Based on a concept by Jerome Robbins. Book by Arthur Laurents. Music by Leonard Bernstein. Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Directed by Sarah Rodgers. A Theatre Under the Stars production. At Malkin Bowl on Wednesday, July 13. Continues until August 20

West Side Story is one of the most iconic—and difficult—musicals ever created, so perhaps it’s not surprising that this semiprofessional production only works in fits and starts.

In West Side Story, the American musical theatre’s take on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Tony and Maria become the star-crossed lovers. Maria, whose brother Bernardo heads a Puerto Rican street gang called the Sharks, falls in love with Tony, whose best friend Riff leads the rival gang, the Jets, who are all American-born—and all white.

Jerome Robbins conceived, directed, and choreographed the original 1957 Broadway production. The show’s dance sequences are integral to its success. Robbins combined ballet, jazz, and popular dance styles in an explosive masterpiece.

In this Theatre Under the Stars production, choreographer Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg creates an entirely new movement score. Sometimes the results are witty: in the comic song “Gee, Officer Krupke”, she references both Swan Lake and the familiar image of ape-to-man evolution. And when Tony and Maria’s friends’ bodies wave like beds of seaweed in “Somewhere”, the result is lyrical. But there’s little tension in Friedenberg’s quirky work—“Dance at the Gym” is downright unfocused—so, too often, this production goes slack physically.

Playing Riff, Daniel James White delivers the best performance of the evening. His passionate dancing illuminates the potential of Friedenberg’s choreography, he’s one of the few Jets who feel like they might actually be a threat, and he sings beautifully.

There’s also a lot to like in Matt Montgomery’s portrait of Tony. Tony can be dull—watch the 1961 movie for proof—because the only thing the character has to do, really, is to be head-over-heels in love. But Montgomery allows Tony’s enthusiasm to become charismatically physical. When this Tony is delighted, he hoists himself off the ground, using any available surface, levitating with happiness. And when he sings, it’s as if he’s discovering every word for the first time. Montgomery isn’t quite at home with the role’s operatic vocal demands, however, and sometimes on opening night, he strained and went off pitch.

Jennifer Gillis’s Maria is more restrained, but charming. And Alexandra Lainfiesta, who plays Bernardo’s girlfriend Anita, nails the character’s humour and fire. However, under Rodgers’s direction, emotion sometimes takes precedence over musicality: on opening night, that’s what happened in “A Boy Like That” and “I Have a Love”, a sequence that Maria and Anita share.

Rodgers leans heavily into sentimentality, introducing a white-clad child as a symbol of innocence, for instance. But she does more interesting things as well, including sequences in Spanish, and referencing Shakespeare’s play with graffiti that’s painted onto the set during the action: “My only love sprung from my only hate.”

Shards of beauty, but not the whole.