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Theatre Magic! T heatre in Hollywood this season is bursting like a joyous explosion. Beginning with “West Side Story” and extending into February and beyond, theatre goers are in for a real treat. The national tour of the recent Broadway pro- duction of Leonard Bernstein’s and Stephen Sondheim’s musical revival leaps onto the Pan- tages stage with a youthful exuberance that leaves us almost breathless. The young leads and energetic cast bring new life to this beloved favorite that belies its age. Time- less themes set against an urban landscape are as familiar to a new gen- eration of theatre goers as they were over 50 years ago. The lead roles of Tony and Maria are played by Southern California Kyle Harris and Ali Ewoldt from Pleasantville, New Ali and Kyle light up the Pantages in “West Side Story”. York. Both in their 20’s, they are a perfect match for this production. Kyle is happy to be home for the holidays. Al- though he sang in the high school choir to get his art credit, his main interest was soccer. He was hopeful of heading to college with an athletic schol- arship when he saw a high school production of “Into the Woods” and got bitten by the theatre bug. Following his girlfriend at the time to the University of Arizona, he auditioned for its Musical Theatre 46 DISCOVER HOLLYWOOD / WINTER 2010 Department and to his surprise was accepted. Returning as a sophomore after a summer of voice lessons, he landed the first of many lead roles. After graduation, Kyle was off to New York where one of his first auditions was for the Broadway revival of “West Side Story.” Instead he landed an alternate slot in “Sondheim on Sond- heim” on Broadway. At the close of that produc- tion, the call came for the national “West Side Story” company which has played in Detroit, Omaha and San Francisco before arriving in L.A. “It’s a fantastic company of young actors who are fresh and excited. We love what we’re doing and it seems like we aren’t even doing it for the pay check,” Kyle noted. “If you’ve made it to the Pantages, you’ve made it! We want to blow it out of the park.” Spoken like an actor with athletic roots. Unlike Kyle’s late blooming interest in theatre, Ali saw her first New York show at age 8 (“Cho- rus Line”) and was on the stage at 10. She knew that she wanted to pursue a theatrical career and performed in productions in middle school and high school. Still, she weighed her decision and opted to study psychology at Yale but also per- formed in the university’s productions. As she grew up in Westchester County, following college she was able to commute to auditions in the city landing a slot in “Aladdin” at Disneyland followed by a world tour in the Disney Broadway Review. Soon it was onto Broadway and the part of “Cosette” in “Les Miserables.” “’West Side Story’ has so much for everyone,” Ali commented. “There’s the conflict, the fights, the love story and the wonderful music. It really relates to a young audience, it’s about teenagers trying to find their place in the world and dealing with authority.” She continued, “I’ve played Maria before, but this production is true to the original in- tention of the play. I was given such amazing