West Side Story is coming back to Broadway in a historic revival and it is no coincidence that it will be run before Stephen Spielberg’s musical West Side Story reboot to premiere December 20, 2020.
Tony winner Ivo van Hover is set to direct the revised take on the musical. This production marks van Hover’s first Broadway musical after directing a 2000 revival of Rent in Amsterdam and Off-Broadway’s Lazarus.
Performances will begin December 10th at the Broadway Theatre (home to King King until August 18), with opening night set for February 6, 2020.
The Broadway cast will be led by Isaac Powell (Once On This Island) as Tony and Shereen Pimentel (The Lion King) as Maria.
Well, the news is officially out! I am so humbled and honored to be a part of this wonderful cast. If I named everyone I needed to thank this post would go on for days so I want to say one big thank you to everyone who has supported me along the way. This is just the beginning!” – Shereen Pimentel on FB
The other pivotal roles go toe Yesenia Ayala (Carousel) as Anita, Ben Cook (Mean Girls) as Riff, and Amar Ramasar (Carousel) as Bernardo, Jacob Guzman (Newsies) as Chino, Ahmad Simmons (Hadestown) as Diesel, Danny Wolohan (To Kill a Mockingbird) as Officer Krupke, Daniel Oreskes (Osio) as Doc, Thomas Jay Ryan (The Crucible) as Lt. Schrank, Pippa Pearthree (Tuck Everlasting) as Glad Hand, Kevin Csolak (Mean Girls) as A-Rab, Matthew Johnson as Baby John,
Also cast are Alexa De Barr, Daniel Ching, Gabi Campo, Gino Cosculluela, Marc Crousillat, Stephanie Crousillat, Roman Cruz , Tyler Eisenreich, Armando Eleazar, Marlon Feliz, Satori Folkes-Stone, Constance François, Carlos Gonzalez, Jennifer Gruener, Jarred Manista, Michaela Marfori, Michelle Mercedes, Michael Seltzer, Corey John Snide, Sheldon True, Ricky Ubeda, Madison Vomastek, Tony Ward, Bridget Whitman, and Kevin Zambrano.
A whopping 23 actors will make their Broadway debuts in the upcoming musical!
Scott Rudin will be producing in a new partnership with Barry Diller and music executive David Geffen. The contemporary choreography will be by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, and the production marks the first major New York staging of the Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, and Arthur Laurents musical to pull away from the original director Jerome Robbin’s recognizable version.
About Shereen Pimentel (Maria) — FB: @shereenpimentel
Shereen is a Soprano from New Jersey, she has been described as a promising young vocal artist. She is currently a third-year undergraduate at the Julliard School, where she is pursuing a Bachelors of Music degree in Vocal Performance. She is a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship at The Julliard School under the tutelage of Edit Wiens. She started performing professionally at a very young age when she debuted on Broadway at the age of nine as Young Nala in The Lion King. She sang with the Young People’s Chorus of New York City for 2 years and then attended the pre-college vocal training program at The Julliard School where she studied with Lorraine Nubar. She most recently won the first prize in the 2018 New York Lyric Opera Competition. Additional awards include 2015 Young Arts Merit Winner for Classical Music and first place in the 2016 Schmidt Youth Vocal Competition.
