West Side Story Reviews
Stage and Cinema- Recommended
"...Sadly, hate conquers all in West Side Story, but the love we see and feel can hold its own. Though over a half-century old, the Bernstein/Laurents/Sondheim/Robbins tour-de-force is, like its Shakespearean source, young as first love. You don't revive it, you detonate it, as happens repeatedly in La Mirada's mixed production that has winning leads, but hit-and-miss direction and design. It attempts to be a hybrid of productions old and new, but hasn't arrived at something new. Yet for all my issues, I still recommend a look-see; this is the musical that just keeps giving."
Stage Scene LA- Highly Recommended
"...It takes brilliance and balls to pull off the reinvention of a musical theater classic, particularly one as renowned for its iconic choreography as for its book, music, and lyrics, but this is precisely what director Richard Israel and choreographer John Todd have accomplished in the brilliant, ballsy West Side Story they have mounted for The La Mirada Theatre and McCoy Rigby Entertainment."