‘West Side Story’ draws protesters in New York

There was a chorus outside the Broadway Theatre

on Thursday at the opening night of a new revival of “West Side Story” but what was being sung was a protest chant.

A group of about 100 people demanded the removal of cast member Amar Ramasar, who was fired and then reinstated last year at New York City Ballet for sharing nude photos of women and sexually explicit texts.

The protesters chanted “Hey hey, ho ho, Amar Ramasar has got to go!” before the curtain went up on the opening night celebration.

Alexandra Waterbury ,a former student with the City Ballet’s affiliated school, the School of American Ballet, alleged in 2018 that Ramasar and two other men shared nude photos of her, taken without her knowledge, with other men in the company.

Since then, there’s been a petition to remove Ramasar from “West Side Story,” where he plays Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks. Producers in a statement last week backed the actor, noting that the incident took place in a different workplace and “has been both fully adjudicated and definitively concluded according to the specific rules of that workplace.”

Actor’s Equity Association, which represents more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers, issued a statement saying it is trying to ensure that all Broadway actors work in a harassment-free environment.