[Daniel]

I am a little surprised that no thread appears to have been opened on this yet - unless I have missed it. I went to see it at Sadler's Wells on Tuesday. I cannot remember any recent musical or play where I have been so transfixed by something from begining to end. It is simply sensational - the set, the cast, the orchestra, the dancing and the singing. Beautiful and breathtaking singing from Ryan Silverman & Sofia Escobar as Tony & Maria. Lana Gordon was perfect casting as Anita although a little shrill in her singing which was a pity as some of the most wonderful lyrics in America were lost. The dream dance sequence while Somewhere was sung was truly beautiful. No one who is interested in musicals should miss this fabulous production. The musical may be 50 years old but it knocks sparks out of ANY musical written since.

[art87]

I was also there on Tuesday, and can honestly say it would be quicker to list the moments when the hairs on the back of my neck weren't standing on end. It was a magnificent evening and the dancing was truly breathtaking. I know tickets are expensive, but by the time the amazing prologue had finished, I felt I had already got my money's worth and everything else was a bonus. I would say that the microphones made some of the spoken dialogue a little muffled, and Anita had the oddest pronunciation when singing, but (apart from one awful flat note at the end of Something's Coming where I could see the conductor waving his finger rather manically at Tony), you really felt that this was a production that did the superlative material justice, and the Orchestra sounded brilliant. My advice is to go as soon as possible, and then re-book to go again!

[Daniel]

I am a little surprised that no thread appears to have been opened on this yet - .

and even more surprised that there have been so few contributions since I opened the discussion. In the meantime there are no lack of contributions to various jukebox musicals. I know the Sadler's Wells season is sold out but are NO whatsonstage members going to this superb production of this superb musical?

[salsa]

yes, I was there tonight and had a fantastic evening. My first West Side Story and I was entranced from beginning to end. It's really hard to pick out particular highlights as so many elements were just amazing. We had Scott Sussman and Sofia Escobar - I'm still pictureing her sobbing during the curtain call, she couldn't stop. The knockout performance for me during the first half was Oneika Phillips as Anita.
Definitely recommended...and sold out tonight.

[Violette]

I've just booked for Glasgow in November. Great comments here - I'm really looking foward to this! I know it's only just moved from Sadler's Wells, but has anyone else seen it yet?

[banksider]

Just back from the touring version of West Side Story at the Lowry in Salford.

Magical production although having seen Bernstein conduct a performance of his own musical back in September 1984, courtesy of Omnibus, with Kiri Te Kanawa and Carreras, then anything else is always a little flat. But I thought this current production was good whilst not great. I loved the set which captured 1950's Manhattan well. Choreography was good. Singing OK and sometimes good.

But it still raised goose pimples at certain key moments so overall an OK production. Very worth seeing. Still beats any more "modern" musical into a cocked hat.

[NewRomantics-x]

I've just booked for Glasgow in November. Great comments here - I'm really looking foward to this! I know it's only just moved from Sadler's Wells, but has anyone else seen it yet?

So have I (: Hope it's as good as the reviews on here