Guthrie’s ‘Somewhere’ imagines a Puerto Rican family in the shadows of ‘West Side Story’

In the 1940s, the New York City Housing Authority declared San Juan Hill, a flourishing neighborhood home to thousands of Black and Puerto Rican families, to be a slum. Over the next 20 years, the city demolished buildings in the area, making way for construction of the Lincoln Center and other developments. 

The neighborhood, which served as the setting for the 1961 film “West Side Story,” is also the setting for “Somewhere,” the Guthrie Theater’s production about a theatrical family unmoored by the broken promises of the American dream.

Written by Matthew López and directed by Joseph Haj, the production nods nostalgically toward “West Side Story” in its portrayal of the Puerto Rican Candelaria family as New York City remakes itself around them.

López’s play, which premiered in 2011, lovingly references “West Side Story” even as it turns its objects into subjects. Speaking to the New York Times in 2021, López said he was inspired to write “Somewhere” after watching a 2009 Broadway revival of the musical and realizing “how much the Puerto Rican characters — and thereby the performers playing them — were not invited to the party, so to speak.” “Somewhere,” he said, would “tell the offstage story that you don’t see.”

At the center of the play is the Candelaria family, who live in San Juan Hill and love the theater. Broadway posters adorn their walls, alongside religious imagery and family photos. 

The family’s cramped tenement, brought to life by scenic designer Lex Liang, gets somewhat lost on the Guthrie’s giant proscenium stage. The first act fits the kitchen and living room side by side, but it still manages to look quite spacious. 

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As a wrecking ball shakes their apartment and police bombard their doors, the family makes out with only what they can carry. By Act II they end up in a new apartment that seems even roomier, simply because the stage is so large. 

The family’s matriarch, Inez, (Maggie Bofill) works as a theater usher and holds high ambitions for her children’s theatrical success. Much of her urgency focuses on her daughter, Rebecca (Kassandra Cruz), who has a backstage job but takes dance classes and dreams of Broadway. 

Inez also hasn’t given up hope that her eldest, Alejandro (Preston Perez), will get back to the stage. In the world of the story, the great director and choreographer Jerome Robbins cast him as a teenager, but Jandro later abandoned show business for a more practical career. 

No actor plays Robbins in “Somewhere,” but his presence is a major force. He serves as a “Godot” character – spoken of and anticipated, but who never arrives. In his absence, he symbolizes the family’s rags-to-riches dreams, where stardom replaces the struggle of their existence. 

While Robbins as a character isn’t present, his choreography is, both from “West Side Story” and “Gypsy.” It comes to life in the hands of Guthrie choreographer Maija García, who creates an homage to his extraordinary work. 

One of the production’s strongest moments comes when Jandro’s siblings and his best friend, Jamie (Sam Stoll), coax him to dress for Robbins’ anticipated arrival. What begins as stage business turns into choreography, the actions slipping into dance. The scene is light and funny, taking elements of Robbins’ style and creating something new. 

As the central character, Jandro doesn’t technically dance in the first act, but his dancer spirit emanates through his movements. With his long limbs, muscular body and graceful step, he seems to carry a Broadway dancer inside of him, sauntering about the stage as if he’s about to take flight. When we finally do see him dance after intermission, the payoff is immensely satisfying. 

Jamie, Jandro’s closest friend, offers a counterpoint. The two trained together as boys, but Jamie — now an assistant to Robbins — has remained in the world of dance. Jamie is also white, a contrast used in the production to underline the young men’s unequal opportunities. 

As part of Alejo Vietti’s costume design, both Jandro and his brother Francisco (José Sabillón) wear jeans and white tank tops, as if they recently wandered off the set of “West Side Story.” The women wear brightly colored period dresses that also recall the 1961 film.

Cruz, playing Rebecca, sashays about the stage in a flowing skirt, practicing her barre routine at any opportunity. She sparkles as the starlet-to-be. 

As the matriarch Inez, Maggie Bofill gives the show’s broadest performance. Passive aggressive and overbearing, she’s more of a caricature than the others. She also seems most harmed by the lies exposed at the heart of her American dream. Unable to face the truth of her circumstances – including her husband’s abandonment – Inez’s despair pierces through the cracks of her family’s facade. 

Ultimately, López’s play unpacks the precarity of the American Dream, unveiling how easily it crumbles. 

“Somewhere” runs through Feb. 1 at the Guthrie Theater, 818 South 2nd. St. ($34-$94). More information here. 

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