WEST Side Story changed the course of musical theatre when it opened on Broadway in 1957.

It has since spawned a film that won 10 Academy Awards, sold out in cities across the world and remains one of the most successful stage shows of all time.

Now it’s back five decades on – with Joey McKneely at the helm.

The Tony Award nominee, who has since worked on films like Zoolander and shows including Smokey Joe’s Café, started out as assistant to Jerome Robbins, the legend behind the groundbreaking original choreography on West Side Story.

“I appeared first as a dancer in Jerome Robbins’ West Side Story on Broadway, and that motivated me to become a choreographer. Something just happens to you when you do his choreography on West Side Story.”

Joey, taking a break from rehearsals at London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre, smiles and adds: “You’ll never experience dancing like this – it’s a complete emotional release.

“Any fears or worries you have are forgotten. It’s so challenging and requires so much technique and physical strength as a dancer.

“West Side Story was the first ensemble piece where the dancers were actually principals in the story-telling, and after being involved I felt there was nowhere else for me to go.

“I needed to be a choreographer and to help dancers. For this, as always, I take my cue from Mr Robbins himself. Always strive to make it the best you can – and never settle.”

The 50th anniversary tour – currently selling out theatres across the UK after a hugely successful world tour including sell-out stints in Paris, Tokyo and Beijing – is the only modern day production which can call itself the original and sticks to the ethos of the original.

But, Joey is keen to point out, he has staged West Side Story afresh for the modern day.

He tells me: “The only ambitions I had for this production were for the audience to re-discover West Side Story, as if for the first time. Plus, I wanted to bring it to a new generation that has never seen the production on stage.

“There are several differences compared with the original. First of all, the overall look of the production – sets, costumes, lighting – all of which is meant to take the audience into a timeless era.

“I certainly didn’t want it to feel like a dated remake of the 1950s version.

“We want to take people on a journey and surprise them. Hopefully, the audience will be taken away from it all and reminded about the first time they saw West Side Story.

“This is why they came – they fell in love with it 50 years ago or 20 years ago.

“And for people who are new to the show, we are keeping it as youthful and sexy as possible, with fresh energy and emotion. I hope they will believe in the characters and believe in the emotion.

“We’ve been able to go so far emotionally with the characters this time – we have a lot more freedom than we did in 1957.

“This is not the original version, which looked and felt like it did in 1957. This is a West Side Story for a new generation.”

Seen as a modern day Romeo and Juliet and set on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, West Side Story explores the rivalry between two teenage gangs – one white, the other Puerto Rican.

When Tony, top dog in one of the gangs, falls in love with Maria, the sister of the rival gang’s leader, their feud takes on a new dimension.

As Tony and Maria’s love blossoms, so begins a fatal journey overshadowed by violence and hatred.

It is, at times, a shocking production, which Joey feels is even more relevant today with the rise in knife crime and violence in society.

“I want people to see how hatred and violence can destroy lives, and how you don’t have to choose that path.

“I don’t think that these youths ever go out to kill someone with a knife, I just think emotion takes over and it happens. I think they don’t understand the hatred that they feel.

“The show really exposes the sense of love and humanity in everyone and how people need to connect and need not to be violent. It’s a message of hope.

“This is love through violence and we can change. I think that’s what people will walk away with. I think it would be lovely for members of gangs who feel they have nothing to live for to see this show. They would realise life has a value.”

As for the path Joey has chosen, there was no other option he muses.

“I feel so blessed to have had this wonderful part in West Side Story. First as a dancer, but then that was just the beginning, then I was director/choreographer of a production at La Scala Opera House.

“Then the phone just rang one day with this and next thing I knew, I had this massive task ahead of me, with no idea how it would come out.

“Eight years later, I’m still doing it. This is what they call destiny.”

  • West Side Story is at The Mayflower, Southampton, until Saturday February 7.