro wrestling style steel cage). A lot of dark lighting and mist used too.

There is also a three story set, elaborate, which houses all the main indoor locations, the shop, the bedrooms etc. This is great on the lower level. On the middle level, you really can't see much (there was a nudity warning, which I think was Anita in the bath, but I couldn't see from my vantage point) and a top level which I have no idea what was on it and I suspect was only visible from the Circle, thankfully the action from that level took place leaning over the front.

Front row view is close, but you want to avoid the edges as legroom is terrible and the way the cage curves you'll have a very restricted view. My seat was one of the only ones without a speaker in front, although I did have a Jet hanging over the end of the stage onto my lap.

There are some odd choices here. The Jets way outnumbered the Sharks and coming across as much more unlikable than usual. The use of a load of (I presume) theatre students as extras. I wasn't keen on how they staged Gee, Officer Krupke, which is normally a highlight. And the final scene is odd, dark and slow, with Chino in the distance on a pile of rubbish. There was also about a 2 second delay between the gun being pointed, then lowered, then a pyro going off (I think Damian Buhigiar had to reach down and activate something), but they may as well just use a recorded gunshot.

I found Somewhere difficult at the front as well due to a combination of bright lights and mist setting my eyes watering. It was danced well and drew on the themes from earlier in the show. But yes, front row isn't as good as normal for this production due to the staging.

Some great choices too. A talented cast, particularly Carly Mercedes Dyer as Anita. It has Isaac Gryn as Action and he looks ready to explode all the way through. I liked Beth Hinton-Levers' vulnerability as Anybodys. And Jonathan Hermosa-Lopez as Bernardo brings the sex appeal. Jamie Muscato sings as beautifully as always. And I did like the tender way they showed the relationship between Baby John and (I think it was) Big Deal.

It is a short show, but stay after the bows and you get to watch the orchestra play out for a few minutes. And it is good to see these different interpretations of West Side Story finally getting staged. Worth a visit during the short run at the Curve.

That may explain something I forgot to mention, which is why there were a few empty seats in the centre of the front row last night.

Caught third (?) Preview tonight and overall enjoyed it, but feel like there was something missing from it.

The positives: design is great. Loved the clever use of the big piece that had all the locations built in to it, that worked well. Thought the orchestra was fantastic - for a score like this, having 17 players makes a lot of difference to the feel you get. Cast all sound very good overall, with Carly Mercedes Dyer being the absolute star as Anita. Both 'America' and 'A Boy Like That' were fantastic.

The negatives: it felt very apparent that they'd gone for singers and dancers who sort of act, because no one apart from Carly gave a strong acting performance. Jamie Muscato has the voice for Tony, but I got NOTHING from his acting. Likewise, the girl playing Maria is not a good actress (the scene where she is told Bernardo has died is... Not good) and she's also not particularly strong vocally - I was never confident that she was gonna hit those super high notes.
The use of the young company was TERRIBLE. They got shoehorned in a couple of times - once for a really bad dance break out of Somewhere. Just didn't work for me.
The second half so felt very flat - I cry at anything in theatre (even stuff that isn't sad) and I didn't at what should be one of the most tragic endings to a show ever. It just felt like it lost its way in act 2 and didn't really recover.

I'd give it 3 stars, but I have a feeling a lot of critics will pick up on the fact that a lot of the performances are not consistent in all three areas. Most of them excel in one or two, with only one triple threat (Carly as Anita)

Isn't Leicester only about an hour from London by train? I think that's pretty close! I've seen half a dozen productions at the Curve over the years & Leicester is 1h45 by train from me.