New York’s answer to Romeo and Juliet at Teatre Tívoli
Some thirty actors and eighteen musicians will be bringing the spectacular West Side Story to Barcelona.
If we hit the streets to ask passers-by to tell us the name of one American musical, the first thing to come to mind for many people could very well be these three words: West Side Story. It was an immediate hit when it came out on Broadway in 1957 and it has been gracing stages across the world continuously right up to the present day. Its popularity also took off thanks to Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise’s film version that reached screens in 1961. Its fame is clearly down to a myriad of reasons: a book written by Arthur Laurents which is a 20th Century version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet set on the streets of New York, the score composed by Leonard Bernstein that’s rousing from the very first note, with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, who gave us hits such as Maria, Tonight and America and ground-breaking choreography by Jerome Robbins. Various versions of West Side Story have passed through theatres in Barcelona and, starting from 20 December, Teatre Tívoli will be playing host to the SOMProduce production with Federico Barrios as the stage director and Gaby Goldman as the musical director.
This production is set to be spectacular (well, since it’s West Side Story, it had to be that way) with some thirty actors and eighteen musicians. Heading up the cast, there will be Javier Ariano starting as Tony (switching with Guido Balzaretti), Talía del Val as Maria (replaced in some functions by Lucía Ambrosini) and Silvia Álvarez in the role of Anita (a role that will be played by Teresa Abarca on some occasions).
You’ve got the chance to relive Tony and Maria’s love story and the fights between the Jets and Sharks until 16 February. On 31 December there will be a special function to welcome in 2020. For more information and tickets, click on this link.