West Side Story
Newcastle Musical Theatre Company
Theatre Royal
19th Jul 2016
After seeing their last production Sister Act I
was very much looking forward to seeing West Side Story and it didn't
disappoint.
West Side Story is a tale of love and gangs which is gripping from start to finish. The Jets and The Sharks., led by two great
leaders Riff played fantastically by Dan Dickinson and Bernardo, Ty Roach
Thompson. These two seem to be like ghosts in the second half of the show but
their presence is still felt.
The Jets and The Sharks and have a dance this
is where our two star crossed lovers meet; Maria who is Bernardo's sister
played by the amazingly talented lady, Nikki Cunningham, falls head over heels
in love with Tony played by Jamie Douglass.
I would love to take a minute to talk about The
Jets because these guys were great and they really made you believe that they
could be a gang, we have spoken already about Riff but in every team you need
the engine and in the Jets you have Action played amazingly by Simon Pinkney.
A-Rab played really well by Jack Hindmarsh, Baby John (Curtis Appleby), Diesel (James
Mitchinson), Big Deal (Martin Hampton Matthews), Tiger (Daniel Thomas), Mouthpiece
Nathan Denton), Aisling Vallely and Carl Luke who plays Snowball. The star of the Jets is a girl called Anybodys
(It couldn't have been Anybody else) played to perfection by the amazingly talent
Beth Johnson who was full of energy throughout the show (and her hair grows
back really fast!)
The Sharks comprised of Bernardo, Anita played by Lauren Gordon, Rosalia played
by Helen Cash who brings great comedy to the role, Ellen Crake who plays Velma,
JoJo Hatfield who plays Consuela, Kara Ferguson plays Somewhere Girl and
Savanna, and finally the star of the
Sharks, Chino
Keeping the two gangs from fighting are four
brilliantly actors Dan Greener as Lt
Shrank (and you should have seen the crowd of girls that flocked to him at the
stage door after the show)) and the wonderfully talented Joe Costigan playing
the delightful Officer Krupke, Noel Harris as Glad Hand and finally Ken Allen is
brilliant and deserves great praise for the work he does for the company
leading the Junior Section of NMTC.
Taking over as MD this year was Malcolm Moffat
who does a great job with the baton with his 18 person band (yes it is that
many).
The Crew deserve a mention because a lot of the
great work they do goes unnoticed unless there are hiccups! The sound and
lighting are great - a few little technical glitches but not enoughto spoil the
show.
The Ending! Now some people would say that I
have a heart of stone but jeez guys the ending nearly had me in tears (Don't
believe anybody who says I was crying, they were tears of joy). I'm not going
to ruin the ending but it will make you shed tear or two…
Before I finish I just have to give a shout out
and an amazing well done to one lady who has worked on this show and the last 2
shows the NMTC have done - the amazingly talented Sandra Laidler. She has done
a brilliant job with all the shows that she has worked on and I wish her all
success with Copacabana in 2017. The NTMC will have their work cut out finding a
replacement, although of course she couldn't do it without her amazing
production team - Chantal Riley ( Dance Captain), Philip Stockley ( Production
Manager) Malcolm Moffat (MD) and Julie Macnaughton ( Accompanist).
Once again I would say that this is one show
that will make you laugh and cry and take you on a journey and you will come
out feeling better and having seen a great show performed by a great theatre
company. This show is amazing and I do want to see it again and I definitely
think that you should go down to the Theatre Royal box office and get your
tickets before they run out.
It Plays until Sat 23rd July.
Reuben Hiles
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