With diversity, stereotypes and gangs, “West Side Story” couldn’t be more culturally relevant. But the 53-year-old musical, which opens Thursday at Covenant College, also has showstopping songs, dancing and a Shakespearean story.
“It speaks to today’s culture,” said producer and director Dr. Jeanell W. Brown. “It’s thought-provoking entertainment.”
A modern-day “Romeo and Juliet,” the production by the school’s Department of Music and its Musical Theatre Club is probably the largest work Covenant has attempted, she said.
“It’s been a dream of mine to do it,” Brown said.
The story finds a young, idealistic couple, Tony and Maria, caught in the battle between two rival ethnic groups, the largely white Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks, in late 1950s New York City. Their love story begins and ends quickly amid the world of hate and prejudice around them.