Anita was absolutely a cut above everyone else in the cast. For me she was the stand out character in the play and that is solely the result of the brilliant actress who played her part. The assault on Anita is perhaps the most powerful moments in the play. And though I agree with the comment above that this was due to actual contact, I must also say that credit for the strength of that scene must go to Genevieve Dawson.

I agree with the first review also in that the violence seemed very inauthentic, and didn’t leave your heart thumping in anticipation or fear. However, given how difficult it is to display violence authentically, particularly in the setting of a student musical, this fault could be forgiven.
However, I was sad to see that the poignancy of some very important moments was lost.
When Tony comes to Maria after having killed her brother, the establishment of her disbelief, moving to anger, moving to grief, moving to taking comfort in the man she loves was all dealt with rather childishly. She beats his chest almost playfully and says “killer killer killer” and then in seconds is in his arms thinking of nothing but how to get away. If we had seen her actual grief on the loss of her brother, we would have seen much clearer the intensity of her love for Tony in how she turns to him for comfort even though he killed her brother. However most of that was lost and the production lost the opportunity to show us a step -up in the intensity of the love. Instead, the love played at the same level as it had through the first act.

The other point of poignancy that was lost was the death of Riff. I felt like I wanted to feel sadder than I did for his death, but the performance didn’t let me.

Having said all this I have to say, that it is by far the best student produced musical I have ever seen, and on the whole I was very impressed. Particular highlights were America, and Gee Officer Krumpky. Ed Pearce was particularly good in I Feel Pretty.. as well.