Inspired direction and innovative choreography reign supreme as 5-Star Theatricals revives and reinvigorates West Side Story, the 1957 Broadway classic about a boy and girl from rival teen gangs (one white, one Puerto Rican) who fall hopelessly in love on the mean streets of New York.

As any musical theater aficionado can tell you, Leonard Bernstein’s jazz-and-opera-based score, Stephen Sondheim’s poetic lyrics, Arthur Laurents’ Romeo and Juliet-inspired book, and above all Jerome Robbins’ groundbreaking choreography revolutionized Broadway when West Side Story premiered over six decades ago.

Only a few years back, however, their now legendary collaboration might have seemed a quaint albeit moving relic of the way America used to be, but that was before a national election prompted a resurgence of racist, anti-immigrant sentiments not unlike those threatening to separate the musical’s star-crossed young lovers from the moment their eyes first meet.

It is this renewed relevance that sparks Larry Raben’s cutting-edge direction as choreographer Karl Warden eschews Robbins’ iconic tour jetés for edgier street moves that would do any contemporary music video proud.

In other words, no matter how many times you’ve seen West Side Story with its original direction and choreography intact, Raben and Warden make it seem fresh and new, and the same can be said for its pair of romantic leads.

A dynamic, charismatic Brandon Keith Rogers transforms Tony from borderline bland, as he’s often played, into a complex, conflicted young man attempting to restart his life away from the gang he’s called home, and I’ll wager few if any other Tonys have earned the prolonged cheers that greet Rogers’ breathtaking “Maria.”

YouTube pop star Giselle Torres (over two million subscribers and counting) not only makes for an incandescent Maria with a soprano to match, she gives the role both fire and grit, and her romantic chemistry with Rogers ignites the stage.

SoCal university grads turned multiple-show Broadway vets Aleks Pevec (UCLA) and Patrick Ortiz (CSUF) prove as electrifying a Riff and Bernardo as any West Side Story lover could wish for.

Cal State Fullerton Class Of 2019’s Lauren Louis is spitfire perfection as Anita, and just wait till she rips into “A Boy Like That” and rips out your heart in the process.

Jet triple-threats Daniel Brackett (Big Deal), Brock Markham (Diesel), Chet Norment (Baby John), Nic Olsen (A-Rab), and Doug Penikas (Action) impress throughout, scoring bonus points for their show-stopping, tension-relieving “Gee, Officer Kruppe,” and Antonia Vivino is on fire as tomboy terror Anybodys.

Dance captain Veronica Gutierrez (Francisca), Cheyenne Omani (Consuela), and Taleen Shrikian (a delightfully ditzy Rosalia) provide entertaining girl-group backup to Torres’s enchanting “I Feel Pretty” and join fellow Shark girls Erin Gonzales (Margarita), Sophie Shapiro (Teresita), and Arianna White (Estella) in sizzling up a storm opposite Louis’s Anita in “America.”

Sharks John Paul Batista (a fiery Chino), Jared Cardiel (Indio), Joah Ditto (Anxious), Antony Sanchez (Nibbles), and fight captains Lyndon Apostol (Luis) and James Everts (Pepe) add their own magnetic machismo throughout, and Laura Aronoff (Suzy), Tara Carbone (Graziella), Carly Haig (Clarice), Allie Kerr (Minnie), Elizabeth Sheck (Velma), and Lindsey Wells (Pauline) give the Jet girls equal parts prettiness and punch.

Youth ensemble Anabel Alexander, Brando de la Rosa, Emma Driscoll, Iyana Hannans, Callie Kiefer, Mikayla Kiefer, Daniel Peters, Luke Pryor (scoring bonus boy-soprano points), Drew Rosen, Sawyer Sublette, and Emily Tatoosi show off their own impressive dance moves.

As for the adults, you’d never guess that hard-hearted Lieutenant Schrank and uber-nerd Glad Hand were the same splendid Skip Pipo, Rich Grosso makes the most of Officer Krupke’s brief comedic tough-guy moments, and Ivan Thompson remakes Doc as an African-American store owner in a unique position to both understand and condemn the racism that propels the warring Jets and Sharks.

Choreographer Warden’s reinvention of Robbins classics like “Prologue,” “Dance At The Gym,” and “Cool” reaches its apex in quite possibly the most gut-wrenchingly moving “Somewhere” I’ve ever seen (I’ll leave it to you to discover why) and “The Rumble” (sparked by Marc LeClerc’s heart-poundingly realistic fight choreography) will leave you speechless and destroyed as the Act One curtain falls.

Musical director Jeff Rizzo conducts West Side Story’s Broadway-caliber pit orchestra while eliciting stellar vocals that soar especially high in a “Tonight” reprise that turns the traditional quintet into a full-cast stunner aided by Jonathan Burke’s expert sound design mix.

Rented sets (provided by The Music and Theatre Company, LLC) give this West Side Story a less than optimum look (especially for those who saw Stephen Gifford’s spectacular designs in La Mirada a couple years back) and Jessica Mills’ mostly fine hair and wig designs are not always 1950s accurate where the girls are concerned.

Costumes (by Kathryn Poppen and Main State Music Theatre) and properties (by Alex Choate), on the other hand, more than fill the bill, and Jose Santiago’s dramatic lighting is as good as it gets.

Talia Krispel is production stage manager and Julian Olive and Pedro Armendariz are assistant stage managers. Jack Allaway is technical director and Matt Gerlach is assistant technical director.

West Side Story may be sixty-two years of age, but you’d hardly know it from 5-Star Theatricals’ exciting 2019 revival. Expect tears to be streaming down your cheeks as you stand up and cheer.

5-Star Theatricals, Kavli Theatre, Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard, Thousand Oaks.
www.5startheatricals.com

–Steven Stanley
July 26, 2019
Photos: Ed Krieger

Tags: 5-Star Theatricals, Arthur Laurents, Jerome Robbins, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Ventura County Theater Review