“Something Great is Coming”

West Side Story opens this week with a stellar cast, and our Coral Drouyn talks to Choreographer Michael Ralph about re-creating Jerome Robbins original choreography.

When the curtain goes up on West Side Story at the State Theatre, Arts Centre Melbourne on Saturday night, The Production Company will present it’s 50^th production and the debates around dinner tables and in the pubs and even rehearsal rooms and dance classes will start all over again…”Is West Side Story the GREATEST Musical ever written?” There will be naysayers, but it’s a safe bet that all of us will have it in our top five, if not in the number one position; with a big gap to number 2.

Certainly it cemented Leonard Bernstein as one of America’s greatest composers; introduced us to Stephen Sondheim in his Broadway debut, where he began the journey as the finest musical theatre lyricist of all time; proclaimed Jerome Robbins as a genius; and made superstars of dancers – many of them of ethnic origin  it made Chita Rivera a Superstar). Based on Romeo and Juliet, it was the second of William Shakespeare’s plays to be adapted as a Broadway musical (can you name the first?)  and arguably the most revived musical in the last 50 years.

It was also the first real “dance” Broadway musical, despite Robbins already having applied his skills to On The Town, and Gene Kelly having made films like An American in Paris (which is finally a Broadway Musical). Robbins, along with Fosse and Michael Bennett, were the three Director/Choreographers who shaped Broadway for contemporary dance in the post World War 11 era. Dance has evolved so much since A Chorus Line that it’s fair to say that all three of these icons were really more about Style than Substance; but that would ignore the fact that the substance of their work is IN the style. You know a Fosse move the second the hands move; and you know Robbins by his athleticism and body shapes, and Bennett by his merging of styles and pushing the boundaries. So, for me, one of the most exciting things will be to see how the much talked about, ridiculously young and super-talented, choreographer Michael Ralph will “re-imagine” Robbins’ original choreography and bring it into the 21^st century.

From a small but lovely seaside town in New Zealand, Michael knew while he was still in his teens that he had something special, something bigger than the local dancing school and his school productions could contain. He was barely 20 when he started choreographing and moved to Melbourne….by 22 he had choreographed his first full length show and started teaching classes, sometimes to dancers older than himself. He then went on to earn great acclaim for two little known shows; Loving Repeating and Pacific Overtures. Before too long his name was on everybody’s lips, and he was “hot property”. His approach is fresh, and his style is distinctive and adapts to small spaces, but overall it is his storytelling that sets him apart. “It isn’t enough to set…or even dance…..steps,” he told me. “Dance has to be part of an overall story. The dancers I want to work with are all story-tellers, they all convey emotion when they move. Yes, they have to have technique and good grounding; strong bodies and sensitivity, but if they don’t feel anything; if they don’t tell me a story; then it’s like we’re not speaking the same language.

Michael was excited to be offered West Side Story, but concedes that it’s probably the hardest thing he has ever done. “It takes so much longer to work to someone else’s steps, and of course it’s more restrictive and I am used to having more freedom to create. This time round it’s about interpreting, and RE-creating, because Robbins’ original steps are all notated and the Chorry is iconic. So I have to be respectful and faithful to Robbins and yet at the same time make it fresh and interesting. It would be quite easy for some of the routines to seem a little dated if we didn’t work hard to refresh them. But I have to keep pulling myself up to make sure I get the sequences right, and the steps just so, and yet add something extra to it. Excuse the pun but dance is movement and has to move with the times. If you can incorporate something fresh without losing what is already set…well…that’s the challenge.”

Because WSS is a dance show, Michael was first cab off the ranks with casting. “I talked extensively with Gale (Edwards, the Director) and we agreed on a vision. I auditioned 300 dancers and from that chose about 60 – but we all knew that these guys needed to be true triple threats – strong vocally and with acting skills. So 60 passed the dance audition but that figure was cut in half once they went to the singing auditions, and then there was another cut. We are just lucky that we’re spoilt for choice in Melbourne, but it’s been a gruelling process because, as you know, we have a limited rehearsal schedule for such a big show. It’s exhilarating but exhausting.  So this is very special, and the set is huge by Production Company standards and so is the orchestra (Guy Simpson has 31 musicians) …it’s all pretty amazing – for me in particular.”

Who knows, maybe in the next decade we will have West Side Story with original Michael Ralph choreography, or perhaps a brand new musical with someone re-imagining HIS original choreography. But in the meantime, West Side Story is coming, and that really is great.

West Side Story Plays for just 10  performances from 11^th-19^th July. This landmark season will feature four of Australia’s leading musical theatre stars. Returning from London to play Maria is Anna O’Byrne whose recent credits include Christine Daaé in Phantom of the Opera on the West End. Gareth Keegan who starred in Show Boat last season, is Tony. In the role of Anita will be Deone Zanotto (A Chorus Line on Broadway and We Will Rock You on London’s West End). Adam Fiorentino whose US credits include Bert in Mary Poppins on Broadway, is Bernardo.

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