Bringing their sell-out American musical ‘West Side Story’ into their recently opened New York style hayloft design theatre, senior pupils at Robert Gordon’s College delighted the crowd on opening night of their six show run.
West Side Story is the much loved musical based on Romeo and Juliet and transported to the turbulent streets of New York City in the 1950s where two star-crossed lovers are caught between rival street gangs: the Jets and the Sharks. The feuding escalates between the gangs as Tony (best friend of Jet leader Riff - played by Max Greenhalgh, S5) falls in love with rival gang leader Bernardo’s younger sister Maria (double cast played by Amelia Porter and Emily Grant, S5) to a point where they plan a ‘rumble’ under the highway to decide who gains control of the streets. Hoping to stop the fight and end the ongoing feud, Maria sends Tony to the scene and before they can run away tragedy strikes the young lovers.
Selling out in days following ticket release, the five night production is packed with instantly recognisable songs including Something's Coming, Maria, America, One Hand one Heart, I Feel Pretty, Somewhere and more. In addition to acting and singing, technical and backstage roles there are fifteen musicians in the orchestra incorporating woodwind, brass and percussion.
The Craig Centre for Performing Arts is a new performance and digital recording venue to allow pupils to further develop in music, drama, dance and media as well as learn about the backstage aspects of production.
Andy Milarvie, Head of Drama said: "After the success of Calamity Jane last year at the Aberdeen Arts Centre and Theatre, the cast, orchestra and technical team are extremely excited to bring the senior school production to their very own, new state of the art performing arts venue within our Schoolhill campus. Pupils and staff have been working together to create the set for West Side Story which this year has had a complicated technical set-up to recreate the streets of New York. The new Craig Centre is a wonderful environment for the pupils to learn about both the performing and technical aspects of the show and are enjoying both the performance and technical aspects of the show."
Emily Grant (S5, plays Maria) said: “As a performer West Side Story is one of those shows you dream of doing. It has been a fantastic experience playing Maria with such a lovely and talented cast and crew.”
Kevin Haggart, Head of Music commented: “West Side Story is undoubtedly one of the great musicals of the 20th century. It's almost perfect combination of Leonard Bernstein's amazing virtuosic score and Stephen Sondheim's stylish and sophisticated lyrics propels the story of Romeo and Juliet into the street gang culture of 1950s New York in an unforgettable way. Coping with the extreme demands of the famously difficult score has been a real challenge for our pupils and they have risen to it tremendously. They have really enjoyed getting to grips with it. It is a great experience for the audience and is a fantastic piece of theatre to stage.”
Simon Mills, Head of College added: “West Side Story has proved extremely popular with pupils to be involved in and has provided huge enjoyment and development to all involved. The show was a sell-out in just a few days and it is terrific to see the new Craig Centre for Performing Arts being used for this colourful production.”
The show is running at The Craig Centre for Performing Arts, Robert Gordon’s College, Schoolhill from November 24-28, 2015.