I Like To Be In America - The WSS Love Thread- Page 3

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 9:54am

James Barbour's voice is shockingly exciting as Riff in that clip.

Riff is usually more of a dancer, so I don't expect his vocal lines in the Quintet to have as much excitement as Maria's.

And Vanessa Williams is pure sex.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 10:34pm

I assume you are ALL watching the Jerome Robbins profile on PBS American Masters tonight.

[Pianolin717]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 10:51pm

nope we don't get it here :/
I would!!!
But I do have a question, I believe the answer is no, but, WSS will NOT be eligible for Best Choreography since they are utilizing the original choreography, correct?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 10:55pm

you can buy it from pbs.org

[Pianolin717]

Posted: 2/21/09 at 10:12am

two days!!
Anyone going to the first preview on Monday?!

[Pianolin717]

Posted: 2/21/09 at 10:12am

Updated On: 2/21/09 at 10:12 AM

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 2/21/09 at 10:18am

Seeing it on the 7th...so excited!

[shesamarshmallow]

Posted: 2/21/09 at 11:03am

I'm seeing the dress rehearsal tonight, I couldn't be more psyched!!!

[Pianolin717]

Posted: 2/21/09 at 11:09am

have fun shesamarshmallow!!! let us know what you think! dying to hear the changes made between DC and NYC

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 2/21/09 at 10:33pm

I saw Stephen Sondheim and Frank Rich tonight and they talked briefly about the West Side Story revival. Sondheim said that although they haven't made the change yet (i.e. don't expect to see it Monday), they're probably going to change I Have A Love back to English for clarity, but keep A Boy Like That in Spanish.

He also said Jerome Robbins was the biggest pain in the ass he has worked with (audience question), but also the only genius.

[Actor 7]

Posted: 2/22/09 at 12:52am

I would like to know if they are really using an orchestra that has 39 musicians. That would be one of the largest orchestra sizes since the old days of shows like Camelot. If someone goes to the previews and they list the instrumentation in the Playbill, I would like to know. I heard they have a big string section similar to the original orchestration. I have heard they had 28 musicians in Washington DC. That's a good size for today's Broadway standards. The Palace is a large theatre and does have a large and deep orchestra pit. Very curious about this.

[abitoftap]

Posted: 2/22/09 at 11:04am

We're in NY from the UK the week after easter, and WSS is one of the shows we want to see. We've got good discounts for Hair and 9 to 5, but are holding off for WSS.
What are the chances of discounts being available before we come over?

[Pianolin717]

Posted: 2/22/09 at 11:08am

There are no chances. It has been selling VERY well with an 8 million dollar advance in sales, which is pretty outstanding. So, if you want to see it you will have to pay full price, but, it is DEF worth it, IMO. I think discounts for this will appear after the summer

[theatreguy]

Posted: 2/22/09 at 11:33am

Actor 7, there are 30 musicians in the pit (actually, the drums and percussion are in the boxes).

[bethnor]

Posted: 2/22/09 at 3:04pm

Hope we get some great reviews from those who go!

really? unless a miracle happens, this is what i would expect: amongst those who have not seen many staged productions of WSS, reviews will be very positive. amongst those who have seen many incarnations of the show, reactions will be much more mixed... probably mixed to negative. this isn't a prediction so much as a reflection of general user reviews of the DC previews. i was actually so discouraged by the negative reaction to the show that the last night i went (1/14), i was expecting the audience to hate it, too. but they genuinely seemed to love it.

as someone who truly enjoyed this production, i am hoping for a miracle, but we seem somewhat short on those these days. i hope the cast the crew really didn't just start rehearsals just one week ago, and have been doing whatever is necessary to make sure the show is as good as it deserves to be. particularly laurents. best of luck to this production as it enters previews.

[Pianolin717]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 12:35am

Tonight!

[Drunk Chita Rivera]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 7:15am

I'm so excited. I can't wait to see it next weekend!

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 9:47am

I'll be there tonight! Who else is coming?

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 2:01pm

I was at the invited dress on Saturday and while I won't post a review (bad form), I will say that overall I enjoyed it very much. It's my favorite show even though I am sorely aware of how flawed it is, but I was pleasantly surprised by this production. Based on the some of the out-of-town word of mouth, I was dreading this, but ultimately I would call this production a success (though far from perfect). They've changed some of the Spanish back to English, and I thought many of the moments in which the switch from Spanish to English occurs were well-chosen and often poignant. I still say though that they took something that wasn't broken and fixed it while ignoring the aspects of the show that are actually in need of fixing, but I digress.

Laurents made an announcement at the beginning of the show that much of the cast had been ill recently and that Josefina's voice hadn't totally come back. He said that he didn't know how much she would be able to sing or not sing. Thankfully, she was able to sing most of it (she had to mark some of the higher soprano stuff), but you can tell that she has a stunning voice. I thought her acting was spot on as well, and I can't wait to see how she continues to grow in the role. And Karen Olivo... someone get her a Tony please!

I don't really want to go into it anymore than that, but I hope all of you attending tonight have a wonderful time! I couldn't be happier to have this classic back on Broadway where it belongs!

[Actor 7]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 2:11pm

Wow! Thirty musicians will make for a very full and beautiful sound. It rarely happens that you get orchestras of this size on Broadway these days. I bet it will sound great. Can't wait to see it and hear it.

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 5:14pm

The orchestra didn't sound that big. I was a little disappointed by that.

[Pianolin717]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 5:18pm

really? It sounded big to me when I went, maybe its because I was front row

[caitlinette]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 7:52pm

I wonder why Josefina's understudy didn't go on for her if her voice wasn't very strong?

[scott68]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 8:31pm

I mean, it was the invited dress, so it was filled with industry people. It was in their best interests to have Josefina out there and impressing people, especially as she's the biggest unknown in the production. Anyway, despite the fact that she was sick, she really impressed me, so much that I'm tempted to go back and see it again to hear her in full voice.

And the orchestra did sound a little less full than I'd expected, though it wasn't too big a disappointment in my mind.

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 1:05am

Well, I'm a sucker for big orchestras.