I was actually REVIEWED!

So if you blink you will miss it. Make sure you read all the way to the bottom. They misspelled my name...but whatever. You can also read it here as a google doc.

THEATER REVIEW

Jerusalem Post – Jerusalem

Author: Helen Kaye

Date: Sep 7, 2009

West Side Story

Music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Arthur Laurents

Original choreography, direction by Jerome Robbins

Revival director and choreographer Joey McKneely

Israel Opera

September 3

Such joy, such energy leap from this near perfect 50th anniversary production of West Side Story, and oh, the delight of this great musical in English. Conductor Donald Chan offers a crisp, spirited interpretation of Bernstein's score to which the Ra'anana Symphonette beautifully responds. Vocally this West Side Story is impeccable throughout, chorus and soloists alike, and you hear every word.

The dance numbers crackle not only because the dancers are technically awesome, but because they bring soul, and then some, to Jerome Robbins's still thrilling choreography. The company's white-clad interpretation of "Somewhere" brings a catch to the throat. For that, and for the direction overall Joey McNeelly is gloriously accountable. Renate Schmitzer's costumes are cool, the lighting by Peter Halbsgut enhances, and Paul Gallis's adaptable, see-through metal-scaffolding tenement set is both vulnerable and unyielding, like the characters and situations in this modern Romeo and Juliet.

New York in the 1950s. Two bickering teen gangs - the Jets and the Sharks. The Jets are American-born, and white. The Sharks are Puerto-Rican, first of the Hispanic immigrants. Racism and intolerance of the 'Other' rear their ugly heads (sound familiar?). American former-Jet Tony (Scott Sussman) and Puerto-Rican innocent Maria (Ali Ewoldt) fall in love. A rumble is determined to settle the question of turf. At the rumble tempers flare, knives flash, the Sharks' Bernardo (Tybalt ), and the Jets' Riff (Mercutio) lie dead on the ground and the end is preordained.

In particular: Sussman's Tony seemed to be on automatic pilot for Act I, but he pulled himself together and came through wonderfully in Act II. Ewoldt's crystalline soprano bewitches as does her passionate, grow- up-in-a-hurry Maria. Oneika Phillips' Anita runs a marvelous gamut from brassy to moving and as Chino, Antonio Jumenez rivets. During the final minutes of the play, the auditorium became utterly silent. That is tribute.

Credit: HELEN KAYE

www.jpost.com