Venue undermines “West Side …”

​What’s most noteworthy about San Diego Musical Theatre’s current production of West Side Story is where it’s being produced: downtown at the Spreckels Theatre. It’s a new home for SDMT, which had been staging its musicals in the North Park Theatre, a venue that’s OK for bands but frankly underwhelming for live theater. So it was a little disappointing to find the acoustics at the Spreckels for West Side Story, one of Broadway’s great, ground-breaking classics, so tinny, at least when I was there Saturday night. Let’s hope that’s an anomaly. As for the production, it’s top shelf – smart, jazzy choreography by Randy Slovacek, exciting fight scenes between the Jets and Sharks, and, among the talented ensemble, Natalie Nucci as a sexy, sassy and indomitable Anita.