“West Side Story” is, of course, a modern retelling of the famous star-crossed lovers in “Romeo and Juliet.” Standing in place of the Capulets and Montagues are the street gangs: the Sharks and the Jets. This retelling is one of the benchmarks of musical theater having garnered multiple Tony awards for its origin and revivals on Broadway as well as 10 Oscars for the film. The story is brilliantly adapted and the music by Leonard Bernstein (On the Town, Peter Pan) and Stephen Sondheim (Into the Woods, Pippin, Godspell) is some of the most beautiful and most challenging in musical theater.
The students working hard both onstage and behind the scenes are some of the most talented with whom I have had the pleasure to work over a three decade career and well over 120 shows. This cast has 18 seniors who have given their time and talents to Pacelli’s theater arts program for years. And we also have several newcomers to the stage who are just learning this transient art form.
It has been a blessing to watch the “veterans” take the “newbies” under their wings, helping them to grow and learn. That is what the theater community at large consists of: artists who pass on their training and knowledge to the future of the art form. There have been outstanding performances at PCHS in the past and there will be the same in the future as each performer steps forward and gives of themselves onstage. It has been a true blessing for me to work with these students over the past three years here at PCHS.
Thank you to all those who support these young people onstage, on the crew, and in the orchestra. Each one’s contribution is what makes the whole. Thank you to the hard work, compromise, and passion each has brought forward.
Thank you to those who helped in a myriad of little ways from bringing pizza to an all-day rehearsal to sewing jackets to taking down garden fencing for the set to bringing in garbage cans and burn barrels.
Thank you to those in the audience whose kind words and applause is the true reward for our students’ hard work.
Please enjoy the efforts of our students in this production of “West Side Story.”
