The Jets and the Sharks invade the Paramount this week for the first big Broadway show of 2012.
Drew Foster plays gang member Riff in West Side Story, which opens tomorrow night (Jan. 10) at the downtown Seattle theater.
Tony Award-winning librettist Arthur Laurents staged the 2009 revival, which played more than 740 performances, not closing until January 2011. While Laurents shook up some of the more dated parts of the story to much critical acclaim, the production preserved the iconic Jerome Robbins choreography along with the beloved Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim songs.
Foster, a Juillard graduate, has been touring with West Side Story since 2010. The production plays at the Paramount through January 15.
Which did you see first: a stage version or the movie version of West Side Story?
I saw the movie first. I was maybe 15.
Had you played Riff before?
I played Riff in a community theater production as a teenager in Bradenton, FL.
What’s different for you—and for the audience—in this new production?
What has surprised me the most about this production is the re-imagining that Arthur Laurents brought to the revival: the Sharks speaking Spanish and the contemporary and grittier tone to the Jets.
How do you think seeing a live performance changes people's perspectives of this show?
On a larger scale, I hope it will encourage everyone to see more live theater. Live theater is an event with a very immediate dialogue between audience and performer. There are few things more human than sharing and comparing our stories.
West Side Story is an extraordinary story to share each night as if for the first time. And seeing it live, which is how it was originally meant to be shared.
What's your favorite song or dance routine?
My favorite number in the show is "A boy like that/I have a love." It's the duet between Maria and Anita after Anita discovers that Maria is still with Tony after he has killed her brother, Bernardo. With all the showdowns and conflicts in the show, I find this scene the most complex and inspiring.
And, if you had to rumble tonight, would you be a Jet or a Shark?
When you're a Jet...you're a Jet all the way.
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