[portfolio_slideshow id=8516] By MIKE CHAIKEN EDITIONS EDITOR Yes, there are adults who populate the plot landscape of the classic stage musical, “West Side Story.” But in the 1957 show with a book by Arthur Laurents, score by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreography by Jerome Robbins, adults are toothless, clueless, and ineffectual. The youths—in general, the Jets and the Sharks, and in particular, the young lovers, Tony and Maria—rule supreme in this retelling of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.” Youth also rules supreme in the GetUp Stage Company production of the classic musical. A cast of teens (GUSCO is open to ambitious actors from ages 14 to 22) performs the roles of teens (and the adults deal with them) in this production, which opens at Trinity-on-Main in New Britain on Aug. 15. For the GUSCO show, Zach Carter is Tony, and Stephanie Evans is Maria. However, although the show is about teens, does the show – created 57 years ago—hold relevance to teens today? And do teens from 2014 Connecticut suburbia relate to teens from 1957 New York City? “I think that the overall attitude of teens hasn’t changed much,” said Rhiannon Carta, 17, of Bristol, who plays a [...]
[portfolio_slideshow id=8516] By MIKE CHAIKEN EDITIONS EDITOR Yes, there are adults who populate the plot landscape of the classic stage musical, “West Side Story.” But in the 1957 show with a book by Arthur Laurents, score by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreography by Jerome Robbins, adults are toothless, clueless, and ineffectual. The youths—in general, the Jets and the Sharks, and in particular, the young lovers, Tony and Maria—rule supreme in this retelling of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.” Youth also rules supreme in the GetUp Stage Company production of the classic musical. A cast of teens (GUSCO is open to ambitious actors from ages 14 to 22) performs the roles of teens (and the adults deal with them) in this production, which opens at Trinity-on-Main in New Britain on Aug. 15. For the GUSCO show, Zach Carter is Tony, and Stephanie Evans is Maria. However, although the show is about teens, does the show – created 57 years ago—hold relevance to teens today? And do teens from 2014 Connecticut suburbia relate to teens from 1957 New York City? “I think that the overall attitude of teens hasn’t changed much,” said Rhiannon Carta, 17, of Bristol, who plays a [...]