A Sold Out Run For West Side Story
West Side Story opened on 29th March at Hyde Festival Theatre. Thanks to the hard work of our committee, cast and crew the show was SOLD OUT each and every performance, and received glorious reviews from audiences.
We knew from auditions this show was going to be something special. The talent that stepped into our audition room was phenomenal, setting us up for an amazing 5 months rehearsal period ahead.
Every show has it’s challenges, and we knew we were taking on one hell of a difficult show with it’s tricky chord progressions, intense emotions and intricate choreography West Side Story is known and loved for. So, we set to work in November getting stuck in at the deep end with choreography by Simon Fitzpatrick alongside learning key harmonies with Dave Chapman our Musical Director and our wonderful rehearsal pianist Elaine Chapman.
Every amateur society knows the struggle to get male cast members… West Side Story needed men and a lot of them. But despite this struggle early on we persevered and built a brilliant cast of males to make up our cool Jets and feisty Sharks.
In January we got stuck into character work, delving deep into the journey’s they take throughout the show and setting the scenes lead by our director Daniel Oliver-Grant. The show was beginning to take shape!
Our set was designed by our Stage Manager Gareth Cox and our committee Treasurer Andy Greenwood. They built a skeletal urban playground for our cast to climb through, made up of scaffolding, different level platforms and ladders, creating the streets of New York on the stage of Hyde Festival Theatre.
Band call came quickly, and our cast had their first opportunity to rehearse with the 11 peice orchestra led by our musical director. Before we knew it audiences were filing into the auditorium ready for opening night!
We made audiences laugh with numbers such as ‘Officer Krupke’, ‘America’ and had them in tears with songs such as ‘A Boy Like That’ and ‘Somewhere’. Each night was packed full with family, friends, peers and theatre goers, and we received shining reviews.
North West End gave West Side Story a 4 star review, they said:
“The society have yet again brought their A-game”
“delivering a triumph”
“strong principal actors, wonderful choreography, and bags of energy.”
Reviewer Number 9 said:
“a wonderful show, intelligently brought to life”
“Exciting, apt, and generally excellently executed”
We’re sad the West Side Story journey has come to an end, but we’re looking forward to another great show in 2024!
Head to our Show Gallery to see just some of the production images from West Side Story.
