We are watching the weather just like everyone, but that doesn’t mean we stop working. Last night was the first rehearsal for our West Side Story orchestra. There is just one rehearsal before we move to the Sottile Theater and work with the cast, but with twelve of Charleston’s finest musicians, even the first run thru was audience worthy. Some of the Low Country’s finest musicians have come together for this production: Mark Sterbank, Jon Phillips, and Cathy Ardrey on woodwinds; Chuck Dalton and Steve Berry on trumpet; Phil King on trombone; Brian Reed on French Horn; John Wiley, violin; Larry Crosswell, piano; John Kennedy, bass; David Patterson on drums; and Tim Clemons on timpani, xylophone, vibraphone, and everything else you can shake, rattle and roll. And once again at the musical helm of the good ship Charleston Stage, Wendell Smith. Leonard Bernstein was the ultimate composer, conductor, musicial genius, and this is one of the most challenging scores ever written for the stage. The tunes have become such classics that it’s hard not to play them with passion and get them right. “Maria,” “Tonight,” “I Feel Pretty”… see, even you are tempted to come sit in the pit and play or sing along.
