Presented by: Adelaide Youth Theatre
Reviewed: 20 January, 2023
West Side Story is not a musical you’d normally expect a youth theatre group to undertake. It’s quite dark in places, but Adelaide Youth Theatre have pulled off an excellent production that fans of West Side Story would enjoy.
The cast, although young, gave strong performances under the instruction of Nic Collins. The sound mix was clear and crisp, with an excellent balance between the pre-recorded music and vocalists. As Musical Director, Mark Stefanoff has done an excellent job of getting all the right sounds coming out.
Shenayde Wilkinson-Sarti, assisted by Joe Meldrum, have choreographed moves that are faithful to what the audience expects, without giving us the same old same old. The dancing talent amongst this cast was hard to believe given some of their ages.
Some scaffolding and screens made up the set, but this was much more impressive than it sounds here. Vivid photographs of real scenes made very effective (and, I imagine, easy to work with) streetscapes and interiors.
It’s a shame that their season was so short. It’s easy to see that everyone involved put in a lot of work, and the show was definitely worthy of a longer run.
Reviewed by Doug Phillips
Venue: Influencers Theatre
Season: Ended
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