Ben Apfelbaum

MEDIA CALL : WEST SIDE STORY @ SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE

At the Media Call  two time Tony nominated Broadway Choreographer and International Director Joey McKneely infused about the cast for this coming season. What has made him so passionate about this production is that “it is the youngest cast I have ever worked with…But what I really love about this production- and I have been doing ‘West Side Story’ for twenty years- is that it’s teens playing teens for the first time.”

This sumptuous production has a cast of thirty two performers and more than seventy staff. The orchestra contains twenty four members which will underscore the on stage performers and is led by veteran Musical Director Donald Chan who it was revealed had directed 3,000 performances of ‘West Side Story’. His pedigree is such that he met Leonard Bernstein himself all those years ago. 

Like all great musicals and operas West Side Story with its star crossed lovers surrounded by prejudice and intolerance resonates with us still despite it being nearly seventy years old. 

This production runs from the 16th August to the 6th October, 2019 at the, Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House.

For further information go to www.westsidestory.com.au 

All pics by Ben Apfelbaum

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.