On the eve of opening night, their nerves are shot. Their voices are cracking. And the trumpet section is under orders: No snickering.

Attention Cast of West Side Story

This is it, guys. The week we've all been waiting for. There's no more time. Know your lines, know your cues, know the MAMBO. We are on in less than five days.

Sign posted on drama club bulletin board.

MONDAY

After school ends, senior Starr Lucas, the drama club president, stands near the North County High School entrance and talks to Keith Jeffcoat, who plays one of the Jets in West Side Story, the spring musical.

Keith is on crutches. His left ankle is in a brace.

"You've got to be ready," Starr says.

"Mr. Shipley told me that if I'm not walking by Friday he'll break both my kneecaps," Keith replies.

Early Sunday, while he was delivering newspapers, Keith plucked a red tulip for his girlfriend. Jumping back into the truck, he tore ligaments in his ankle.

This is a problem. Keith plays Diesel, the biggest member of the Jets gang. He and one of the Sharks begin the fistfight that leads to the gang rumble. Wayne Shipley, the show's director, choreographed the scene blow-by-blow. If Keith can't walk, how can he fight?

"I'll be there," he vows.

Maybe they're jinxed. Last week, Jason Morgan, who plays Chino, one of the Sharks, suffered a collapsed lung. He's still recuperating at home.

"I may have to be Chino," Starr jokes.

"You're a goofball," Keith tells her.

"I didn't mess up my ankle," she counters.

"You're just jealous because that flower wasn't for you," he says.

"Ha!"

Starr heads outdoors, where ballplayers practice on the fields that surround the Anne Arundel County high school. She transforms her blue Volkswagen Beetle into a mobile billboard for the show, taping West Side Story posters on the hood. She's going to drive the car in the local Little League parade this weekend.

"I don't know how I'm going to make it this week," she says. "A lot of people aren't cooperating. They don't understand."

They will tonight.

THE TAPED MUSIC PLAYS. PAT Reynolds and Eli Senter circle each other, knives brandished. Eli plunges forward, Pat counters and --

"You haven't gotten that right once," Mr. Shipley says, interrupting them. "Listen to the music. You're 12 bars early."

This is the rumble, the final scene in Act I, the dramatic high point of the entire musical. It's the scene in which the leaders of the Jets and the Sharks are killed.