Iconic story production anything but amateur

Spiks. Polacks. Half-breeds. Greasers. Hoodlums. These are the kids that walk the grey streets of West Side Story, Jerome Robbins’ 1957 gangland take on Romeo and Juliet.

They are the kids parents don’t want around the house. They are the kids cops don’t want to see on the streets.

Enclosed by concrete alleys, brick walls and steel fences, these kids have nowhere to blow off steam except through machismo posturing. A racist smirk or misspoken word creates a threat that turns into a grudge that leads to knives drawn and blood spilled.

The Polish American Jets and the newly formed Puerto Rican Sharks are at war, circling each other with hatred in every movement. Every choreographed move is tense and wary as they inch nearer to an explosive “rumble” of gangland murder and rape.

No matter how often I’ve seen West Side Story, it’s Robbins’ choreography that hooks me – the finger snaps, the low slung dance moves, the high kicks, and my favourite, chests thrust forward mocking the street fighter’s code of honour.

In keeping with the ’50s theatre styles, the Jets look squeaky clean and not particularly threatening. They don’t drink, they don’t do drugs and they don’t swear. Their biggest transgression is mouthing off at cops.

Where the production hits its mark is in reinvigorating a genuine edge of spontaneity and menace to Robbin’s testosterone-fuelled moves. There’s nothing remotely tame about the swaggering machismo and insecurity further galvanized by Leonard Bernstein’s incredible score.

The 44-member cast, a huge one by today’s standards, never appears to run out of energy. And the two leads Taylor Fawcett (Tony) and Katherine Pohoreski (Maria) are two voices that harmonize seamlessly in Tonight and One Hand One Heart.

As an actress, Pohoreski’s performance pales slightly next to that of Marissa Dingle playing the vampy Anita, an attention-getting role. However, from the moment Pohoreski sings, you remain enchanted by her astonishing power and purity and how she so eloquently captures the essence of a first love to the bleak grief at the death of her brother.

And Fawcett, a four-season veteran of the Edmonton Opera chorus, has a robust tenor voice that soars from his chest and carries with it every emotion and wonder of love to the desperation of believing everything is lost.

There are six St. Albert actors who have taken part in this production. Russ Farmer, as Action, a Shark lieutenant, brings out the nerve-wracking edginess of the hard streets. Andrew Boyd as Officer Krupke is a cop you love to hate for his innate cruelty. The Hall family – Danielle, Ereinne and Liam – throw the full force of their triple-threat abilities into the chorus and Meaghan McKinstry steps into this world of racial vendettas with gusto.

This is community theatre, however the professionalism that went into its creation is definitely a cut above the norm. West Side Story runs at Sherwood Park’s Festival Place until Dec. 30.