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Wow! That is what I have to say regarding Broadway Sacramento's opening night performance of the current national tour of "West Side Story." The sold out house at the Community Center Theater suggests others agree. While it is beautifully staged, with wonderful singing anddance, and good acting, it is the material that is the star here. The powerful music of Leonard Bernstein coupled with the equally powerfully words of Stephen Sondheim are enough to make "West Side Story" a show worth seeing. Add in the choreography of original "West Side Story" director and choreographer Jerome Robbins, which can move from strongly ballet to strongly modern dance in a moment, and it's hard to beat. A
As audience members enter the Sacramento Community Center Theatre, they are greeted by Anna Louizos’ imposing set. Two four-story walk-up apartment buildings with ground floor retail flank the George Washington Bridge. This is very apropos, since the setting of “In the Heights” is a major component of the story. “In the Heights” is in Washington Heights, the far northern reaches of Manhattan. The neighborhood has been heavily Irish, Jewish and Greek over the years. By the end of the 20th century, Washington Heights was predominately Dominican, home to immigrants and children of immigrants. The last several years have seen a migration of Dominicans across the Harlem River into less-expensi