‘West Side Story’: Theater Review

Whittled down to one hour and forty-five minutes, “West Side Story” – with book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreography by Jerome Robbins — has grown exceedingly dark and mislaid some of its moving parts in the new Broadway revival from edgy Belgian director Ivo Van Hove. (Can you bear to lose “I Feel Pretty”?) But the plot of this beloved musical remains intact: We are still witnessing the deadly ethnic-fueled violence of two rival street gangs destroy the Romeo-and-Juliet romance of those immortal young lovers, Maria and Tony.

With her soaring soprano and beguiling air of innocence, newcomer Shereen Pimentel makes a sweet and touching Maria, who dares to defy the strict social codes of her Puerto Rican family when she falls in love with a local gang-banger. Isaac Powell, blessed with a true voice and a rare quality of gentle masculinity, makes Maria’s teenaged lover, Tony, seem even more vulnerable than she is. Their glorious love songs, “Somewhere” and “Tonight,” would melt the most frigid of hearts.