We all know the story of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” the ill-fated young lovers who were born into opposing families with their love coming to a tragic ending. Fast-forward to mid-century America, New York City, in the midst of burgeoning social upheaval. By 1955, the Puerto Rican immigrating population peaked at 700,000 in an already overburdened, overcrowded city whose youth reacted with anger and rage, with gang wars on the streets as cultures clashed. 

Enter Jerome Robbins’s iconic staging of “West Side Story,” with Arthur Laurent’s book, music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, telling the powerful story where art magnifies life reflecting the face of a changing city.  

Set in the midst of the turbulence, we find two young people who meet and fall in love at the high school dance in the gym meant to introduce kids on both sides in a non-confrontational setting. Tony, played by Wes Williams, former leading member of the Jets, yearns to take a new direction away from gang life, and Maria, played by Sabina Collazo, is the young, naive beauty whose brother Bernardo played by Lucas Rodriguez heads up the Puerto Rican gang the Sharks. The dance floor becomes yet another battleground, though this time through dancing the mambo, which was fun to watch as costume designer Peter Fogel’s brightly colored crinoline slips and muscle shirts took center stage. 

The lovestruck Tony sings a heartfelt “Maria,” longing for her. He and Maria meet clandestinely at her home after the dance, where together the idealistic couple sing “Tonight” as they plan their getaway from the neighborhood. Collazo’s voice is exceptional, a mix of sweetness and crystalline high notes. Her scenes singing “America” and “I Feel Pretty” at the bridal shop with Bernardo’s girlfriend Anita, played by Rosie Garcia, and their friends Rosalia, Consuela and Francisca, playfully portrayed by Isabel Rodriguez, Sarah Ofelia Cosgrove and Jasmine Maldonado, respectively, are also standout numbers. 

The more violent scenes where the Jets and the Sharks rumble are, fortunately, for the audience’s sake, more virtually staged rather than inflicting actual brutality and raw sexual content. The heaviness of the tragic events is lightened by comedic breaks through songs like “Gee, Officer Krupke.”

The details of the set, designed by Steven Velasquez, are on point with dark, crumbling, aging buildings and the familiar chain-link fences around city schoolyards. Details such as the metal Coke signs in the drugstore scene bring authenticity to the show and help cement the era it is set in. Christopher Chambers’s dramatic lighting design aptly transitions the mood and location of each scene, drawing the audience in eliciting a more intimate response to such moving moments as when Tony sings “Something’s Coming.”

Argyle Theatre once again has a hit with “West Side Story,” directed by artistic director Evan Pappas and Todd L. Underwood, who also choreographed the show. How fortunate audiences are to experience iconic productions such as this, complete with live music under the direction of Christopher D. Littlefield, locally, where Broadway comes to Babylon.