Elizabeth Moir cast get set for ‘West Side Story’
When it came to staging a musical, West Side Story seemed the perfect choice for Elizabeth Moir International. The story written by Arthur Laurents felt to so relevant in recent times, coupled with the incredible musical numbers from Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim.
This week the Mirror Magazine spoke to director Anushka Senanayake, musical director Sureka Amerasinghe and choreographer Melissa Fisher, who gave us an insight into the production that will go on the boards of the Lionel
Wendt Theatre on November 8 and 9.
The story depicts the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds, with the central storyline inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. With the goal of presenting an honest portrayal of it, Anushka tells us their focus has simply been to understand what’s happening in that world while also trying to “communicate that world and these people and what they’re struggling with.”
As Anushka explains, the musical deals with heavy social issues such as racism, gang violence and other various issues that immigrants and young people face. “Some topics are very sensitive, so it’s been a really rewarding experience to work with the students to talk about these things very openly and how they feel about it,” she says.
The real challenge for the students, however, was to look at it through the lenses of their characters, as some of the characters have a more set point of view. Anushka hopes the experience gives them an understanding of how these problems can come up, and how often it is rooted in fear and misunderstanding. But as she puts it, she is constantly surprised by the level of intellectual and investigative questions they have.
“It’s been incredible to watch how quickly the students have been able to take the material and run with it. I’m in awe of them all over again!”.