Aladdin prepped for best of the ‘West’

Marilyn LaRocque

Friday, June 28, 2002 | 9:53 a.m.

What: "West Side Story."

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through July 6; 7:30 p.m. July 7; 2 p.m. July 6 and July 7.

Where: Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts

Tickets: From $35 to $75.

Information: (702) 785-5000.

"West Side Story," Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" set in the streets and tenements of New York City, rumbles into the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts on Tuesday for a six-day run.

The megahit debuted on Broadway on Sept. 26, 1957, at the Winter Garden Theatre and ran for 732 performances. It was the inspired collaboration of multifaceted talents. Leonard Bernstein, conductor of the New York Philharmonic, recording artist, TV personality and all-around musical phenomenon, was composer.

Stephen Sondheim ("A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum") was lyricist. Arthur Laurents ("Gypsy") wrote the book, and Jerome Robbins (choreographer for "Call Me Madam," "The King and I" and director/choreographer for "Peter Pan," "Gypsy") was director and choreographer.

Instead of the Montagues and Capulets, two rival gangs, The Jets, native New Yorkers, and The Sharks, newly arrived Puerto Ricans, turn the streets of New York's west side into a battle zone. The star-crossed lovers are Tony, who is a Jet, and Maria, who is the sister of The Sharks' leader.

Music is a powerful storyteller, and dance sequences, including an opening prologue that projects the tensions between the Jets and Sharks, helps many hit songs -- "Maria," "Tonight," "I Feel Pretty," "Somewhere (There's a Place For Us)," and a high-energy song-and-dance routine "America" contrasting the "old days" in Puerto Rico and the immigrants' new life in Manhattan.

Director/choreographer Alan Johnson has created an all-new production for this tour. A three-time Emmy winner for his TV specials, and a Tony nominee, Johnson has a long working relationship with Mel Brooks and has staged shows and choreographed for Ann-Margret, Chita Rivera, Tommy Tune and Bernadette Peters.

Johnson choreographed all of Shirley MacLaine's live appearances for 20 years. He has recreated numerous productions of "West Side Story" ("WSS") in the United States, Europe and Asia, and also choreographed the award-winning Gap "West Side Story" commercials.

Johnson's enthusiasm for "West Side Story" began when he saw the movie version (released in 1962 and winner of five Oscars, including Best Picture) and tenaciously auditioned, and re-auditioned, for a revival in New York until he was hired.

Johnson danced and performed in Broadway shows for 12 years. While still dancing, he was asked to re-create "WSS."

"When you're re-creating somebody else's idea, you can't do their original choreography, but you want to reflect their intent," he said. "When you get a new gig, the parameters are wide open."

Isn't it difficult taking an American play in English to foreign countries?

"No," Johnson replied. "Not 'West Side Story.' The movie is so well-known around the world that people understand the play even if it's not in their language. It's absolutely universal, which says a lot about the piece."

Natasha Harper portrays Maria. She played the role in Europe under Johnson's direction and on a previous national tour.

"It's been such an incredible growth process," she said. "There's always some new aspect of every moment, even from night to night, that colors the next performance. I like to think of Maria as a closed rosebud that opens petal by petal over two days."

After receiving her bachelor's degree in theater from Southern Methodist University, Harper worked briefly in Dallas to make money to move to New York. However, friends convinced her she could be poor and work for minimum wage in New York just as easily.

"So I moved in with them (1996) in an incredibly cheap, incredibly illegal, sublet." she said.

Harper was lucky and landed the understudy job for Luisa in "The Fantastiks" her second week in town.

"I could dance and hit high C," she said. "I moved up into the role in a couple of months."

She subsequently toured with the "Fantastiks," went on the national and European tours of "WSS," and then went back to "Fantastiks" in New York, until it closed recently, after running for 42 years.

Drew Niles, as Tony, graduated from the University of Michigan in December 2000. He started singing in high school, and the first song he learned was "Tonight."

" 'West Side Story' is one of my favorite musicals," he said. "I love the music, the way it feels in my voice. It speaks to me like nothing else does."

Niles attributes his fast-track career to the training and contacts he made at Michigan.

"They push you to New York," he said. "They stage a senior showcase in an off-Broadway theater, and everyone has a featured segment. Agents and casting directors attend. If an agent likes you, they ask you to come for a private audition. Signing with an agent was a huge step for me. It's a big reason why I got this part."

Lynn Sterling plays Anita, Maria's friend.

"It was a scream how I got this job," she said. "I was auditioning across the hall for 'Boy From Oz' which opens on Broadway in 2003 (she got the part), and I ran into the casting director for 'West Side' in the hall. He told me Alan (Johnson) was auditioning for 'West Side.' I knew Alan from 'Can-Can' and ran over to say, 'Hi.' Next day he called me to do Anita.

"It's the wildest way to get a job in this city."

Coincidentally, Sterling met Rivera, who originated the role of Anita, when they were working in "Can-Can."

"I worship the ground Chita walks on," Sterling said. "She was an education, her work ethic, the way she commits to the job of being a performer. She and I sat in a bar one night, and my body was really hurting. I asked her how she did it. She told me there's always one pair of eyes in the audience that needs you, and you are there to heal that person that night with your performance if you can.

"That advice has gotten me through a thousand performances when I've been angry or tired or cold."

Dancing led Andy Blankenbuehler (portraying Riff, leader of the Jets) to a stage career.

"I grew up in dancing," he said. "My two older sisters danced. I started tap and jazz when I was three and singing lessons as a teenager."

Blankenbuehler studied one year at SMU, then turned professional.

"I wanted to take advantage of my body at that young age," he said. "I dance with passion, flying around the stage, tumbling, falling to the floor, pushing my body to the limit. Every step means something important. That's why we put up with all the pain."

Blankenbuehler performed in the original Broadway cast of "Fosse," in "Saturday Night Fever," "Guys and Dolls" and "Big." He was also with this same "WSS" production team when he was 21, as the youngest member of the gang.

Now, 11 years later, he's the oldest.

Anticipating the day when his body says "enough," Blankenbuehler is doing choreography.

"Choreography is an exercise for the mind when the body can't dance," he said. Blankenbuehler recently choreographed "Kept," a new musical, and he has also choreographed for Bette Midler.

"There was no dilly-dallying," he said. "She runs a tight ship and works hard."

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