There are few three-word titles as instantly recognizable as “West Side Story.” They conjure images of gang warfare, young love, and well-choreographed dance numbers. They conjure sounds of American jazz, mixed with a grab bag of famous Latin music styles.

After my time rehearsing for this production, I’ll also conjure thoughts of long nights spent doing the thing I love most: watching a show come together, and being a part of it as well.

Why is that? Well, let’s go back to the start. November of 2024, to be exact. Now that “A Christmas Story: the Musical” has begun performing, Aurora Arts Theatre posted a call for auditions for its next production: the Broadway institution that is “West Side Story.”

I’m not familiar with the production (I’ve never seen either the 1961 or 2021 movie), but I have plenty of enthusiasm for getting into community theater, so I threw my hat in the ring, though not without some reservations.

Upon some quick research into this historic production, I came to a conclusion: I don’t know if I can do this show. It’s a ton of dancing and the singing style is different then that of the modern day. I’m not used to any of that. Sure I’ve done it, but never to that capacity.

So I started thinking about performing as a member of the band instead because the more I heard the production’s music, the more I fell in love with it. The music is very dynamic and complex, and not super easy to pick up and play.

“Maybe I would fit in better as a drummer,” I thought to myself. “Who needs to audition anyway? I could play an instrument and leave it that.”

But also, wouldn’t it be fun to be in the cast anyway? Surely it wouldn’t hurt to throw my hat into the ring and see where the tide takes me.

In the days leading up to auditions, I kept going back and forth about whether or not I should take that chance and put myself out there. Right before the audition dates arrived, I decided to go for it.

One evening of decent dancing, all right singing, and a touch of acting later, and I’m going through the motions of my then-current musical, “A Christmas Carol,” when suddenly I get a text from a familiar person: the director. I got in!

I was offered the role of Anxious, one of the Shark boys whose main role is to dance and occasionally say a word or two. Being instantly smitten with the chance to work on another show, especially a tried-and-true one like West Side, I accepted.

After a read-through featuring all of my fellow cast mates, which luckily featured a host of familiar faces, we moved on to the next stage of the rehearsal process: learning to sing the songs.

I didn’t have much to sing. Being a member of the Sharks, I only had singing parts for two of the 15 songs with lyrics in the show. That meant I didn’t spend too many days learning the singing, but I enjoyed what little time I had in the singing rehearsals. I remember feeling a catharsis of sorts when hearing “Tonight” (Quintet) get put together, for instance.

That song in particular is tricky, given how the music isn’t super clear about when to start singing. On top of that, there are a lot of voices singing over each other toward the end, culminating in one massive chord where two voices are fighting to be heard over a chorus of (in this instance) 23 voices.

When we were rehearsing this song, we had finally put that last note together. The swelling, triumphant music, the sheer power of 25 people singing this one giant chord, it gave me a really good feeling.

Then we started getting into the dancing. The song I spent the most time on was the most famous of the whole “Dance At the Gym” section of the show: the Mambo.

I’ve never moved so much over the course of so many weeks. I, along with many other cast members, spent night after night putting that dance together. I found myself performing all sorts of new moves, and I found that really interesting.

Every night, I was waiting for the day we would finish the Mambo. Don’t get me wrong, I love that dance sequence, the music and moves alone are worth it, but it’s not the only part of the show I’m in.

It took some time and an unfortunate circumstance to get there. After our director had to be hospitalized, a group of directors stepped up and continued rehearsals from there. Not only that, but they listened to notes from the cast, particularly those assigned as dance captains.

Those dance captains were something else, I want to say that much. There were four minds in the room, and they were on top of our dances. We were knocking out song after song, and it’s safe to say that the oversight from the group of directors was very much welcome at such a crucial moment in the show.

I had seen collaboration before in community theater, but never to this extent. With a few weeks left before we opened, there was only one thing left to do: work.

So we did. We worked through great and poor weather (so poor we actually ended a rehearsal early), from day to night (some cast members spent as much as 12 hours in the theater in one day). Through the dedication of everyone involved, we had ourselves a show.

Costumes were pouring in, and I was part of that party. I was pulling piece after piece from my closet, trying to find the perfect blend of loud colors and big patterns. It was such a fun process, seeing the Jets and Sharks spring to life with this shirt and that skirt, with this pattern and those colors.

There’s one cast member I want to point out here for their contribution to the costumes, a bona fide connoisseur of vintage fashion. Their assistance was very much appreciated, and really helped push the fashion of our cast into a whole new level.  

Then came the penultimate section of the rehearsal process: dress rehearsal. At this point, we were done learning and all our attention was put on honing in on the finer details. Now the show was here in full force, and I was hearing a completed product.

There were aspects of the show I had missed over the past few months and now they were being put in place. Like the high notes, for instance.

In all honesty, I really love high notes, especially the ones in this production. One of the reasons I was really looking forward to West Side was just to hear the notes come together, and lo and behold I did.

“Tonight” (Quintet) has one of those notes, sung by Maria at the end of the song. I don’t believe the actress portraying Maria was singing it during the singing rehearsals, but towards the end of the rehearsal period, getting into dress rehearsals, it was re-introduced.

I remember hearing it for the first time in a dress rehearsal and wanting to put on the biggest smile out of sheer amazement. I couldn’t though, I had to keep the angrier look on for the song’s duration.

It happened again during the song “Maria,” with Tony singing a rather high note also towards the end. Again, I was brimming with joy over having finally heard it. I was already looking forward to it after I heard the actor singing it through the wall once. Hearing it in the dress rehearsals was such a welcome addition.

Getting to the end of these dress rehearsals was well worth the work. I knew from the start we were going to have a strong production to put in front of the audience once we finally hit opening night.

When it finally came, I was thrilled. After months of rehearsals, it was time for us to just do a victory lap in the form of our well-crafted dance numbers, our own take on the relationship between Tony and Maria, all set to the score as performed by our lovely band.

This production has been a labor of love, a dedication to the Broadway institution that is “West Side Story.” In three months, the cast and crew has put together a wonderful production that I’m glad I’ll be performing in through March 1. I’m going to miss the show once it’s over, but I’m glad I went on the journey to get to this point.