WEST Side Story has stormed the stage at the Palace Theatre, Westcliff, in many productions, but none of them perhaps quite like the one that will open on August 28.
Veteran director and stage school impresario Vanda Morgan says her production is a showcase for up-and-coming talent from across south Essex.
Vanda, who runs the Vanda Morgan Academy of Performing Arts, says: “In more than 30 years helping to develop young talent, I have never known a generation of actors, singers and dancers as talented as this one.
“We wanted to give the wider world the chance to see just what is happening in this part of the world.
“Although West Side Story has been performed so many times, it is the ultimate young people’s musical. It is still as fresh as when it was first staged and audiences and performers continue to love it. There is still no better showcase for young talent available.”
The production is drawing in talent not just from Vanda’s school, but also from performing arts academies across south Essex. More than 60 performers below the age of 18 will take part.
Providing the choreography for some of the greatest dance routines in musical theatre is one of Vanda’s former students, Sallie Warrington, now a distinguished and award-winning director. Sallie directed a critically-acclaimed Southend Operatic and Dramatic Society production of West Side Story at the Cliffs Pavilion in 2009.
She says: “I studied with Vanda from six to 16, so I jumped at the invitation to come back and work with this generation of young performers. “It has also been really rather nice to have responsibility for just the dance routines, and let Vanda do all the worrying as director.”
Loosely based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story is a tale of young love set against a background of warring gangs in the slums of New York.
With music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by the great Stephen Sondheim, it is frequently named as the greatest musical of all time in surveys.
West Side Story
Palace Theatre, Westcliff.
Nightly at 7.30pm from Wednesday until Saturday, mat Thurs and Sat 2.30pm
Box office: 01702 351135
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here