STEPHANIE BROWN draws attention to the hidden labour of the female embroiderers, and how a 19th century replica made no such error
West Side Story
Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
IN 1946 Jerome Robbins approached Leonard Bernstein about the possibility of creating a musical version of Romeo and Juliet and, after many trials and tribulations, West Side Story premiered on Broadway in 1957.
It was a huge hit and set the standard for the modern musical and it was certainly in tune with the times. The US was emerging from the second world war and young people were becoming frustrated and angry for change.
The racism and intolerance creating a gang culture, brutally played out on the mean streets of the big cities, provided a perfect context to recontextualise the most famous love story of all time.
PAUL FOLEY revels in the coolest, most joyful piece of theatre you’ll get this summer
WILL STONE applauds a comprehensive survey of love in its many moods and musical forms
DAVID NICHOLSON recommends a dazzling production of Bernstein’s opera set in a world where chaos and violence are greeted by equanimity
Fiery words from the Bard in Blackpool and Edinburgh, and Evidence Based Punk Rock from The Protest Family


