In a departure from its traditional programming of strictly operatic fare, Vancouver Opera has announced its 2011-2012 season will open with the Leonard Bernstein classic musical theatre West Side Story, playing October 22 to 29. Playing the star-crossed lovers from the rival Sharks and Jets gangs will be 28-year-old Italian-Canadian soprano Lucia Cesaroni as Maria and Canadian tenor Colin Ainsworth as her love interest Tony.
Ontario native Cleopatra Williams, fresh off the cast of Jersey Boys in Toronto, sings Maria’s friend Anita, and Torontonian Dani Jazzar, who has danced for the Europe MTV Video Music Awards, sings the Sharks’ captain Bernardo, a role he’s performed many times. Also appearing will be Scott Augustine, last onstage with the VO in Nixon in China, as the Jets’ leader Riff.
VO general director James Wright promises in a news release that the first staging of Bernstein’s classic musical by a Canadian opera company will be “big and bold and new, using the original Jerome Robbins choreography that we all love, colourful sets and costumes, and a 30-piece orchestra.”
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