The characters who seemed convincing on every level were German Santiago (Bernardo), Alexandra Frohlinger (Anybodys), and Drew Foster (Action). The other principals had varying grips on their Bronx or Puerto Rican accents, their vocal control, their physical presence. Overmiking rendered Sondheim's witty lyrics unintelligible. The subtlety of Bernstein's rhythms and harmonic inventions, the conflicts of the personalities, the starkness of their situation, all this gets submerged in a rush from manic fury to sudden stillnesses. Squashed beneath the loud, raunchy action, the characters have become stereotypes telling a cartoon morality tale.
In the 1950s, Puerto Ricans were streaming off Pan Am planes at Idlewild Airport (now JFK) and heading straight to upper Manhattan. West Side Story's scorching music and dancing reflect the social upheaval of that time. Its final, tenuous reconciliation foreshadows the ill-concealed racial tensions of our own time. That too makes it a classic.
Related:
The meaning of 'THE', Beijing Dance/LDTX fight the good fight, From Mozart to milonga, More 
- The meaning of 'THE'
William Forsythe's 1991 ballet The Second Detail begins with 13 dancers in ice-blue leotards and tights, facing away from the audience.
- Beijing Dance/LDTX fight the good fight
Life is a struggle, according to the four works on Friday's program by Beijing Dance/LDTX (presented by the Celebrity Series at the Tsai Performance Center).
- From Mozart to milonga
We Bostonians may swathe ourselves in sweaters and lock our doors against the blustery weather, but once the music begins, dance performances can help us shake off the shivers — and often transport us to more temperate climes.
- Review: La Danse: Le Ballet de L'Opéra de Paris
Frederick Wiseman's documentary is a love letter to Paris, to the Palais Garnier opera house (the Bastille gets a cameo), and the Paris Opera Ballet.
- Airs and graces
Somewhere in the middle of Stephen Petronio’s terrific hour-long dance I Drink the Air Before Me last Friday night, the dancers exited and the space went dark.
- Reality riffs
When Jerome Robbins's New York Export: Opus Jazz boogied onto the scene in 1958 then took Europe by storm. Created for Ballets: U.S.A., a company of ballet, modern, and jazz dancers that Robbins had put together for a government-sponsored cultural exchange tour, Opus Jazz was a kind of spinoff from the 1957 hit musical West Side Story , which Robbins directed and choreographed.
- Conductor karaoke
Surrealists who work with movement have to manage a demanding slight-of-hand.
- Dreams made real
The members of Everett Dance Theatre are nothing if not adventurous, tackling such topics as aeronautics, inner-city neighborhoods, and current events in earlier pieces.
- Happy returns
George Balanchine didn’t go in for productions of the old classic ballets.
- Photos: ''Legacy: Year 1'' with DJ Sterling Golden
DJ Sterling Golden spins 150 years of music in "Legacy: Year 1" at the Model Café on July 14, 2010.
- Photos: Work by Jenny Holzer at the ICA
Pre-performace projections on the waterfront
- Less
Topics:
Dance
, Dance, Dance Reviews, West Side Story
