Dramatic Productions' upcoming West Side Story faced a particular challenge.
But first, some background. The 1957 show - written by Arthur Laurents with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim - is a musical reimagining of Romeo and Juliet in which the duelling families are replaced by warring street gangs, the American-born Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks.
Former Jet Tony and Puerto Rican Maria fall in love - but can they overcome the conflict between their respective groups?
The 1961 film adaptation, which was directed by Robert Wise and the director-choreographer of the original Broadway production, Jerome Robbins, won 10 Oscars.
It made in an era when less attention was paid to racially appropriate casting. Of the major Puerto Rican characters, only Rita Moreno, who played Maria's friend Anita, was Puerto Rican: Natalie Wood (Maria), had Russian parents and those of George Chakhiris, the Sharks' leader and Anita's boyfriend, were Greek.
Nowadays more care is taken - Steven Spielberg's 2021 adaptation of the show cast Latino actors and the members of this production's creative team were adamant about casting Latino performers as the Sharks and their women.
Finding enough Latino performers in Canberra who could handle acting, dancing and singing the roles was a slightly daunting prospect. But Dramatic Productions' managing director Richard Block - who, in another challenge, managed to assemble a cast of children who could sing, dance, act and play a musical instrument for School of Rock - was up for it.
When a local artistic team pitched the idea of a racially correct West Side Story to him, he came on board as producer, knowing that if they couldn't find enough suitable performers the show would have to be cancelled.
Musical director Teresa Wojcik said, "We did a big push before auditioning."
She went to the National Multicultural Festival to visit the Latino stalls and the team also put out online requests, talked to diplomatic staff and approached people in dancing classes.
"A lot of it was having to explain what a musical theatre production was - a lot of people had never been involved in a production."
They ran Q&A sessions and workshops for members of the Latino communities to explain the concept, the story and the level of commitment required.
"A lot of it was bringing the show to them," Wojcik said.
"We had to find people available to do it for free - there are a lot of professional performers in the community."
The score, with songs like Something's Coming, Tonight, and America - is a challenging one for any performer to sing and for many of the roles there's a lot of dancing as well as acting and singing involved.
Finding actors with the requisite talents for any show is always a challenge. As with any group of performers, the Latino cast members' skill sets varied and plenty of time was allocated to make people comfortable in what was for many a new medium.
"They have different strengths - there are a few really strong singers," Wojcik said.
"One guy was shy and said, 'I only sing in the shower.'"
When he sang, it turned out he had a beautiful baritone voice.
A few of the Sharks were cast after rehearsals had begun.
The role of Maria went to ballet student Valeria Arciniega. ANU's Latin American Student Association president Eudes Balandrott was cast as Sharks leader Bernardo, Maria's brother. And Anita, Bernardo's girlfriend, will be played by Andrea Garcia.
Of the major non-Latino characters, Maria's new love, former Jet Tony, will be played by Wally Allington and his best friend Riff will be played by Jake Fraser.
While a lot of non-Latino performers would have loved to try out for Maria and the other Latino roles, when they heard of the casting decision, "they respectfully stepped back," Wojcik said.
West Side Story is on at the Gungahlin College Theatre from October 6 to 21, 2023. See: stagecenta.com.
