A production of a legendary musical at St Mary's College proved to be a sell-out success.  Families and friends packed the school hall to the rafters for the three-night run of the Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim classic, West Side Story.

A huge cast of more than 60 pupils performed in the musical which transplants the story of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to New York's notorious Hell's Kitchen slum in the 1950s.  They had to tackle showstoppers like America, Tonight, Somewhere, I Feel Pretty and Gee Officer Krupke. 

The lead roles of Tony and Maria were played by Luke Nugent and Kendal Bradshaw.

James Davies played Jets gang leader Riff while the Sharks were headed up by James Cotter as Bernardo.  The only adult in the production was Head of Sixth Form Mr Magill who played Doc, owner of Doc's drug store, which is regarded as neutral ground by the rival gangs.

The production was directed by Head of Drama Mr Doherty and choreographed by parent Celia Thomas.

Mr Doherty commented: "When you take the backstage crew into account more than 100 pupils played an active role in this production and they all did fantastically well to carry off what is a very challenging show.  The energy and enjoyment of the performers was visible for everyone to see so it's no surprise that the show brought the house down each night."

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