West Side Story was one of the first musicals I fell in love with, and I thought I knew everything about it. But Matthew López's play
Somewhere, which premiered in San Diego in 2011 and is currently receiving its
regional premiere on the Guthrie's proscenium stage, helped me see it in a new light. He tells the story of a fictional Puerto Rican family (much like his own) living on the West Side of Manhattan in the late '50s when
West Side Story was all the rage on Broadway. They're an artistic family with dreams of being in this show that they love so much, dreams that are deferred when they're evicted from their home - the entire West Side neighborhood known as San Juan Hill was about to be demolished to make way for Lincoln Center. The play is a love letter to New York City, to Broadway, to dreaming big. It's about family and the sacrifices we have to make to survive, while still trying to hold on to those dreams. It's another version of a West Side story that's perhaps more true to the community of people who called it home, and what happened after they were forced to find a new home. This moving dance-infused family drama
continues through February 1.
