They laughed last night when Tony was gunned down by a rival gang member.

It's one of the most poignant and dramatic moments in all of musical theatre, inspired by Romeo and Juliet, no less. And yet the audience laughed.

Perhaps it was the suddenness which set them off. Perhaps they just wanted a happy ending. Either way, it was most unfortunate. There are no happy endings in West Side Story, of course - and this production conveys all the moral outrage of Jerome Robbins' original, 40 years ago.

It's more a restoration than a revival, since Robbins' direction and choreography have been reproduced step for step, his sets recreated to the last Coke ad.

This could have made for a dated and over-stylised entertainment, but in fact it did no such thing. Class never goes out of style. The choreography is astonishingly intricate, joined as it is at the hip to Leonard Bernstein's score. The beauty of America, especially, is spellbinding.

Newcomers David Habbin and Katie Knight-Adams are immensely appealing as Tony and Maria, but truly this is an ensemble piece.

It goes to the West End in the summer, but it remains in Bradford next week and the week after - which gives Tony plenty of time to get used to our peculiar Yorkshire gift for laughing in the face of even the most profound tragedy.

David Behrens

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.