In an anniversary tour you would hope for the best of the best, and unfortunately the Sydney run of West Side Story is not really up to snuff.
The cast individually are incredibly talented, unfortunately this show is let down by the casting of roles. Too often do we see ethnic roles replaced by other ethnicities in Australia - with no real purpose. Its a shame, like having islander people play african american roles, and in this case, asian people and even caucasian people play puerto ricans.
Surely there are enough people in the arts to fill roles of quality people in parts they were meant to play? I am not overly fussed, as talent is talent and colour blind - but when the persons ethnicity directly detracts from the role they are playing - I take issue.
There was no doubting the talent of the cast individually though - however a few fumbles and spills made it seem a little more "schools spectacular" than high end production. Fingers crossed it was just an off night for those performers.
West Side Story is a classic, but i wouldn't bust a gut to check out this particular production.
Fingers crossed for the cast, that they end up in other fabulous productions that will show off their obvious talents.
4/10
West Side Story - Sydney
