Video

West Side Story at Curve Leicester: choreographer Ellen Kane discusses reimagining a classic

The show opens later this month

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14 November 2019

As the Curve Leicester's executive creative team Chris Stafford and Nikolai Foster continue their tenure as guest editors of WhatsOnStage, the site has a chat with choreographer Ellen Kane as she explains her new choreography for the venue's production of West Side Story.

Adriana Ivelisse and Carly Mercedes Dyer will play Maria and Anita respectively. Jamie Muscato (Heathers) will play Tony, while Jonathan Hermosa-Lopez (Grease) will play Bernardo and Ronan Burns (Kiss Me, Kate) will play Riff.

Darren Bennett (Grease) plays Lieutenant Schrank, while the cast also includes Ryan Anderson (Grease) as A-Rab, Damian Buhagiar (Grease) as Chino, Thea Bunting (Grease) as Graziella, Alex Christian (Oklahoma!) as Baby John, Abigail Climer (Grease) as Consuelo, Isaac Gryn (Oklahoma!) as Action, Beth Hinton-Lever (Hadestown) as Anybodys, Katie Lee (Matilda) as Velma, Mireia Mambo (Evita) as Rosalia, Michael O'Reilly (Dirty Dancing) as Diesel, Dominic Sibanda (Aladdin) as Indio, Dale White (Grease) as Big Deal and Christopher Wright (The Ladykillers) as Officer Krupke and Doc.

Foster will direct the show, which will have choreography from Kane and musical supervision from Sarah Travis. Set design is by Michael Taylor, costume is by Edd Lindley, musical direction is by George Dyer, lighting is by Guy Hoare, sound is by Tom Marshall and casting is by Kay Magson.

Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Laurents and Leonard Bernstein's musical is set in New York City in 1957 and is a reworking of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Songs include "I Feel Pretty", "America" and "Tonight".

The piece runs from 23 November 2019 to 11 January 2020.