WEST SIDE STORY at the Palace Theatre

(Seen 3/26/09)

This seems to be the season for reviving and deconstructing the major American musicals.

It's difficult to diminish the beauty and the power and the emotional impact of WEST SIDE STORY. With the exception of some lyrics and dialogue now spoken in Spanish, little has changed. Leonard Bernstein's music, Stephen Sondheim's lyrics, and Arthur Laurent's book still capture the tragic story of two disparate, innocent lovers, out-of-place in a world of dissention, suspicion and hate.

However, the sparks that ignited the original production and the subsequent film, have fizzled under Arthur Laurent's pedestrian and sometimes puzzling direction. And the chemistry that could bring some reality to the warring factions is missing here. The cast seems to be parodying the original tensions and movements, rather than inhabiting them.

In this almost by-the-numbers presentation, it becomes panoramic rather than involving, so the audience is watching rather than experiencing the emotion and the drama and the ultimate tragedy. Fortunately, the music and lyrics still soar.