NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� When a new revival of 鈥淲est Side Story鈥� opens on Broadway, it will make history. The musical sees 33 young people making their Broadway debuts, a record.
The show,, loosely based on William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” chronicles the affair between two lovers caught in a violent gang world not of their making.
The young diverse cast arrives at the Broadway Theatre from everywhere from Cuba to Massachusetts, representing halftime performers in the NBA, touring stage veterans and ballet dancers in Los Angeles.
Here are three of their stories.
鈥榃EST SIDE STORY,鈥� REPEAT
Ilda Mason isn’t just making her Broadway debut this year. She’s also making her feature film debut. Both are in versions of 鈥淲est Side Story.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 insane,” she acknowledges.
The 30-year-old dancer from Panama City, Panama, auditioned for the Broadway musical during rehearsals for the Steven Spielberg-directed film version, which opens in December. 鈥淏oth are completely different versions of the same story,鈥� she says.
Mason has had a fascinating career so far. She won the Panamanian version of 鈥淒ancing With the Stars.鈥� She performed 鈥淟egally Blonde鈥� in China and toured the country with 鈥淥n Your Feet!鈥� and 鈥淐inderella.鈥� Now she’s a swing on Broadway, meaning she understudies five roles and is ready to go on in case of illness or vacation.
鈥淲est Side Story鈥� is a recurring theme in her life. She’s been in a production at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, and at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important and it鈥檚 relevant. It鈥檚 my story. I鈥檓 an immigrant,” she says. 鈥淚鈥檓 happy to do a show that speaks my truth.鈥�
In the future, she’d like to do film and TV, drawn by the opportunity to do the impossible onscreen. 鈥淚 want to go to space and I want to be with dinosaurs. Basically, I want to be in a Steven Spielberg movie.鈥�
鈥楳Y THEATER鈥�
Working in the Broadway Theatre has a special meaning for Satori Folkes-Stone, a 23-year-old Los Angeles native. Her mom performed in the same theater.
In the late 1970s, her mother, Neisha Folkes, was in productions of 鈥淭he Wiz鈥� and 鈥淕uys and Dolls鈥� at the same venue that her daughter now enters eight times a week.
鈥淚 remember when I got the show, she was like, 鈥榃hat theater are you in?鈥� I said, 鈥業 don鈥檛 know.鈥� She said: 鈥楾hat鈥檇 be crazy if you were in my theater.鈥� Of course, she calls it 鈥榤y theater,鈥欌�� Folkes-Stone says, laughing. 鈥淣ow it鈥檚 my theater.鈥�
Folkes-Stone attended the Glorya Kaufman School of Dance at the University of Southern California. She taught 鈥淎nnie鈥� to children in China and performed in a production of 鈥淲est Side Story鈥� at school.
She feared the worst when fellow students began announcing that they’d booked the Broadway revival of 鈥淲est Side Story.鈥� She heard nothing all day from her agent and cried in the bathroom, thinking it was lost. During a break at a late-night rehearsal for a senior project, she checked her phone. Her agent had left a message. She had the gig in the end, playing Margarita.
鈥淲est Side Story鈥� is why she started dancing. The 1961 movie version inspired her 鈥� the songs, the story, the way everyone danced. “I was like, `I鈥檝e got to move like that. That鈥檚 my template.鈥� Now I鈥檓 here.鈥�
Broadway for her mom was just the beginning of a long career in the arts. She went on to be a principal dancer for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and choreographed for movies and TV. Dancing is in her daughter’s DNA.
鈥淲e鈥檙e starting to live a very parallel life up to this point,鈥� says her daughter. “It鈥檚 up to me to decide where I鈥檓 going to deviate or what I鈥檒l do the same.鈥�
NBA TO BROADWAY
Israel Del Rosario was in a high school history class in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when he got a text from a friend telling him about the local 鈥淲est Side Story鈥� auditions.
His hand immediately went up. He asked the teacher if he could use the restroom. It was a fib.
鈥淚 called my mom and she picked me up and two hours later I was on the list for the auditions, just like that,鈥� he says.
Now, at 18, he’s one of the youngest in the cast. He endured three rounds of call-backs in Florida, two more in New York that involved 12-hour days and then one big, final one.
鈥淚 was fortunate enough to rock that call-back and make it,鈥� Del Rosario says.
His path has taken him from Florida to Tennessee and back again, studying ballet, theater and hip-hop. He even performed for three years in front of tens of thousands as part of the Memphis Grizzlies’ junior dance team.
鈥淚 came out of the womb being blessed with an athletic but also artistic family,鈥� says Del Rosario, who is of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent.
He was first inspired to dance by the show 鈥淪o You Think You Can Dance.鈥� A hip-hop and tap routine he saw really moved him. 鈥淚 looked to my mom and I said, 鈥業 want to do that,’鈥� he says.
Mom found him a weekly hip-hop and dance class and soon he was competing nationally. Later, mom and dad urged ballet training, but he resisted.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to be the guy doing ballet,” he recalls. “I already had to deal with the stereotypes of a guy dancing. Now I have to tell people I鈥檓 in ballet class wearing tights? I didn鈥檛 want to do that.鈥�
He and his mom fought about it for a year, but he reluctantly went to ballet class. She would cry in her car every time she dropped him off.
鈥淣ow I鈥檓 able to look at her and tell her, 鈥極h my gosh, I love you so much for doing that. Thank you so much,鈥欌�� he says. “I was so fortunate to benefit from that.鈥�
He was incredibly excited to land a role in 鈥淲est Side Story鈥� but two people may have been happier 鈥� mom and dad.
鈥淚 think they were the only two people more ecstatic about this than I am just because they were with me every step of the way,” he says.
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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
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This story has corrected the name of the Glorya Kaufman School of Dance.
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