North Side Story is an over-the-top and sequin-packed parody of the classic tale of West Side Story performed mostly by drag queens.
Rather than meet the Jets and the Sharks, the audience are instead introduced to the glamourous Heathers and the scruffy Boogers who dazzle the audience with some catwalk-style strutting to Beyonce’s Run the World (Girls). From here, the classic tale of star-crossed lovers is presented with all the performers lip-synching their dialogue as the orignal dialogue from the film is played. Some of the orignal songs are sung live, notably Something Coming, Tonight and Maria (which features Tony with his hand down his pants), while others are replaced with modern pop music (Cool is replaced by Iggy Azalea’s Fancy, while the rumble features a dance off to Express Yourself and Livin’ La Vida Loca).
Lala Barlow as Tony and Lady Diamond as Maria perform these songs beautifully, while their height difference is a hilarious visual treat. However, the start of Tonight is disappointedly overpowered by the live band due to most of the performers being without microphones.
Visually, the show is a treat to watch, with multiple spectacular costume changes and an epic battle featuring a hilarious array of unexpected weapons, while the final devestating sight of Diamond raising two guns while singing Bulletproof was a real highlight. While the show felt a little too chaotic and messy at times, it was still a highly entertaining show and a really clever reworking of the original story.
BY MYF CLARK
