As Vince Ortega, Gateway’s director/choreographer for Gateway’s “West Side Story,” says, “The choreography is definitely a scene in itself.”
Ortega is utilizing Jerome Robbins original iconic choreography, but he does punch it up in the rivaling dance scene. “Bernardo and Anita are Sharks and are champion ballroom dancers, so we made their steps harder,” he said of the characters. “When the Riff and Velma actors of the Jets got wind of it, they wanted their dance scene pumped up, too.”
Get ready for explosive dancing. “You don’t know where to look,” added Gateway’s executive artistic director Paul Allan. “It’s eye catching on stage right and left,” he said. The Gateway show in Bellport debuts May 8.
There are seven major numbers, but lots of dancing throughout.
The iconic musical that premiered on Broadway in 1957 about teenage gangs in New York’s Lincoln Square, their violent turf battle front and center, had never been done before and was the start of a new more realistic Broadway era. Riff leads the Jets, locally born white kids. Bernardo leads the Sharks, Puerto Rican immigrants. The young couple in love, one from each rivaling gang trying to break away, is the poignant centerpiece in this reimagined Romeo and Juliet theme. There are 30 in the cast.
Ortega, who directed and choreographed Gateway’s sensational “In the Heights,” as well as “Head Over Heels,” choreographed “Elf, the Musical,” “Flashdance,” and was also the choreographer with Maria Torres for “On Your Feet,” where dancers tapped audience members.His impressive dancing/acting resume includes working with Beyoncé.
Ortega commented he did a lot of research, especially into the musical’s formation (it was originally an opera). The musical’s concept started taking shape in 1949 with a Jewish-Catholic conflict.
“We talked a lot with the cast regarding the gangs,” Ortega said. “We managed to discover that the Sharks come from immigrant families. They are respectful and the parents in that era always like to look good. The Jets have really horrible upbringings. Audiences felt the current state of New York was onstage.” Gangs were a norm in Manhattan, but the rise of teen gangs at the time was frightening.
Leonard Bernstein was at the top of his form at the time and you’ll hear his soaring scores full tilt with songs like “Somewhere,” “Maria,” and the upbeat “I Feel Pretty,” and “America.”
Besides energetic dancing, there are also ballet numbers. Original Broadway reviewers noted the musical as thrilling. Beautiful Ashley Klinger, assistant choreographer and a fourth-generation ballet dancer who has danced to many of Jerome Robbins’s ballets, commented, “It is the most challenging score vocally and we have some of the best dancers. That ballet in Act 2 with Tony and Maria is 10 minutes of pure storytelling.”
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