Hold My Hand And I'll Take You There

"When love comes so strong,
There is no right or wrong,
Your love is your life."

And so to the theatre. I decided to go large on the story of tragic love across the boundaries between feuding factions and so, only a day after watching Romeo and Juliet with the eldest Miss Epictetus, her younger sister and I went to see West Side Story. Interestingly this is set in exactly the same period, the 1950s, as that to which Branagh updated Shakespeare - I understand that the performance license for West Side Story doesn't allow any changes at all to the original - although the main conclusion from see the two juxtaposed is the unoriginal one that Italians are ineffably more stylish than Americans.

In the original one sees things mostly from the part of the Montagues, but Arthur Laurents' updating of the story fleshes out Bernardo's character way beyond that of Tybalt, to such an extent that the audience's sympathies switch much more to the heroine's family. And of course the Sharks are way cooler and have the better music. Indeed it was 'America' (the stage version which is rather different to the film version) that stood out as the highlight of this production: vibrant, colourful and beautifully sung. Maria and, especially, Anita were excellent; the acting of Tony, as the younger Miss Epictetus was quick to point out, seem to consist mainly of pointing an outstretched index finger at the other actors. He had a nice voice though.