This modern telling of Romeo and Juliet is extremely dramatic, with some humour and a lot of heart. I am not ashamed to admit that it moved me to tears on several occasions. I have had the tunes to 'Maria' and 'Somewhere' stuck in my head since last night's fantastic performance.
Louis Maskell as Anthony gave an excruciatingly beautiful rendition of 'Maria'. His range is astonishing, and his acting was sincere and romantic. I am not in the least ashamed to say that I swooned over his voice (and his hair!). He was certainly the stand-out actor in the production. Maria's voice was exquisite, as was the voice of Anita. I was enthralled by the use of colour splashes over the stage as all of the actors spun, twirled and strutted. The dramatic removal of this array of colour was extremely poignant.
The lighting and staging were used to great effect throughout the performance, and although I was sat slightly off to the side, I do not feel that I missed any part of the show. I also enjoyed the use of height which the setting offered.
The emotion between Anthon and Maria, and between Maria and Anita was tangible. I thoroughly enjoyed the scenes of forgiveness. I equally enjoyed the elements of humour thrown in by Anita's sassy attitude and the young American's song about their lives.
I only have one qualm with this production, and that is that some of the accents of the 'Americans' were difficult to understand as they appeared to be quite slurred. However, I do not feel that this detracted from the show particularly, and I would still highly recommend it.
This is classy, entertaining and hugely enjoyable theatre.
Image above not my own.
9.5/10
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