The Jets and Sharks of Avon Old Farms and Miss Porter's in a Joint Production of "West Side Story"

The leads in the 1961 film version of "West Side Story" were all 23 and older, but the version staged this past weekend by  students from Avon Old Farms and Miss Porter’s schools was a reminder that the Jets and Sharks are supposed to be teenagers.

“We’re not playing adults here, we’re playing ourselves,” said Avon Old Farms School senior Tony Garofalo, who took on the role of Chino, right-hand man to Bernardo, leader of the Puerto Rican gang, the Sharks. “When a group of teens works hard together, they can pull anything off.”

There were more than 250 people in Avon Old Farms School's Adams Theater at the Saturday night show. The theater was so full that people were sitting in the aisles and a bus of 40 girls from Miss Porter’s School was  turned away and invited to come back the following day.

Knife fights, guns and gang violence certainly are not the norm for Avon Old Farms and Miss Porter’s students. But Garofalo, whose character shoots rival Tony (Durst Breneiser) at the end, said that it was interesting for him to play a “tough guy.”

“I think about the angrier scenes in the show, such as the shooting scene, and being angry considering Maria, who I’m supposed to marry, is off with another man,” Garofalo said, describing his mentality when playing Chino.

 From mambo dance-offs to rumbles, the cast members seemed older than their ages as they took on complex vocals and dance numbers, as well as themes of racism, violence, immorality, crime, sex and romance.

“I’m normally stuck into the role of an adult who is proper,” said Avon Old Farms junior Michael Gagnon, who played the easily angered Jets member Action. “[In West Side Story], I’m a teenage hoodlum. It’s interesting to try that out.”

Gagnon has performed in plays from "Arsenic and Old Lace" to "MASH" at Avon Old Farms, and is currently in the school's elite vocal group, The Riddlers, who are scheduled to go on tour in Sweden at the end of the school year.

Ariel Fernandez (Maria) and Isabella Scappaticci (Anita) of Miss Porter’s were standouts in Saturday night’s show, with high vocal ranges, clean notes and elegant yet energetic dance techniques. The two leads were the most consistent in holding Puerto Rican accents, and Fernandez excelled in her Spanish lines. 

Avery Peyton (Anybodys) played a convincing pathetic and humorous tomboy who just wants to be one of the guys, delivering a lot of laugh lines as she persistently sought inclusion in the Jets’ altercations with the Sharks.

Keith Boratko (Riff) had one of the most powerful and accurate male vocals in the performance Saturday night. “I really like his attitude,” Boratko said before Saturday’s show, describing his character. “I’m not a particularly violent person, but it’s interesting to portray someone like that. He’s a tough one . . . His life is his gang and that’s all he cares about.”

"West Side Story" is a demanding musical in terms of dance and movement. Many of the cast members had not danced before, but they executed the choreographed fight and dance sequences without noticeable missteps. 

“They really worked hard. After a couple weeks of basic dance, they turned it on,” said Rebekah Wilcox, dance director for the production,after Saturday night’s performance. “I can’t believe high school boys danced for me.”

 The pit orchestra for "West Side Story" included musicians who were college-aged and older, many coming from The Hartt School of Music. Bryan Zaros, the production’s music director, said that he suggested the play to Director Gayle Robinson because of its difficulty. He said that the orchestra score is a large component of the musical.

 “There are a lot of mixed rhythms and challenging ranges of playing,” Zaros said.

 Avon Old Farms senior Sehan DeSilva, who led the Sharks as Bernardo, said that the dancing was intense, and that every scene took “100 percent release of energy” to convey the constant anger of his character, who tries to make a new life on the mainland amidst racism that he believes the resentful Jets personify.

 Miss Porter’s Chi Chi Nwaoduh, who played Luiz in the prologue and Rosalia, a Sharks’ girl that longs for her home country of Puerto Rico, said she has made “really good friends here,” partaking in her second Avon Old Farms-Miss Porter’s School production. Twelfth Night was her first.

The collaboration between the two schools was effective, broadening the scope of drama accessible to the all-boys Avon Old Farms theater program. The students from both schools in the cast traveled to New York City together to watch "West Side Story" on Broadway Dec. 11 in order to get a feel for the play.

 Robinson said she was pleased with the cast’s dedication, and Zaros wanted to challenge the cast with his play selection, pushing the school's theater program to a higher level.

“It’s one of the most challenging productions to do,” Zaros said. “It’s great for the kids to see something more contemporary and action-packed. It’s good for the [theater] program in the future.