Carnegie Hall's West Side Story, Starring Skylar Astin, Completes Casting

Carnegie Hall has announced complete casting for its upcoming presentation of Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, and Arthur Laurents' classic musical West Side Story, offering three performances on March 4, 5, and 6 at the Knockdown Center, a restored factory in Queens. The musical will be directed by Amanda Dehnert, with Marin Alsop serving as music director and conductor. The production is part of Carnegie Hall's Somewhere Project, an outreach program joining Carnegie Hall's 125th anniversary season.

Starring Skylar Astin (Spring Awakening, Pitch Perfect) as Tony and newcomer Morgan Hernandez as Maria, the production will feature Bianca Marroquín (In the Heights) as Anita, Donald Jones, Jr. (Aladdin) as Bernardo, Manny Stark (Gigi) as Riff, Tony winner Chuck Cooper (Amazing Grace) as Doc/Krupke, and Peter Gerety (The Wire, Lucky Guy) as Schrank.

The cast includes 14 high school students from New York and New Jersey who are working side by side with the professional performers throughout the rehearsal and performance process. The ensemble includes Alex Aquilino (Nibbles), Kaitlyn Benzant (Shark Girl 8), Angel Blanco (Toro), Olutayo Bosede (Gee-Tar), Kendall Carter (Margarita), Ariana Crowder (Indio), Karli Dinardo (Graziella), Zack Everhart (Mouthpiece), Emanuel Figueroa (Big Deal), Hannah Florence (Francisca), Alexis Garcia (Clarice), Fabian Garcia (Tiger), Sebastian Garcia (Moose), Damon J. Gillespie (Chino), Reyna Guerra (Pauline), Anijah Lezama (Estella), Sam Lips (Action), Alexa Maetta (Anybodys), Robin Masella (Velma), Raymond Joel Matsamura (A-Rab), Melissa Hunter McCann (Teresita), Dashi Mitchell (Pepe), Emilio Ramos (Baby John), Julian Ramos (Luis), Hallie Richardson (Shark Girl 9), Sydney Richardson (Jet Girl 9), Alex Ringler (Diesel), Jillian Schear (Jet Girl 8), Sherisse Springer (Minnie), Clay Thomson (Snowboy), James Tolbert (Juano), Martina Viadana (Shark Girl 7), Jessica Walker (Consuelo), Michelle West (Rosalia), Ricardo Zayas (Anxious), and Daniella Zunic (Jet Girl 7).

Additionally, nearly 200 teens from 25 high schools in all five boroughs of New York City will sing new choral arrangements of "Somewhere," the "Tonight Quintet," "One Hand, One Heart," "I Feel Pretty," and the "Jet Song," specially created for this production by Thomas Cabaniss.

New choreography by Sean Cheesman (So You Think You Can Dance) will be joined with Jerome Robbins' original choreography, reset by Julio Monge (Fosse). The production team also includes musical supervisor Leslie Stifelman, scenic designer Eugene Lee, costume designer Tracy Christensen, lighting designer Edward Pierce, sound designer Nevin Steinberg, and technical director David Benken.

For tickets and more information, click here.