West Side Story premiered in 1957, just five years after the United States made a commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Job promises drew islanders to New York, upsetting the working-class locals, who were themselves the children of immigrants. Theatre By The Sea probably couldn’t have predicted Puerto Rico’s current economic crisis when they booked the musical for a month-long run this summer, but this show values personal freedom over perpetually relevant themes of nationalism, xenophobia, and human disposability. This is a solid production, a lot more fun than I’m making it sound, with lots of technical bells and whistles, solid acting from a huge cast, and tight choreography.
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2018