West Side Story, the review

I saw the West Side Story at the Cadillac Palace last Saturday with my friend Millie and her bf Luis. Millie and Luis are Puerto Rican so they were really psyched to see this on stage. I have seen the movie since I was little so I know I like the story and the songs and the dancing. I was hoping I would have the same pleasant experience with the stage production.

And I did have a good experience watching it. The dance numbers were fantastic and I can really see the ballet/dance prowess of the cast. The fight scenes that were done as a dance was a little chessy but it comes with the territory. The singing of the cast was good enough. The guy who played Tony (Kyle Harris) did have a superb voice. So strong and pleasing to hear. On the otherhand, I did not care for the suprano/operatic voice of the girl who played Maria (Ali Ewoldt). And she did not look Puerto Rican to me too. My friend Millie commented that she looked Filipino which I agree with the assessment. Alicia Charles played a very relatable Anita and really reminded me of Rita Moreno who played Anita in the movie. I was very entertained watching the songs I have long loved like 'Tonight', 'America', 'I feel Pretty', 'Somewhere' and 'Gee Officer Krupke'. And another thing that I did like about the stage production was the fact that they incorporated more spanish in the dialogue and songs as oppose to the movie which was almost all english. I think it made the stage production more realistic when you hear Puerto Ricans speaking spanish. I know spanish so I have no problem following what they said. I wondered how the non spanish speaker felt about it. To boot the good show was the fact that we had good seats on our price range. Woohoo.