The Star's critics ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARTIN HALL, MICHAL BONCZA, ANGUS REID reviews Holy Cow, One to One: John and Yoko, King of Kings, Panda Bear in Africa
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Gone West
PAUL FOLEY sees a new version of a legendary musical which lacks the exhilarating power of the original
PIC CAP Fizzing with energy: Jocasta Almgill (left) Pic: The Other Richard
PATRICK JONES recommends a vital anthology from Afghan and Iranian poets where the political and personal fuse into witness-bearing and manifesto-making
WILL STONE is impressed by Hania Rani who is already making a name for herself in the male-dominated world of modern classical music
MIK SABIERS enjoys the theatrical feminist six piece who have a lot of fun that the audience feeds off as the set rolls on
New releases from Ibex Band, Lucy Dacus, and Various Artists
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by characters so un-nuanced as to be unreal, a stereotypical plot and a conceptual vampire
WILL STONE appreciates an artist who can swerve from industrial noise to clubby trance pop without missing a step
West Side Story
Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
IN 1946 Jerome Robbins approached Leonard Bernstein about the possibility of creating a musical version of Romeo and Juliet and, after many trials and tribulations, West Side Story premiered on Broadway in 1957.
It was a huge hit and set the standard for the modern musical and it was certainly in tune with the times. The US was emerging from the second world war and young people were becoming frustrated and angry for change.
The racism and intolerance creating a gang culture, brutally played out on the mean streets of the big cities, provided a perfect context to recontextualise the most famous love story of all time.
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