‘West Side Story’ dances up a storm

“West Side Story”

The current staging of the iconic musical, “West Side Story,” at the Theatre at Solaire reminds us of the first time the film version of the show opened in Manila in the ’60s.

The Filipino movie audience wasn’t used to watching musical films at the time, so when the characters on the screen started singing their “dialogue,” nervous titters were heard.

Well, we’ve come a long way since those relatively clueless years, so film musicals are now not just accepted but loved by local viewers, as the strong showing here of “La La Land,” “Pitch Perfect” and “Beauty and the Beast” has proven.

As for live performances of musicals, they’ve increased in number on the local scene, with both homegrown and “imported” stagings commanding long runs and good houses. The Filipinos’ innate love for music is a strong factor in explaining this.

In the specific case of “West Side Story,” the show’s appeal to local audiences is its being based on the iconic love story of “Romeo and Juliet,” made even more accessible by some of its characters’ being “modulated” into Puerto Ricans trying to make a new life for themselves in the Big Apple.

All of the show’s local stagings have benefited from this heightened accessibility and concomitant empathy, and the current American touring production should be no exception.

Also a strong come-on for local theater buffs is the dominant dance factor in “West Side Story.” A veritable feast of jazz, Latin and other choreographic and terpsichorean tempos has made it a celebrated dance showcase.

The original staging’s music by Leonard Bernstein, and choreography and direction by Jerome Robbins, set a high mark for succeeding musicals to aspire to, radically “forcing” American musical theater to forego safe and predictable traditional practice, in favor of a more dynamic and engaged fusion of plot, music and dance.

Interestingly, Filipinos’ link to “West Side Story” was later reaffirmed even more when another stage musical based on “Romeo and Juliet” made it big on its own terms in London, with the hit showing of “Miss Saigon.”

This time around, the ethnic characters weren’t Puerto Ricans but Asians, so the storytelling became even more pertinent for audiences in their part of the world.

Most significantly of all, many of the lead Asian roles in “Miss Saigon” were played by Filipino musical-theater talents, thus enabling the “relevance” factor to come full circle.

In a relatively short time, The Theatre at Solaire has become the venue of choice for many visiting companies, as well as some homegrown shows and players. Recent productions include the Rep Anniversary Gala, a showcase for ’90s music stars and Celeste Legaspi’s musical tribute to her father, Cesar, on the National Artist’s centennial.

Coming up next are “The Sound of Music” and Pilita Corrales’ own anniversary special this November.