A major revival of West Side Story (Amor sin Barreras) will open January 1998 in Mexico City. The classic Bernstein/Sondheim/Laurents/Robbins musical was originally scheduled to open Nov. 1, but was postponed to January due to some casting delays. Amor sin Barreras will tryout in Guadalajara's Teatro Galerias with two performances on Dec. 21 before heading to Mexico City for an open-ended run.

Mariana Garza, who played Rizzo in the 1984 all-children revival of Grease!, will star as Maria. Also in the cast are Guillermo Mendez (who recently directed The Fantasticks), Carmen Delgado, Cesar Balcazar (who is also directing and producing) and 28 singers and dancers.

Designing Amor sin Barreras are Luis Fernando Payan (sets), Carlos Trejo (lights) and Gabriela Sanchez (costumes). Juan Gonzalez will recreate Jerome Robbins' legendary choreography while Jesus Cardoso will be the musical director.

There were rumors that the show would open at one of the Fabregas' family theatres, but according to Balcazar (the producer) he is still in negotiations to secure the theatre that will house this long anticipated revival. Balcazar told Playbill On-Line that there are plans to produce a cast recording of this revival, although no recording date has been set yet.

For information and tickets for the Dec. 21 performances of Amor sin Barreras, call the Teatro Galerias in Guadalajara, Mexico; at (52) (3) 631-0708. --By Claudio Carrera
Mexico Correspondent