*“It’s a milestone for us after 22 years,” said actress Wendy Raquel Robinson (“The Game”) about the musical production to be presented May 18 & 19, 2019 in the Little Theatre in Los Angeles. A production of her Amazing Grace Conservatory (AGC) called “Our Westside Story.”
It is a slight twist of the Broadway hit “Westside Story.” It features AGC students from their 1999 and 2010 “Westside Story” productions, Alfred Jackson and Gerald Evans, as directors. “Alumni are directing and producing. Full circle from students to staff…”
Jackson is an entertainment phenomenon who has written and produced music for the television show “Ally McBeal,” toured with such worldwide productions as “Solid Gold Motown,” “Rent” and “Glee” and choreographed for the musical “Sarafina,” which garnered him a 2010 NAACP Image Award. Evans’ career is just as phenomenal performing in such musical productions as “Sister Act 2”, “The Grinch,” and “Westside Story”.
The “Westside Story” Harlem saga is a love story taking place in the 1950’s about a boy and girl on opposite sides of a turf war between two gangs who fall deeply in love. The AGC “Our Westside Story” on Saturday May 18th at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday May 19th at 6 p.m. is basically the same as the original musical with a remix of the hit song “This is America.” For the younger audience there is a production with another twist “Our Side of the Story” Sunday May 19th at 3 p.m. That twist is on the content which focuses on bullying and has a current day dance battle scene.
“Content is for younger audience, 8 – 12. has more musical content,” Wendy pointed out. “It deals with bullying, the power of words and self-esteem…which is more impactful today. We didn’t have social media. We had the classroom and the play ground. They have cyber bullying.”
Robinson said that even the ending in this version has changed, where in the original the boy dies at the end, in this version he lives.
“We wanted to show that issues can be resolved,” she concluded.
AGC was also founded by the late Tracy Lamar Coley (“Martin,” “The Jamie Foxx Show”). Robinson serves as Executive Director. Launched in 1995 the Conservatory enrolled 75 young actors its first year and cast them in productions at the Los Angeles Theatre Center.
“Our Westside Story,” presented by Amazing Grace Conservatory and the Los Angeles Southwest College Department of Arts and Humanities, will be held at the Little Theatre located on the Los Angeles Southwest College campus. www.AmazingGraceConservatory.org.
SYNDICATED COLUMN: Eunice Moseley, has an estimated weekly readership of over ¼ million with The Pulse of Entertainment. She is also a Public Relations Strategist and Business Management Consultant at Freelance Associates, and is Promotions Director (at-large) for The Baltimore Times. www.ThePulseofEntertainment.com. EVENT: “Uplifting Minds II” Free Entertainment Conference annually in Baltimore (Saturday April 20, 2019) in partnership with Security Square Mall and The Baltimore Times and Los Angeles (October/TBD). Offering Entertainment Business panel and a talent showcase and competition (vocal, songwriting, dance and acting) with over $15,000 valued in prizes. www.UpliftingMinds2.com www.GoFundMe.com/Uplifting-Minds-II-Entertainment-Conference
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