‘The West Side Story’ raised the audience to their feet: Franka Batelic and Damir Kedzo delighted
The premiere of the great spectacle of the popular musical « Story on the West Side », directed and choreography by the ingenious Leo Mujić, and under the conductor of Maestro Valentin Egela’s maestro baton, filled the headquarters of the Croatian National Theater Ivan pl. Zajca.
The top performance of the main roles, alternated by Damir Kedzo and Neven Stipcic as Tony, Katarina Margaretic and Lucija Jelusic Simatovic as Maria, Franka Batelic Corluka and Elena Brumini, Ivan Cuic and Deni Sankovic as Bernardo and Devin Juraj and Dorian Stipcic and many members of Croatia The ballet, with the famous Rijeka Symphony Orchestra, made that the enthusiastic audience of the thunderous applause from the very beginning to the end was constantly ‘on the fall in’ to express their enthusiasm.
It is the first Rijeka production of the cult musical of impassable popularity, created by the concept of Jerome Robbins and played on the biggest stages of the music theater with the magnificent music of the legendary Leonard Bernstein.
Inspired by a timeless Shakespeare’s story of Romeo and Julia, the musical of young lovers Tony and Mary places in New York’s Upper West Side ’50s, and the welded families become two warring teens gangs, the Puerto Rican Jetsi and Bjelac Sharks, shared by their ethnicity.
The main character Tony, a former member of Jets, falls in love with Mary, a sister of Sharks leader. While their love blooms, tensions among gangs escalate, leading to a tragic conflict that ends with a broken heart and loss of a loved one.
Created in ’57 In almost 70 years of existence, the story inspired by unconditional love, has achieved tremendous success on Broadway and West End and remained on stages to this day, and the film has definitely confirmed the success of the story in which love and courage oppose violence and intolerance.
Of the 11 Oscar nominations, a movie that brought the timeless generation to the timeless story about Romeo and Julia, he won 10 of them and thus remained among the Oscars of the most awarded musical.
And the same name of the same name ‘The Cheek’ was certainly illuminated by everyone at the premiere of the Rijeka stage.
– I woke up in the morning and was quite calm unlike the previous performances and the musical I worked and was very nervous, but five minutes before I was excited by excitement. Working with Leo is very demanding, it is a lot to ask of us and it is not a matter of being afraid to go wrong, but you do not want to disappoint the whole team, all the people who have done all the way from the morning to the dark, fully dedicated to this project … So I am glad that the audience responded so well – said the extraordinary Damir Kedzo, to whom after « Sunset Boulevard. »
At his urging longtime friend Frank, who once confided in him that her biggest dream was to play in « West Side Story », after listening to the audition, he said: You have to come, whatever you know (he knew she was Anita), she agreed.
– I was too good to work with a phenomenal team. I fully compounded with the character of Anita, it was very emotional to go through all these layers of character, and multiple, thunderous applause is something beautiful. To me, the musical has always been a dream. They were still telling me – you will surely deal with it, you have to do it, but there was no opportunity – says Franka, who, due to the obligations of the recently completed musical « Six », almost gave up this one.
The peculiar director and choreographer Leo Mujic remained consistent with himself.
– All artistic ensembles of Rijeka HNK participate in the play in all its beauty, together with a series of guests and associates to whom the theater opened its doors. It is a diversion by which Rijeka should be known, which testifies to this theater as a gathering place. It is an important part of the story on an interesting Mediterranean move that Dubravka Vrgoc exceptionally values and emphasizes in his program. Here I am again in that theater, in a huge project that I believe will stay on the repertoire – says director and choreographer Mujic.
I’m pleased, he adds.
– This will not be the best performance, but the first of the many good ones, it will be better and better. That one concept of taking responsibility happened, it’s no longer mine, it’s theirs and they are on them to work, progress and enjoy it and that’s it. When I do everything in my power and my powers are great, I’m calm – says Mujic.
Dubravki Vrgoc’s intendant in Rijeka this is the first musical in his mandate.
– One of the greatest love stories of all time was transferred to New York Street in the 1950s, and thus confirmed its universality through the references of another society burdened with violence and prejudice towards migrants. Seventy years later, the background remained almost the same, we live in a world of permanent migrant crises, in a world of violence in which we do not hear and not understand each other and where the fear of the other again overcome all other fears. But what divides us from that time is a thought of love that seemed to be more important, and from the margin of a consumed world, he points to nostalgic views towards what was once the cause of the incomprehensible tragedy – Vrgoc concludes.
The numerous audiences did not hide the enthusiasm of the widely praised musical of the innovative mixture of jazz, classic music and Latin Rhythm, which won six Tony Awards.
– Great, as expected. We watched all the Leo ballets, some of them repeatedly and as before, always excellent – said the married couple, who, on a play, organized bus transportation, pulled from Zagreb.
In addition to the director and choreographer Mujić, the author’s team of play is a playwright and assistant director Bálint Rauscher, set designers Stefano Katunar and Aleksandra Ana Buković, costume designer Manuel Paladin Šabanović and light designer Alexander Čavlek.
On June 17, the musical will be performed on the Summer Stage in Opatija, and again on June 20 and June 21 in Rijeka « Zajc ».
