West Side Story Review

Overall Rating

This is my favourite musical of all-time. Starring Natalie Wood as Maria, a Puerto Rican girl who has recently come to New York City, she works with friends and family in a dress shop. She meets Tony (Beymer) who is the reformed ex-leader of the Jets, a local gang who clash with the Sharks, made of up other Puerto Rican immigrants and led by Maria's brother Bernardo. As Tony and Maria fall in love, they are forced to deal, Romeo & Juliet-style, with the disapproval of their friends and family. When their relationship finally comes to light, Tony must face Bernardo one-on-one to stop a full-on gang war.

This is a beautiful adaptation of Romeo & Juliet for more modern times with music by Leonard Bernstein and both Wood and Beymer are mesmerising as the star-crossed lovers. You really feel for their situation as they try to stop the cycle of violence and the racism which the Jets and their supporters display to the immigrant community. It is hard not to shed a tear at the inevitable ending and feel proud of Maria's strength-of-character.