I first saw the musical "West Side Story" on video when I was nine years old, and I was in awe of the singing, dancing and the costumes. Over a decade later, seeing it on stage makes the show new again. Experiencing a theatrical production brings nuances and excitement back to the story. The North Shore Music Theater in Beverly, Mass. is showing a production of "West Side Story" until Nov. 23. The musical is Jerome Robbins' updated version of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" Instead of feuding families, the fights are between two New York street gangs: the American Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks in 1957.

"West Side Story" is the result of the collaboration of the musical talent of Leonard Bernstein - the former Brandeis professor and famous composer - and the experienced lyricist Stephen Sondheim.
The North Shore Music Theater's small, private ambiance gives audiences an experience that many theater-goers do not have the opportunity to enjoy. It features a theater in the round, meaning there are no bad seats. Each seat is close enough to the stage that you would not miss a thing even if you were, like me, sitting in the back row.
One thing I always find interesting about plays and musicals at this theater is how the action is directed. Since it is a theater in the round, the director must pay extra attention to his stage directions so no one section of the audience is neglected. Director Barry Ivan has the cast constantly moving around the circular stage accounting for all directions. A by product is that the action seems more realistic and not as staged. People move around when talking to each other as though they were engaged in actual conversation. The standard rule to "never put your back to the audience" does not apply.

The set design also adds to the tone of the play. In a world filled with despair for most of these characters, the bleakness gives understanding to the bleakness of the futures for the characters. Aside from a walkway above the stage, there were no permanent structures. Most of the other props were either wheeled up from under the audience, or were lifted up from under the stage. I found the set design effective, however, the constant movement by stagehands and other prop effects was distracting At times I found myself focusing on how they were going to arrange the next scene more than I was focusing on the actors.

The characters used their singing and dancing talents to bring the stage to life, another reason not many props and set designs were not really needed. As Ed Sigel from the Boston Globe said in his Nov. 5 review, "These young men and women own the stage the way the Jets and Sharks try to own the streets of Manhattan."

At first, I felt the ballet numbers seemed silly on the small stage, but after getting into the characters and the plot, I was so deeply involved, it seemed normal. The actors' voices are so strong that you would think you were watching a Broadway production. In fact, some of the cast members have had roles on Broadway.

Elena Shaddow, who plays Maria, shares a striking resemblance to Natalie Wood, who played Maria in the movie. She has a voice that makes songs that I can sing along with. Ryan Silverman creates a sympathetic Tony, Maria's star crossed lover who wants nothing more but to be with her. Roxane Carrasco has the right amount of sass to play Anita, and Enrique Acevedo as Bernardo and David Larsen as Riff are perfect as rival gang leaders. I was surprised by some directorial changes from the movie. Instead of the song "America" sung between boys and girls, it was one girl against all the others. Some songs were also moved from their order of the place in the film, such as "Officer Krupke." The number was moved to after the rumble scene instead of before. Additionally, Ivan created some new scenes. For instance, all the characters dressed in white playing on a playground to highlight a desire to go back to a more innocent and pure world.

On a whole, I felt that the North Shore Music Theater did a wonderful job at recreating a story that is familiar to so many people.