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ELODIE Gillett (from left), Chris Olson, Chelsea Read, Dave Morris, Brooke McLean and Chris King.T are part
of the North Shore contingent participating in West Side Story, this year's Theatre Under the Stars production.

lay the park

@ West Side Story by Arthur
Laurents, Leonard
Bernstein and Stephen
Sondheim, produced by
Theatre Under the Stars at
the Malkin Bowl, Stanley
Park to Aug. 14.
Information: 687-0174.

“The trouble is he’s lazy.
The trouble is he drinks.
The trouble is he’s crazy.
The trouble is he stinks.
The trouble is he’s growing.
The trouble is he’s grown,”

Madtin Mitterchip

Curtain Call
martin@nsnews.com

REALITY bites. Or at
any rate it did for
many when West Side
Story first hit the stage
of New York’s Winter
Gardena Theatre in
1957.

Sure, the musical ran for
almost two years before tour-
ing the United States with the
original cast, but The Music
Man collected the Tony for
best musical while -West Side
Story only picked up the
awards for choreography
(Jerome Robbins, who also
conceived and directed the
show) and scenic design
(Oliver Smith).

America liked happy end-
ings! Accepting a musical
about street gangs inured to
violence, who lived in a world
with no hope and who spoke a
beat language that threatened
with its very words the post-
war idealism of the U.S.A. was
not easy.

Retrospectively of course,
West Side Story is acknowl-
edged as the ground-breaking
musical that it was, with
Leonard Bernstein's orchestral
score and Stephen Sondheim’s
lyrics standing the test of time
and still providing, even at the
end of a jaded millennium,
huge emorional impact since
race hatred never seems to
end,

Unlike most musicals, West
Side Story packs power and this
Theatre Under the Stars pro-

duction taps into, mach of it.

Director Richard Berg (of
Uncle Randy Productions’
Godspell) has cast young and
while this choice presents a
reality not often scen outside
of school productions it also
compromises to some extent
the voca! vower of the show.

But Berg obviously has 2
talent for drawing the most
out of comparatively inexperi-
enced casts and he’s ably sup-

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a
S

ls, While quantities last. Admission pastes valid only when arcompanied by a paying adult. Offer

ported by Shelley Stewart
Hunt’s chorcography and
Wally Leung’s musical direc-
tion of a challenging score.

In his program notes Berg
says he and his co-creators
have not attempted to repeat
the show’s traditional staging.
What wanspires is a quasi-post-
modern production with pre-
sent day camoutlage-punk
Sharks and futuristic Jets
decked out in tights, jocks and
bowler hats from cither (pick
your film era) Clockwork

Orange or Warriors.

George Dart’s scenography
is effective (except for a very
odd “road”) and Berg adds to
the mood of alienation by
often placing frozen, lonely,
characters around the perime-
ter of the action.

Both gangs are solid with
strong performances coming
from Todd Talbot as Riff,
Jennifer Bishop as Anita and
Chelsea Read as Anybodys.

See Pros Page 24

Rock hands set for MADD concerts

@ Mothers Against Drunk Drivers summer concert series.

Tickets $7, doors 7:30 p.m., shows start at 8 p.in.
Fundraisers for MADD start this weekend.

July 24 — Langley Civic Centre (20699-42 Ave., Langley)

Strong Like Tractor, Wiseerack, Stayte, Fuzz 38.

July 31 — Fleetwood Community Centre (15996-84 Ave.

Surrey) Side 67, Livids, Freak.

Aug. 7 — Planet Ice Coquitlam (2300 Rocket Way,

Coquidam) Slick 60, the Francophobes, Willis NV, Fucled by

Ignorance, Device.

Aug. 14 — North Van Rec. Centre arena (123 East 23 St.,

North Vancouver) Star Collector, The Orchid Highway, Slor 9,

Raw and guests.

Aug. 2] — Britannia Community Centre (1661 Napier St,

Vancouver) Midge, Retrograde, Hissy Fit, Cozy Bones.

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