Rhiannon Turley of Charleston, left, Eric Dieboldt of Albion, N.Y., Mariel van Dalsum-Boggs of Charleston, Bryan Burdick of Syracuse, N.Y., Joti Gore of San Francisco, Calif., and Evie Victorson of Charlotte, N.C., are part of the large cast of “West Side Story,” a joint production of the West Virginia Symphony and the Charleston Ballet that brings together talent from around the country. The show takes place Saturday at the Clay Center, but because it is sold out, the symphony has opened Friday’s dress rehearsal.
Singer-actor Evie Victorson says it's been "intense" and adds, "I've been overwhelmed, but in a good way."
And West Virginia Symphony conductor Grant Cooper has been impressed by the synergy.
Let's just check d), All of the above.
Pauley, Cooper and Victorson are talking about this weekend's performance of "West Side Story," a combined effort of the West Virginia Symphony, the Charleston Ballet and lots of imported talent, all of whom have put their parts together in an intense, three-week rehearsal schedule.
The production coincides with the 50th anniversary of the show's debut. As a testament to its continued popularity, Saturday's show is a sellout and the symphony decided to open Friday's dress rehearsal to accommodate the interest.
The Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim musical takes the story of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" to New York City in the 1950s, with rival street gangs the Jets and the Sharks and characters Tony and Maria caught in the middle. Written for Broadway, it has been performed by opera companies around the world, often using ballet dancers in principal dance roles.
Though the production has been in the works for months in terms of auditions and planning, all of the performers, directors and others came together only in the last few weeks for long rehearsals on the stage of the Clay Center.
They include plenty of Charleston-based folks, they include a stage director from New York, dancers from Pittsburgh and a lead actor from New York.
In between rehearsals, costumer Penny Fioravante has been fitting piles of 1950s outfits she frugally scavenged from her own vintage clothing collection, thrift stores and online auctions - a move that saved at least half the cost of renting them from a theater company.
Victorson still lived in Charleston when she tried out for the show last year. But the veteran of Charleston community theater moved to Charlotte, N.C., two months ago to take a job as marketing manager for an accounting firm.
"I've been working remotely from my hotel room here, thanks to the wonders of modern technology," she said.
Victorson, whose role as Anita involves singing and dancing, said the show is different from anything she's ever done.
"I've known for a while what the challenges would be, but I don't think the reality came into play until I came back and started rehearsal," she said.
"We danced on weekends for a few months. And we got our scripts a couple months out. But being instructed to know the dialogue when you show up for rehearsal is very different for me.
"We all just kind of came with scripts in hand and pencils and we blocked the entire show (laid it out on stage) in a week."
"I'm so used to three months of rehearsal and repetition; I get very comfortable working like that. It's been a good challenge."
Pauley, the director of the Charleston Ballet, often puts together shows using visiting dancers. And she works with the West Virginia Symphony annually on "The Nutcracker."
But this was different.
Choreographer Kim Pauley calls it "the most bizarre fusion of things I've done with the ballet."
Singer-actor Evie Victorson says it's been "intense" and adds, "I've been overwhelmed, but in a good way."
And West Virginia Symphony conductor Grant Cooper has been impressed by the synergy.
Let's just check d), All of the above.
Pauley, Cooper and Victorson are talking about this weekend's performance of "West Side Story," a combined effort of the West Virginia Symphony, the Charleston Ballet and lots of imported talent, all of whom have put their parts together in an intense, three-week rehearsal schedule.
The production coincides with the 50th anniversary of the show's debut. As a testament to its continued popularity, Saturday's show is a sellout and the symphony decided to open Friday's dress rehearsal to accommodate the interest.
The Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim musical takes the story of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" to New York City in the 1950s, with rival street gangs the Jets and the Sharks and characters Tony and Maria caught in the middle. Written for Broadway, it has been performed by opera companies around the world, often using ballet dancers in principal dance roles.
