RALEIGH -- N.C. Theatre closes out its 2009 season with "West Side Story," running from Saturday through Oct. 25 in Memorial Auditorium.
Cast in the lead role of Tony is Josh Young, who played the part in the national and international tours of the musical. He also performed in the national and international tours of "Les Miserables."
Catherine Cheng Jones plays Maria. The Durham native attended Athens Drive High School and the University of North Carolina. She was planning on becoming a TV reporter but she caught the acting bug after landing a role in N.C. Theatre's "Beauty and the Beast" in 2004.
Local audiences saw her continue her budding acting career in "Miss Saigon," "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Dreamgirls." She has since moved to New York, become an equity actor and landed her current role with the touring production.
There's another homecoming, of sorts, connected to the show. John Arthur Greene, an NCT alum from Raleigh who is playing Riff in the current Broadway production of "West Side Story," will perform at a donor appreciation event Oct. 19, with Lauren Kennedy and Ray Walker.
The other principal actors in the play have had plenty of Broadway experience, as well. The musical, which re-opened on Broadway this year and was nominated for four Tony Awards, will be directed and choreographed by Joshua Bergasse, who will do the Jerome Robbins version.
