West Side Story
Catharsis is a Greek word that English speakers use to describe an experience where one is emotionally purged. One is cleansed. One is exhausted, but refreshed. One is made new and will never be the same again. The catharsis was the measure by which the Greeks judged the best theater. And, a catharsis, the best kind, is what I experienced by the end of the Vintage High School Choral Department’s production of “West Side Story.”
I was riveted. I couldn’t move. Overwhelmed maybe more accurate, but that doesn’t quite describe the sense of, I wouldn’t call it joy exactly, but a certain kind of ecstasy that left me in tears. I had to go find a quiet place afterward to savor the aesthetic experience, but also to recover from the sheer intensity and power of it all.
I must be extremely sensitive because I see a lot of theater. But when it is really well done, when 57 high school students sing and dance together with smiles on their faces, when the young men are just as excited by the spotlight as the young women, when everything comes together just right, there is no other option than to get choked up. It puts you through the ringer.
Mark Teeters and Liz Amendola in the Choir Department, Frank Varni in the Drama Department, and choreographer Meagan Bruner, I hold responsible for my current state of blubberyness. Their semester and a half of work with these extremely talented young people has yielded fruit whose quality has, so far, been unmatched by anything I have seen this year, or most likely will see. They are geniuses masquerading as humble high school teachers, able to corral these young men and women into doing something beautiful. And they, as teachers, seem to do it easily, without pretense, as if it is just another day on the job.
Where do I begin? How about Maria, a girl whom I just met. The purity of Diana Gonzales’ angelic voice was like water from a glacier fed river. It was clear and sweet, but extremely powerful. Her falsetto in “Tonight” had a touching richness. She exuded a wonderful innocence and seemed to me to be exactly what Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim had in mind when they wrote the script and music. Casting is half the battle in staging a show, and Teeters made a great decision.
Cutler Low’s Tony had an innocence as well, but underscoring that was Low’s confidence in his voice that allowed him to sing “Somethings Coming,” alone, center stage, on the catwalk, with nothing but the orchestra behind him. And his sensitivity toward the role of Tony was admirable. I noticed that as an afterthought in his bio he mentioned that he is captain of the football team. Amendola told me that he didn’t write that to brag, though successfully juggling the challenges of school, sports and the theater may be something to brag about. The stereotype is that jocks and thespians don’t mix. Low has certainly proven that stereotype wrong.
Aedyn Frazer as Anita was another perfect cast. With dark hair in sultry curls and red lipstick, she was everything an opinionated, saucy latina should be. She elicited a maturity, a perfect counterpoint to Maria’s innocence, that belied her high school age.
Anita was also the centerpiece of perhaps the most disturbing part of the show. At one point, Maria is questioned by Lieutenant Schrank, and she tells Anita to go warn Tony that the cop is coming for him. Anita then enters Doc’s Pharmacy where the entire Jets gang is waiting. They begin to harass her, tease her, and toss her around like she is some sort of plaything. I was horrified that high school students would take part in something so violent against women. But you know what? These students are professionals. They’re mature. They performed seriously, convincingly, but know that the injustice, the crime, is only in the show, and is for the sake of the show. The very fact that it exists on stage is the reason it should never exist in real life.
By far the stand out was George Laird as Riff. He was having the time of his life. He was truly engrossed in his character. You could tell in his defiant smile, his rugged stance, his thick self confidence as he led the Jets toward his tragic end, that this was the best thing ever. I’m too young to have seen Elvis Presley in his youth, but if I did, with all his charisma and sheer star power, I’m sure he would remind me of Laird’s Riff, not the other way around. Laird’s bio says he indeed wants to become an actor. He is well on his way.
I think perhaps the most overwhelming part of the show were the dances. In the famous scene in the gym where a game is played and the emcee tries to get the kids to dance with random partners who aren’t their kind, what seemed like the entire cast - all 57 - were onstage, executing Meagan Bruner’s choreography as if nothing else in the world mattered. There were several scenes where young men and women were scattered on the catwalk, and aside the proscenium, in Frank Varni’s brilliant composition, as if they were in a Renoir painting of a crowded cafe in Paris.
Amendola, Teeters et al have made sure that the show was not just a show. It was a lesson on kindness, on empathy, on compassion, but fundamentally on discrimination. After participating in a piece of art about the horrors of hatred based on skin color, how do these students view our government’s current hostility toward immigrants? Once they have embodied that discrimination, literally acted it out within the safety of the imaginary world on stage, how will they view their fellow men and women, their fellow Americans, differently? When that time comes, and it’s coming soon, how will they vote?
“West Side Story” was a brave choice for high school. Like “Romeo and Juliet,” the play it is based on, and unlike so many other shows to choose from in the canon of American musical theater, it does not have a happy ending. It’s tragic, gut wrenching, immensely sad theater that in good hands, not only teaches, but transcends. These were good hands, and transcendent is the best way I can describe it.
“West Side Story” plays in the auditorium of Napa High School for five more performances. March 12th, 13th and 14th at 7:00PM with matinees at 2:00PM on the 14th and 15th. Tickets are $22 for adults $10 for anyone under 18. Tickets can be purchased at vhschoirs.com.
John Henry Martin wishes he went to Vintage High School and was good enough to get into Mark Teeter’s choir class. If you do too, email him at jhm@johnhenrymartin.com.
