MORGANTOWN — Luke Diamond’s musical to-do list will get a little shorter next week.
The WVU alum and Trinity Christian School music teacher said he’s wanted to check off “West Side Story” “for a long time.”
“It’s been my favorite since high school,” he said. “I’ve had my eye on it for a while.”
So when he found out that Geyer Performing Arts Center in Scottdale, Pa., was putting on the famed production and in search of a musical director, he reached out.
And beginning Aug. 9, Diamond will conduct an orchestra of about 30 musicians — roughly three times as many as usually are a part of shows put on by the center.
“Usually rehearsals start about a week before, but our orchestra has been working basically the whole summer, meeting once a week,” he said. “That’s because the music is incredibly difficult, and it’s not just me saying that. ‘West Side Story’ is considered one of the hardest musicals to perform.”
Diamond’s former professor agrees.
“Oh yes,” said Kym Scott, assistant professor and director of choral activities at WVU. “It’s tough.”
That’s because composer Leonard Bernstein melds together elements of several genres — classical, jazz, pop and Latin — in the score.
“And you don’t do that well without it being difficult,” Diamond said.
“West Side Story” remains one of Bernstein’s most enduring works. The original 1957 Broadway production was nominated for six Tony Awards, including best musical and was adapted into a Oscar-winning film in 1961 (nominated for 11, the movie won 10).
Inspired by Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” the musical is set in New York City in the mid-’50s and focuses on the rivalry between two teenage street gangs, the Jets and the Sharks. Playwright Arthur Laurents wrote the book and Stephen Sondheim was responsible for the lyrics.
The Geyer Performing Arts Center’s production comes just before Bernstein, who died in 1990, would have turned 100 on Aug. 25.
“This is such a phenomenal musical, and I think a great way to celebrate the month and the year of his centennial,” said Diamond, who compares ‘West Side Story’ to a grand opera or symphony in terms of the attention to detail that must be paid to the music.
In order to do the work justice, he said he’s put in months of preparation, which is not surprising to Scott.
His senior year at WVU, in 2017, Diamond scripted, composed and conducted his own musical production, “Ma Grâce te Suffit” — based on the fairytale “Aurore et Aimée” by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont.
“That wasn’t a part of any of Luke’s curriculum or part of any class or for credit,” Scott said. “He was in a position where he made some good contacts and had support from me and several other teachers in different areas and he took advantage of that.
“A lot of students are looking for easy opportunities and they aren’t available in undergraduate very often. With Luke, he took little opportunities and turned them into a big opportunity. He really has the initiative.”
So while Scott concedes that “West Side Story’s” music is a “very challenging to perform and direct, particularly for someone so young,” she thinks the experience will only help Diamond.
“Rising to the challenge is important and something that helps you learn at any level. In order to be successful, that’s what you have to do.”
- The Geyer Performing Arts Center will present “West Side Story” at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 9-11 and at 2:30 p.m. Aug. 12. Tickets cost $15. The theater is at 111 Pittsburgh St., Scottdale, Pa. Info: https://geyerpac.com/.