Though the production has been in the works for months in terms of auditions and planning, all of the performers, directors and others came together only in the last few weeks for long rehearsals on the stage of the Clay Center.
They include plenty of Charleston-based folks, they include a stage director from New York, dancers from Pittsburgh and a lead actor from New York.
In between rehearsals, costumer Penny Fioravante has been fitting piles of 1950s outfits she frugally scavenged from her own vintage clothing collection, thrift stores and online auctions - a move that saved at least half the cost of renting them from a theater company.
Victorson still lived in Charleston when she tried out for the show last year. But the veteran of Charleston community theater moved to Charlotte, N.C., two months ago to take a job as marketing manager for an accounting firm.
"I've been working remotely from my hotel room here, thanks to the wonders of modern technology," she said.
Victorson, whose role as Anita involves singing and dancing, said the show is different from anything she's ever done.
"I've known for a while what the challenges would be, but I don't think the reality came into play until I came back and started rehearsal," she said.
"We danced on weekends for a few months. And we got our scripts a couple months out. But being instructed to know the dialogue when you show up for rehearsal is very different for me.
"We all just kind of came with scripts in hand and pencils and we blocked the entire show (laid it out on stage) in a week."
"I'm so used to three months of rehearsal and repetition; I get very comfortable working like that. It's been a good challenge."
Pauley, the director of the Charleston Ballet, often puts together shows using visiting dancers. And she works with the West Virginia Symphony annually on "The Nutcracker."
But this was different.
"It pushed me to my limits," Pauley said. "It's not the way of working - it's just the size of it.
"It's like doing four acts of 'Swan Lake,' with singing."
After holding local auditions for dancers, Pauley had to -as she often does - track down male dancers elsewhere.
And she had to find male dancers who were available for the entire three-week rehearsal period.
Add to that a choreography notebook that appeared to be written for a lay person, and Pauley had her work cut out for her.
"It's a hell of a show to cut your teeth on," she said.
But she loves the show.
"It's not like a regular opera, and it's not like a regular ballet," she said.
That's exactly why Cooper loves "West Side Story."
"It is an unusual show - it was groundbreaking in its time," he said. "I think it kind of changed the face of what aspiring Broadway actors realized they needed to be able to do.
"It altered the kind of voice people had to have. And it was groundbreaking in the quality of the music itself."
"There was a more symphonic aspect to the music. One thing they did was to have a lot more woodwinds of the standard type - English horns, oboes, piccolos, multiple flutes. I would imagine that was pretty much unprecedented.
"The (Broadway) version has seven independent viola parts. I suspect that was written for seven individual players.
"We're using 14 violins. So there will be a sheen to the texture of the sound that would not have been present in the original version."
While Cooper is accustomed to a three-week rehearsal schedule because it's the same model he uses for operas, he said this production does present an interesting difference.
"We don't normally have a cast this young - and that's been something I've really enjoyed is the energy," he said.
"Even a simple little thing like when we get to the end of a rehearsal, they applaud each other. You just don't get that from operatic singers. That eruption of applause is like a sports team."
Cast includes Bryan Burdick as Tony and Mariel van Dalsum-Boggs as Maria. Other cast members include Joseph Carson, Eric Dieboldt, Adam Gearhart, Robert Priore, Rob Royce, Ian Spring, Dane Wagner, Sean Watkins, Elyse Campbell, Erica Knowles, Morgan Lough, Kaitlyn McKay, Angela Price, Lindsay Scott, Rhiannon Turley, Audrey Wright, Addison Brasil, Joti Gore, Raymond Interior, Matthew Munson, Michael Phillips, Lance Russell, Jacob Paulson, Allene Conner, Chelsie Crider, Renata DiGregorio, Emily Duncan, Keri James, Kathleen Sweat, Jesse Tidquist, Evie Victorson, Micah Atkinson, Ricklin Brown, Steve Gallagher, Bob Martin and Joe Romagnoli.
