WEST SIDE STORY AT THE BIRMINGHAM NEW ALEXANDRA THEATRE
Theatre Run: Tuesday 01 - Saturday 19 April 2014
Performance Reviewed: Wednesday 02 April 2014 (Gala Press Night)
Reviewed by Kyle Pedley
Few musical productions come with as great a repute and standing as West Side Story. With a cavalcade of plaudits and gongs to its name, from Tony’s and Grammy’s through to a staggering 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture (being one of the most awarded movies of all time), to it repeatedly heading up any number of ‘greatest musicals of all time’ lists and polls (including the Number 1 spot in our 2012 countdown of The Greatest Movie Musicals), there is no doubting the prestige, clout and indeed, love, that has become synonymous with the name. As such, any revival or touring production is accepting a heavy mantle of responsibility to do such a fabled piece of musical theatre justice, and it is with a heady swell of both pride and relief that one can safely say that this current touring production of West Side Story, arriving at the Birmingham New Alexandra this week, does a somewhat exceptional job of doing precisely that.
