‘West Side Story’ gets reworked at the BBC Proms 2018 – review

So much of West Side Story’s score was written to accommodate the choreography of the original 1957 stage production and adapted to fit the dancing in the 1961 film that doing the musical as a dance-free concert might seem redundant.

But it’s a testament to the beauty of Leonard Bernstein’s music and Jerome Robbins’ choreography for both the stage and screen versions and how inextricably they’re linked that you only have to close your eyes to imagine the Jets and the Sharks duking it out on Manhattan streets and Puerto Rican dresses swishing about on rooftops and hot-headed boys struggling to keep their cool as they hide out in a car park.

Maddeningly, perhaps because Spielberg is prepping to remake the film (and that’s madness it itself, given how perfect the original is), this particular BBC Prom isn’t being televised, only streamed on iPlayer, which means if you weren’t there you don’t get to witness the splendid sight of John Wilson’s huge orchestra in full flow or the warring gangs in their tight jeans and T-shirts or the girls in their colourful frocks or the standing ovation at the end of the matinee performance we attended that seemed to go on forever.

But then, given the simple staging and the magnificence of the music, hearing it runs a close second to being there, especially since the paired-down authorised concert version – with minimal dialogue and dramatisation – left lots of gaps for the imagination to fill.

Mostly that didn’t matter, given how familiar the story is and how stirring the score, although the arbitrary plotting and lack of clarity about key events makes you wonder why they didn’t just jettison the script altogether.

As Tony Ross Lekites was in fine voice, Mikaela Bennett made for a lovely Maria (especially during ‘I Feel Pretty’), Eden Espinosa was a fiery Anita and the likes of Leo Roberts (Riff), Gian Marco Schiaretti (Bernardo) and Alistair Brammer (Action) were as easy on the eye as they were delightful to the ear.

And special mention should go to the students from ArtsEd and Mountview, who formed an enthusiastic chorus and amongst whom there are surely future Tonys and Marias.

Rating: 4/5

West Side Story is on BBC iPlayer. For more on the BBC Proms 2018 go to bbc.co.uk/proms and for great deals on tickets and shows click here.

Words by Simon Button