West Side Story is dancing its way to Queens, where it will open March 4 at a restored 50,000-square-foot factory鈥攕etting the audience around the action (and the production鈥檚 40-piece symphonic orchestra). Aside from the new aesthetic, director Amanda Dehnert has cast a diverse company that deviates from the traditional white/Puerto Rican delineation of Jets and Sharks. Instead, ethnicity is more ambiguous, but themes of hatred and discrimination still make their way to the forefront.
Working with the Leonard Bernstein estate and in celebration of Carnegie Hall鈥檚 125th anniversary season, the Weill Music Institute (WMI) launched The Somewhere Project, a citywide exploration of West Side Story (anchored by the upcoming production at The Knockdown Center). As part of the project, high-school students join the production鈥檚 professionals, and a chorus of 200 will sing new choral arrangements specifically created for this production by Thomas Cabaniss.
Though society has come a long way since the musical debuted on Broadway in 1957, director Dehnert points out that we still have a long way to go.
I鈥檓 very intrigued by what鈥檚 going to be new and what鈥檚 going to be different for this production. Give me a sense of that. It will be a multi-racial cast, where we can鈥檛 really determine Sharks and Jets by their race. Is that true?
Amanda Dehnert: Well, yes and no. Race and ethnicity is a really complicated and important conversation in the American Theatre right now, and I purposefully wanted to not only cast a lot of Latin actors in the show as the Sharks, but also cast a lot of actors of color throughout. The point that is really made in the script is that it鈥檚 a battle between the people who think they got there first and the people who are new. When the show [debuted in 1957], the Puerto Rican community was the biggest immigrant group coming into New York City at that time, but the script also clearly refers to the Jets as being not just a bunch of lily-white [people]鈥�. 鈥淭here鈥檚 the white folk, and there鈥檚 the brown folk,鈥� it鈥檚 not really written that way. [Lt.] Schrank says [that they come from] 鈥渢inhorn immigrant scum,鈥� so everyone in America is an immigrant. The more we continue to be an immigrant nation, the more complicated these conversations get, and the more they tend toward being about not only skin, but also where you identify and what group you place yourself with. So I鈥檓 just trying to be very cognizant of that in this production.
In an era of Donald Trump and anti-immigrant sentiment in the U.S., it seems as though we can still relate to the message of West Side Story.
AD: Look, race isn鈥檛 over. [Laughs.] We鈥檙e not in some sort of Utopian era where we are post-discrimination. Discrimination happens every day, and in really conspicuous and violent ways. 鈥� The older the piece gets, I think even the more powerful it becomes because you can see how little things have really changed. We often look at the past and say, 鈥淲ell, that was then, and this is now,鈥� but there鈥檚 nothing in West Side Story that seems like that was then. It鈥檚 all still really 鈥渢his is now.鈥�
You talk about going back to the text. In your direction, how much are you incorporating from pre-existing knowledge of the piece, since it is such an iconic work? How much are you stripping away and relying directly on the text?
AD: I would say that West Side Story has a really interesting, rich and complicated production history. We are using some of the original Jerome Robbins choreography, [but] we are also using some new choreography. The libretto is still the original libretto鈥攏ot the revised one. The score has kind of always been the score, although through its various reprints and production traditions, it鈥檚 got its own quirks. What I try to do is just pull together the most important aspects of all of those elements and put them on the stage. It鈥檚 never about completely recreating something that was done before. The theatre should never be about completely recreating something that was done before, in my opinion, but you do start from the text. And, in this case鈥�West Side Story鈥攖he text means the choreography and score and the book. [Laughs.] Those are all really core elements of the piece, and you look at them, and you make sure that you understand what they鈥檙e really doing, and then you make sure that you are dealing with those elements authentically onstage and getting the story told. [You鈥檙e] not trying to turn it into something that it鈥檚 not, but just allowing yourself as interpretive artists鈥攁s a director鈥攖o be present to your own reading of it, the way it effects you and the way you think it鈥檚 going to effect audiences.
You previously directed a production of West Side at Trinity Repertory Company, using elements such as spray paint to describe location change. Are you still incorporating some of those elements?
AD: No, no. This is a highly, highly minimalist production because it鈥檚 not so much a 鈥減roduction鈥� of West Side Story, as it is part of a much larger project of the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall called The Somewhere Project. These performances of West Side Story are one component of that, and the focus鈥攁ll the energy and all the focus and all the attention鈥攈as gone into the creating and supporting of a 40-piece orchestra. And we have a 200-voice choir, and we have an additional cast of 14 apprentice dancers鈥nd we鈥檙e in this really funky space, so trying to pull all that stuff together early on made it really clear that it was never going to be about the production values. It鈥檚 about really relying on the story to be able to make itself clear with very little support, which it can and does.
