Back by popular demand, the Royal Albert Hall recently saw the return of West Side Story to its world famous stage for 5 unique and mesmerising live concerts. A major player in the Hall’s film with live orchestra series, this classic 1961 musical was brought to life by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra who performed the iconic score in its entirety on the stage below. For loyal fans and newcomers alike, this was the perfect way to watch one of MGM Grand’s most popular films, in a cinema like no other.
A true fan favourite, West Side Story takes place in the gangland territories of New York’s Upper West Side in the mid 1950’s. Telling tales of love, loyalty and betrayal, this inner city take on Shakespeare’s tragedy of Romeo & Juliet is played out by star-crossed lovers Tony (Richard Beymer) and Maria (Natalie Wood) as they desperately try to save their romance amidst the hatred of their rival gangs; the Jets and the Sharks. Featuring songs such as; Something’s Coming, America, I Feel Pretty and of course, the heart wrenching; Somewhere, West Side Story has captured the heart of audiences globally and continues to be a hit over 50 years on.
Recreating Leonard Bernstein’s exceptional score, conductor Jayce Ogren lead the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra through the film’s ambitious and diverse soundtrack. Blended in perfect synchronisation with the visuals, the orchestra performed the entire score live, including all incidental music which had been extrapolated from the film prior, leaving only the dialogue and singing intact.
Like many musicals of its era, West Side Story contains a magnificent yet rigorous score, offering an ensemble of complex rhythms and astoundingly quick tempos. No easy feat for any orchestra or conductor – add to this the delicate art of keeping the orchestra and film in perfect synchronisation using just a click track (via Sennheiser G2 IEM’s) and small colour coded screen with split second cues, and you begin to understand the complexity of this performance. Having conducted the West Side Story 50th anniversary tour in 2011 however, Jayce Ogren and the RPCO delivered a flawless performance, full of boundless energy and admiration for Bernstein’s timeless score.
Sound By Design supplied full PA, crew and control services for this production having delivered the European premiere at the Royal Albert Hall back in 2012. Drawing upon extensive experience, this project was managed by senior engineer Stephen Hughes whose audio design encompassed an EM Acoustics HALO-C line array for the main PA system. Flown in a cinematic configuration either side of the large central screen, each line array comprised of 20 loudspeaker boxes per hang (powered by the in-house amplifiers) which were brought in for this specific production, whilst the in-house system in its left/ centre/ right configuration was flown to the ceiling of the auditorium to avoid any visual obscuration. For the low-end audio, 3 Meyer Sound 700hp sub units were selected and positioned underneath the stage. In order to manipulate the directivity of the low-end sound away from the stage, the subs were designed in a cardioid array so that the frequencies travelled out into the audience and not back to the musicians onstage.
In order to amplify the large 90 piece concert orchestra, a variety of Shure, AKG, Audio-Technica and Rode microphones were selected, alongside 22 Symphotec orchestral microphones used primarily to capture the string section. For the mixing elements, audio engineer Colin Pink operated a DiGiCo SD5 console to mix the live orchestral audio whilst West Side Story’s touring engineer Matt Pelter used an SD11 for the recorded playback (dialogue and singing). Operating as systems technician, Ed Kinsella of EM Acoustics (and designer of the HALO-C loudspeaker) also leant his expertise to this concert, alongside engineer Richard Denham who has years of experience working in the Royal Albert Hall’s famous auditorium.
Just as in 2012, West Side Story was a joy to work with. Hearing these iconic songs played live by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra is a wonderful experience, and by the rapturous applause each night from the audience, they most certainly enjoyed it too.