West Side Story at Strathmore
Home Maryland WNO’s ‘West Side Story’ at Strathmore: a musical meditation on violence. # WNO’s ‘West Side Story’ at Strathmore: a musical meditation on violence. Performed in concert with no set, Washington National Opera’s no-gimmicks production was riveting. I attended Washington National Opera’s fully staged performance of *West Side Story* at Lyric Opera House in Baltimore. By the middle and especially by the end, I wondered: how in the hell is WNO going to do a concert version of this (without a set)? Washington National Opera’s *West Side Story* (directed by Francesca Zambello) is youthful, kinetic, delightful, hormonal, and full of color — with or without a set. It focuses on the tension between rival gangs, the Sharks and the Jets, and how they interfere in the lives of teenage lovers Maria (who is Puerto Rican, played by a sensational Shereen Pimentel) and Tony (who is white, played by a charming Ryan McCartan).
WNO is presenting semi-staged performances at The Music Center at Strathmore which will include singers and dancers in costume, with props, but no set. West
### The opera company is bringing its production of ‘West Side Story’ to the Lyric Baltimore and Strathmore in North Bethesda. Even so, he’s curious about what to expect next week when he stars in the Washington National Opera’s production of “West Side Story” at two Maryland venues. The shows, at the Lyric Baltimore on May 8-10 and The Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda on May 14-15, each requires a very different set of logistics. “All of us who have experience with touring, I think that’s the closest thing we can relate this to, but what we’re going to do in Baltimore and what we’re going to do in Strathmore are actually going to be slightly different,” he added. Broadway veterans Ryan McCartan and Shereen Pimentel star in the Washington National Opera’s production of “West Side Story” as Tony and Maria. Zambello promises, in both Maryland venues, a “first-class production of this musical,” with performers at the top of their games and the WNO’s usual 50-player Kennedy Center orchestra.