The Production Company has turned 50 with its latest production, the classic ‘West Side Story’.
Jeanne Pratt, with Ken Mackenzie-Forbes and Rachel Taylor started the not-for-profit theatre company in Melbourne in 1999 to create employee in the theatre community for local artists and entertain the people with Melbourne with high quality Broadway shows.
The first show was ‘She Loves Me’ in 1999 followed by ‘Mame’ and ‘Funny Girl’ the same year. This weekend in Melbourne The Production Company opened its 50th show ‘West Side Story’.
What makes The Production Company shows so special is the high quality the company achieves with just weeks of rehearsal per show. The cast of ‘West Side Story’, one of the most dramatic shows of all-time, had just two weeks to play with every word and move.
‘West Side Story’ is doubly special as the story is set in New York’s Upper West Side which until the early 60s was a slum area of Manhattan. Today, the Upper West Side is the affluent Central Park West area, (best known as the Seinfeld district if you are familiar with the show) between 67th and 110th Street, just north of Harlem.
Before it was redeveloped it was home to New York’s mainly immigrant poor. The population was mainly Puerto Rican. Ironically, the redevelop of the area in the early 60s was delayed so that the movie ‘West Side Story’ could be filmed on its streets.
‘West Side Story’ has become a benchmark of theatre culture. The ‘Romeo + Juliet’ themed plot tells the tragic story of Tony and Maria, two teenagers torn between the street gangs The Jets and The Sharks.
Songs from the musical have became classics. ‘Maria’, ‘America’ and ‘Jet Song’ are some of the best-known songs of all-time from musicals. Even Alice Cooper once covered ‘The Jet Song’ as part of ‘Gutter Cats’ on his ‘Schools Out’ album.
One of the policies of The Production Company is to provide well-priced entertainment for all ages. The company encourages families and groups to see its shows and provides incentives from as low as a $21 ticket price to be at certain performances.
‘West Side Story’ is the first of The Production Company shows for 2015.
Next:
Nice Work If You Can get It from August 10
Jerry’s Girls from November 21
West Side Story dates
11 July – 19 July 2015
Saturday 11 July, 2pm
Saturday 11 July, 7:30pm
Sunday 12 July, 3pm
Wednesday 15 July, 1pm
Wednesday 15 July, 7:30pm
Thursday 16 July, 7:30pm
Friday 17 July, 7:30pm
Saturday 18 July, 2pm
Saturday 18 July, 7:30pm
Sunday 19 July, 3pm
Audio-Described Performance:
Saturday 18 July, 2pm
Duration: 2 hours 20 minutes, includes 20 minute interval
——————————————————————————————————————————————
Stay informed with the Noise11.com daily music news email. All your music news in one daily summary Subscribe to the Noise11 Music Newsletter here
Listen to the Noise11 Music News channel now at iHeartRadio
Follow Noise11.com on Facebook and Twitter
