This was performed in the school hall on Wednesday to Saturday, 23-26 February 2005.

jump to the photos

‘The music’s too difficult, and anyway boys can’t dance.’ Well, we like a challenge! More than one person queued up to tell the production team for West Side Story that it was a ‘brave’ choice. We knew that, but we did it anyway.

The genesis of this production was at the previous year’s party after Oklahoma! when our wonderfully talented choreographer, Nina Gaskill, confessed that it was her longstanding ambition to work on West Side Story. Her success in teaching boys to dance – and even to tap dance! – for Oklahoma! had convinced Nina that West Side Story, although a huge undertaking, was by no means beyond our scope. How right she was!

And how right the pundits were: five minutes into our first dance rehearsal one very talented sportsman in the school came up to me to gasp, ‘Miss, this is hard!’ Nonetheless, we soldiered on. And gradually the blues, the mambo, ‘America’, ‘Cool’ and ‘I Feel Pretty’ became our old friends – largely familiar, occasionally exasperating, sometimes surpris-ing, much loved.

More than many musicals West Side Story is an ensemble piece, and our ensemble rose magnificently to the challenge – especially when kitted out in ‘prideful’ gang jackets! Two stage combat workshops with Off the Ground Theatre Company honed our skills in producing a rumble at which people only appeared to get hurt – well, most of the time anyway! – and regular Sunday, after-school and lunch-time sessions raised our chorus singing and acting to new heights.

Our soloists were also a joy. The rich strength of Jonathan Cooke’s performance as Tony comple-mented marvellously the beautiful vivacity of Caroline Clarke as Maria. Joseph Crilly and Richard Pawson grew into commanding leaders of their gangs, with Joe imposing his authority with calm assurance in ‘Cool’, whilst Richard strutted magnificently in ‘America’. Sara Kagan’s feisty yet vulnerable Anita was a huge strength, whilst Olivia Griffiths won over the entire audience with her beautifully delicate rendition of ‘Somewhere’. Mo Hu, meanwhile, established the shy but proud Chino as a figure of real stature in the world of the play. Emma Ross as Rosalia played generously off Sara Kagan’s Anita in ‘America’, and Emma and Charlotte Cook (Consuela) led a spirited, giggly ‘I Feel Pretty’.

The particular strength of the gangs and their ladies in this production lay in the fact that they succeeded in being not merely chorus but individuals. ‘Gee, Officer Krupke’ provides a rare moment of comedy in West Side Story, and the Jets, led by the ebullient Ben Crooks as Action, with Clement Barber as the long-suffering ‘Krupke’, Tata Mbako as the powerful Diesel turned ‘judge’, Charlie Cooke as the zany ‘shrink’ and Michael Cannon as a delightfully fussy ‘social vorker’, gave it everything. Other gang members were no less sharply delineated, and Glyn Morrice-Evans will, I fear, be Moose for the rest of his school career! Special mention should also be given to Rachel Quayle for a strong but very touching performance in her first role at King’s as the ‘wannabe boy’, Anybodys. The adult roles evoked a wonderfully sleazy Schrank from Graham King, an alarmingly aged Doc from Brian McMahon and a fabulously stupid Krupke from Harry Stark, who also won plaudits for his incredibly authentic accent. He’s only been working on it for sixteen years!

Warmest thanks are, of course, due to so many people for the success of this production. Cast members have always acknowledged that they could not perform their roles without the involvement of so many other talented individuals, from musicians to the crew in its very widest sense. All contribu-tions are greatly appreciated.

And so back to dance. West Side Story began life as the brain-child of choreographer Jerome Robbins. Only four dancers in our production came in from schools other than King’s and Queen’s, and we are most grateful to them. Trained dancers from within our ranks include Peter Walker, David and Jo Reid, Emily Lee, Emma Sadler and Harriet Woodward, whose skills were much appreciated in leading our efforts. For Nina the greatest triumph has lain in not only teaching these individuals new skills, but also in teaching complete non-dancers to work to the extraordinarily high standard we saw them achieve last week. ‘The music’s too hard’? Yes, of course it is, - but the astonishingly talented Mr Higgins succeeded brilliantly in playing it time and again for our benefit. ‘Boys can’t dance’? Try telling that to our Jets and Sharks – but only at a very safe distance. Staging West Side Story was indeed a ‘brave’ decision, - but it worked!

Ann Marie McMahon

THE CAST

If for any reason you can't find what you are looking for, have a look in our alphabetical list, or contact us on the following e-mail: info@kingschester.co.uk