This past weekend, Daniella Castoria played the part of Anita in Gulf Coast Symphony’s production of “West Side Story.” For Castoria, the role is an illustration of life imitating art.
“Anita is this fiery, fun, ball of energy,” said Castoria. “She is your true triple threat. She loves everything about being able to come to America and start a new life here. All of her dreams are coming true in America, everything that she wanted. She’s starting to bring over as much of her family as she can. America for her is like a brand-new start, and she loves it.”
Castoria is also fun-loving and energetic. Theatrically, she too is a true triple threat. But in addition to excelling at singing, dancing and acting, she has also worked as a director, choreographer, educator and voiceover artist. She utilized that skill set to make the character distinctly her own.
“All of the greats that get to play Anita, from Rita Moreno to Chita Rivera to Debbie Allen and Karen Olivo [the first and only actor to win a Tony Award for a performance in “West Side Story”] … have made her their own, and to find how they created such an iconic role and made it their own on their body, that’s what I had to do to honor her because she is a legend,” Castoria said.
Castoria had an even closer connection to Anita and “West Side Story.”
“It’s almost basically my family story,” Castoria remarked. “My mom came to New York to marry my dad, and I was born in New York. My mom did not speak any English at all. She brought my grandma over from the Dominican Republic and my grandma spoke no English. So I learned how to speak Spanish at a young age as a second language and translate it for my entire family.”
Daniella witnessed her mother’s assimilation into American culture and life up close.
“I would go with my mother to night school, watching my mom get her citizenship,” Castoria recalled. “I remember coming home from school and my mom didn’t even have her driver’s license yet, so she would walk me to dance classes. It’s such a full circle for me to be able to tell this story for them.”
For singer, dancer and actress Daniella Castoria, life really does imitate art.
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To prepare for the role of Anita, Castoria spent a great deal of time studying the script, took vocal lessons and did physical training designed to increase and sustain the stamina needed for the role.
She also drew upon her previous experience in working with “West Side Story” director and choreographer Amy Marie McCleary. The duo previously worked together when Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre produced “A Chorus Line.” Castoria played Deanna Morales.
“So I knew what I was in for with Miss Amy McCleary's choreography,” Castoria said jovially. “I knew that I was going to be dancing hard. I knew that I needed to be ready to take it on, so I definitely spent a few weeks just preparing.”
Regarding the choreography, Castoria readily acknowledges that the dance numbers and fight routines are a level above what she’s experienced in other shows.
“Being able to execute such complex choreography comes down to how you’re being taught the choreography,” Castoria observed. “And we’re so blessed to have Amy as our choreographer. We started day one learning ‘America’ and by day two, we were done learning the dance, the entire number.”
In addition to the physical stamina required by the dance numbers, Castoria also found the role emotionally exacting. Anita, like Maria, traverses a dynamic character arc from act one to act two.
“Anita is raw and honest,” Castoria observed. “She’s sarcastic and fun, but you really see a different side of her from act one to act two. In act one, she’s fun and filled with the promise of the American dream. In act two, she discovers that maybe America isn’t what she thought it was and you start to see what that does to her as a human and how she deals with the things around her. It’s really incredible to watch how deep she has to go, but even after all the bad things that happen to her [her boyfriend is killed, she’s almost gang raped and her best friend threatens to run away with her boyfriend’s killer], she doesn’t say she wants to go back. She still wants to stay in America.”
Castoria trained in song, dance and acting at Broadway Dance Center, Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, Millennium Dance Complex, Marymount Manhattan College and Hussian College in Studio LA. She continues to refine her craft in both Los Angeles and New York, as well as in regional stage roles around the country.
Among her stated industry goals are booking a Broadway show, becoming a series regular on TV and getting the opportunity to become a showrunner one day.
Recent stage credits include Diana Morales in “A Chorus Line” (Laguna Playhouse & Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre), Annette in “Saturday Night Fever” (Laguna Playhouse), Erato in “Xanadu” (Laguna Playhouse), Ensemble (Alyssa Greene U/S) in The Prom (Slowburn Theatre Co), Ella Paterson in “Annie Warbucks" (Surflight Theatre), Ensemble in “Disaster” (Surflight Theatre), Joanne Klein/Sapphire de la Teer in “Honeymoon in Vegas” (Slow Burn Theatre), Ensemble of “Evita” (Axelrod Performing Arts), #25 Captain in “The Wolves” (Studio School Los Angeles) and Soldier in “The Nutcracker” (Atlantic City Ballet).
She’s also had the lead in four independent films, “Bruddles,” “Satan’s Seven,” “Now Loading” and “Disconnected.”
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.