Weekend auditions for local society’s West Side Story
Athlone Musical Society is hosting auditions for its 2011 production, West Side Story this weekend. The auditions commence in the Dean Crowe Theatre on Friday night, October 29 from 7.30pm onwards and on Saturday morning from 10am to 1pm. The show will take place from March 5 to March 12 in the Dean Crowe Theatre. West Side Story is the award-winning adaptation of the classic romantic tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. The feuding families become two warring New York City gangs, the White Jets led by Riff and the Puerto Rican Sharks, led by Bernardo. Their hatred escalates to a point where neither can coexist with any form of understanding. But when Riff’s best friend (and former Jet) Tony and Bernardo’s younger sister Maria meet at a dance, no one can do anything to stop their love. Maria and Tony begin meeting in secret, planning to run away. Then the Sharks and the Jets plan a rumble under the highway - whoever wins gains control of the streets. Maria sends Tony to stop it, hoping it can end the violence. It goes terribly wrong, and before the lovers know what’s happened, tragedy strikes and doesn’t stop until the climatic and heartbreaking ending. Under the direction of Johnny Worthy, who returns to Athlone after working in Europe for the last two years, the society promises its audience an energetic, athletic and exuberant production utterly relevant to today. Johnny directed West Side Story for the society back in 1994, and audiences and cast members still talk about and remember it’s glorious music and razor-sharp lyrics. A show such as this requires quite a large cast. What kind of cast? There are many adjectives to describe the requirements, but fresh, youthful and energetic are the ones that come to mind, bearing in mind that there are also parts for the more mature! The show will be under the musical direction of Dr Joseph Ryan from AIT, who describes this musical as a masterpiece, and hopes to get some of the AIT students on board. Scripts and scores are now available for lead roles. For further information contact Mike on 086 2345846 or Hilary on 086 8423272.