Tell me about the space and why it was chosen and how it鈥檚 going to function and operate for the show.
AD: When I came on board, the people at Carnegie had already selected the Knockdown Center鈥� It was really important to them that we be doing this in a borough鈥攖hat we鈥檇 be doing this in a place that is more connected to where the story might have come from in the first place, and to let the audience be in an environment that was not really a traditional theatre environment or a traditional symphonic environment. That鈥檚 how we ended up at the Knockdown Center. It鈥檚 challenging because it鈥檚 not just a big rectangle. It was a working factory, so it has a shape that is based on what its function was, and incorporating a stage space and a dance floor and an orchestra space and also an art gallery鈥攂ecause we鈥檝e got all this art to display from other sides of The Somewhere Project鈥� It鈥檚 like designing a building inside of a building, which is really fun.
I imagine that 鈥淒ance at the Gym鈥� is going to be epic because it鈥檚 just this big space, where you can play around and do tons of different things. How has it been working to your advantage? Instead of just a regular proscenium staging, how are you enjoying working in this big factory?
AD: The best place to put the action meant that we needed to have the audience almost completely around the whole stage, and so that鈥檚 just always exciting because you get to not only watch the action, but you also鈥攁s an audience member鈥攕ee the rest of your cohorts seeing the story鈥� We have a really, really, really long stage. [That] is the best way I can describe it. That鈥檚 really great because there are times in West Side Story where the characters want to run鈥攍ike full-out run鈥攁nd you can鈥檛 do that on most stages. Just about the time you get up to full speed, you鈥檙e kind of out of room, and that鈥檚 not the case here. So, even in the 鈥淧rologue,鈥� when we鈥檙e working with the original Robbins choreography鈥攋ust seeing those steps really be able to travel [and] really cover ground is so exciting.
Is it immersive, in a way?
AD: Yeah, I would say that鈥檚 true.
Tell me about getting to work with these high-school students. It must be so exciting for them.
AD: They鈥檙e just great. Something that really matters to me is being able to show young artists that you can have a life in the theatre. And, these are amazingly talented young singers and dancers and actors, and they鈥檙e getting paid, and they are in an environment where they can be mentored. When you first start out in this business, you usually don鈥檛 have a chance to be a working professional. Also, if you mess up [here], nobody鈥檚 going to take your head off. That鈥檚 what we鈥檙e able to give these kids. They鈥檙e partnered with mentors in the cast, they can ask questions, they don鈥檛 have to be afraid of making a mistake. They can really try鈥攍ike 100 percent try鈥攁nd then get a note if something isn鈥檛 going right, or get extra rehearsal if something isn鈥檛 going right. And, I鈥檓 hoping that just helps them even more in becoming the next generation of the people who do what we do, and I hope that it lets their parents see that you really can do this. You can be a performer, you can be onstage, you can do this with your life, and it can be enriching and meaningful and viable as a life choice.
Are there any other plans for the production aside from this weekend?
AD: No. It was always understood that this was kind of a three-performance, massive celebration of a year鈥檚 worth of educational work that the Hall has done.
How is the chorus of 200 functioning? Where and when are they singing?
AD: Really early on, there was a lot of conversation and work done with the Bernstein estate to make additional choral arrangements for 鈥淥ne Hand, One Heart鈥� and for 鈥淪omewhere鈥� and also to find ways to incorporate those voices into some other pieces of the show, as well. And they are witnesses to the event; they are sometimes participants. They are, again, a huge population of the people who are really going to make the future. They鈥檙e the next generation鈥nd when you think about a concept like 鈥淪omewhere," 鈥淲here is that 鈥楽omewhere鈥�? Where is that place?鈥� I don鈥檛 think that we鈥檝e come close to making a place where everyone could belong and be together peacefully yet. We don鈥檛 have that on this planet, so we鈥檙e going to have to keep looking for the people who are coming up underneath us to make the kind of choices that will help shape that world. And, it鈥檚 just really important, you know? It鈥檚 not only really impactful for those students, but I think it reminds us鈥攖he audience鈥攖hat we have a responsibility now to them to at least try and create some space where they might be able to make things better.
