Meet The Cast of West Side Story

Ravin: My character is Bernardo. He is the leader of the Sharks which is one of the two gangs in West Side Story.

Ben: I'm playing Riff. He's the leader of the Jets, the other gang in West Side Story.

Jai: I'm playing Tony. He's an ex-member of the Jets who falls in love with Bernardo's sister and the story kind of follows our love throughout the rest of the musical.

How do you get into character when preparing to perform?

Ravin: Well, for me, Bernardo has a Puerto Rican accent so that’s one thing I must work on and the other guys that are playing as a part of the gang ask me how I get that going before I perform. I try to listen to something Spanish, maybe some Spanish music or a TV clip. For me the rest flows from that accent. In terms of characterisation, Bernardo is quite a strong character and he’s a fighter, so I really need to bring that aggression and show the audience that side of him especially during fight scenes.

Ben: Yeah, it’s interesting that like Ravin, I need an accent too, but mine is a New York accent. I think doing a lot of scenes with you Ravin, it really helps to see you and bounce off you and the energy you bring to those confrontations. We are both very similar characters in that we are both leaders and despite our feelings we need to try to keep a cool head.

Jai: Getting into character as Tony for me is a totally different process. Throughout most of the play, he’s in love unlike these other guys whose characters are so intensely involved with one another and the movements of the gangs.

It’s quite nice in our scenes with Riff because there’s a bit of contrast in our characters. Especially how Ben plays him. Ben, you're a bit more serious and focused on things whereas I’m just stuck in my own world and it’s a lot more rose tinted. So yeah, getting into character is something I don’t do alone and having these guys around before and during the rehearsals really helps…

How did the casting process work?

Ravin: We got put through two auditions. The first audition was one section of the play and a choice of two musical numbers. The initial dialogue was a conversation between Riff and Tony.

These auditions were all watched by Miss Clarke, Mr Couldridge and Mr Tonks who then gave feedback. After this, we all received a callback audition where the options for the audition material opened up and from there everyone was cast.

Why did you audition for West Side Story? What really excited you about the musical?

Jai: Um, it’s interesting for me, I haven’t really done a lot of acting before. This is the first musical I’ve ever been in, but I have done quite a lot of singing and I really enjoy it. When I saw that this year’s Joint Musical was West Side Story I got very excited. I know quite a few of the songs from the musical which I really love so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try a bit of acting and dancing.

A few of my friends who were also auditioning gave me the final nudge when we were chatting, and they told me about how much fun the musicals had been in the last few years.

Ben: It’s a similar story for me, but Jai, whereas you’ve done a lot of singing before, I’ve been in a lot of plays but never really sung. I was in the Senior Play, Enron, last year, which was great, so I thought I’d get stuck in and have some fun!

Ravin: This is only my second year at the school so when auditions came back around, I was really keen to get involved in putting on more productions. There is obviously the thrill of putting them on for the audience and your friends but also for the skills it will help me develop.

You know, West Side Story, it’s one of the biggest musicals of all time! So, with me being into acting and having seen the recently released movie version of the play it got me really excited to take my turn in telling the story.

If you could play any role from stage, TV or Film, who would it be and why?

Ravin: Ooh, now that is a tough one!

Ben: Yeah, I might need to think about that one…

Jai: You know what, I think I would quite like to play someone like Loki. That would be pretty cool. I think he is a really interesting character. He’s very intelligent and mischievous but in a lot of the shows he has been in as a character you also see a deeper emotional core to him so I think he would be super interesting to play.

Ben: For me I think getting to play the lead in a big action movie would be incredible. Lots of special effects and big dynamic sets…

Ravin: Yeah definitely, blockbuster stuff. I think every kid, at some point wants to be a superhero so I think playing Spider-Man would be really exciting!