Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story "concept"
Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story "concept"
#1Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story "concept"
Posted: 12/18/07 at 9:22pm
Sondheim and Laurents are being understandably tight-lipped about their approach to the West Side Story revival.
They promise that it will be contemporary without changing a word of the text..
My guess is a concept something like.. an inner city high school puts on a production of West Side Story. They bring a modern day urban youth sensibility to the golden age classic.
How do you think they will present West Side Story?
What great ones do the less will prattle of
Updated On: 12/18/07 at 09:22 PM
#2re: Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story 'concept'
Posted: 12/18/07 at 9:26pmIt takes place years later in an Insane Asylum and is put on by Maria and the other asylum people
-Benjamin
--http://www.benjaminadgate.com/
--http://www.benjaminadgate.com/
Link Larkin Wanabe
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/1/04
#2re: Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story 'concept'
Posted: 12/18/07 at 9:27pm
They project the movie onto a giant screen at the front of the theatre....but its THREE DIMENSIONAL!
Akiva
Updated On: 12/18/07 at 09:27 PM
#3speculate on the mysterious west side story 'concept'
Posted: 12/18/07 at 9:42pmfour words: gay alien space c*ckroaches.
r.i.p. marco, my guardian angel.
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
#4re: Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story 'concept'
Posted: 12/18/07 at 9:43pmIt's performed by a cast of Middle Eastern midgets in white face! Except the role of Maria is played by Harvey Fierstein.
"Somethin's comin', I don't know what it is but it is gonna be great!"
#5re: Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story 'concept'
Posted: 12/18/07 at 9:44pm
On roller-skates,
Oh, and they're all vampires.
Mattbrain
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/23/05
#6re: Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story 'concept'
Posted: 12/18/07 at 9:47pmLaurents will direct it with some kind of concept in that overinflated head of his and we'll all go see it and all we'll see is your average run of the mill production of West Side Story.
Butters, go buy World of Warcraft, install it on your computer, and join the online sensation before we all murder you.
--Cartman: South Park
ATTENTION FANS: I will be played by James Barbour in the upcoming musical, "BroadwayWorld: The Musical."
yellibean2
Featured Actor Joined: 5/17/06
#7re: Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story 'concept'
Posted: 12/18/07 at 9:49pmB3 - How did I guess someone who suggest that?
#8re: Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story 'concept'
Posted: 12/18/07 at 10:32pmThe Sharks will all be played by illegal immigrants.
husk_charmer
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/06
#9re: Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story 'concept'
Posted: 12/18/07 at 10:49pmI actually figured they'd somehow be gay.....
http://www.youtube.com/huskcharmer
neddyfrank2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/23/05
#10re: Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story 'concept'
Posted: 12/18/07 at 11:04pm
My guess is that they will probably just do the whole thing naked.
Updated On: 12/18/07 at 11:04 PM
#11re: Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story 'concept'
Posted: 12/18/07 at 11:06pmIt'll be an all Asian cast.
"I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about." - Oscar Wilde
DrTheatre
Broadway Star Joined: 9/23/05
#12re: Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story 'concept'
Posted: 12/18/07 at 11:06pm
I think that it will take place in present time and at the end of the show, they all sing "Were All In This Together"!
"In the U.S.A.
You can have your say,
You can set you goals
And seize the day,
You've been given the freedom
To work your way
To the head of the line-
To the head of the line!"
---Stephen Sondheim
#13re: Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story 'concept'
Posted: 12/18/07 at 11:27pmI'm preying to god that that get Matthew Bourne to choreograph. That's the only way they'll get me to see it.
#14re: Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story 'concept'
Posted: 12/18/07 at 11:31pmThey rename it "Rivera West Side Story." Chita will play all of the parts. Her Quintet will win her the Tony.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
#15re: Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story 'concept'
Posted: 12/18/07 at 11:31pmRicky Martin and Enrique. And that's it. You got your Bernardo and your Chino.
"Just remembering you've had an 'and' when you're back to 'or'
Makes the or mean more, than it did before..."
#16re: Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story 'concept'
Posted: 12/18/07 at 11:50pmIt will be identical to the 1957 production, but The New York Times and the theater websites will declare it a "daring new reimagining." It will be the Emperor's New Clothes all over again.
#17re: Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story 'concept'
Posted: 12/18/07 at 11:51pmI'm thinking the same thing Joey.
#18re: Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story 'concept'
Posted: 12/19/07 at 12:16amWhen they remake the movie based on the new production, Maria will be played by Queen Latifah and Tony will be played by Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, AND Ewan McGregor.
jmh7940
Swing Joined: 10/3/07
#19re: Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story 'concept'
Posted: 12/19/07 at 12:39am
has anyone seen the West Side Story medley clip where Cher plays every character in full costume? She plays 4 different Jets in split screen for the Jet Song, sings Somewhere as Tony, Tonight as Maria, and the Tonight Reprise as Anita, Maria, Bernardo, AND Riff in split screen, among other songs. My favorite switch is from Tony directly into Maria. She goes from man to woman but has the same exact voice. Perhaps Cher could star as all the roles in the revival then?
(This clip is really out there in all seriousness. I've seen it twice, quite hilarious.)
#20re: Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story 'concept'
Posted: 12/19/07 at 12:40amAfter all these years, Marni Nixon is Maria.
"Just remembering you've had an 'and' when you're back to 'or'
Makes the or mean more, than it did before..."
#21re: Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story 'concept'
Posted: 12/19/07 at 12:41amThat clip is part of the Cher show and is hilarious. I love me some Cher, she actually rocks as Anita in the clip.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#22re: Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story 'concept'
Posted: 12/19/07 at 12:55am
Here it is:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZa7tBfPo_U
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HBPAgOvAXo
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
jmh7940
Swing Joined: 10/3/07
#23re: Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story 'concept'
Posted: 12/19/07 at 1:14amThank you for posting. That just made my day. I'm so glad it's on youtube to watch whenever I want!!
#24re: Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story 'concept'
Posted: 12/19/07 at 1:41am
As far as I can see, there's only two possible ways it can go:
Maria, at age seventy, tells her grandchildren of what life was like way back in the 1950s. The whole thing occurs as a flashback, every now and then punctuated by current Maria's commentary. (The kids also ask about the odd parallels between the story and Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, which Maria doesn't realize until the kids point it out.) And the whole thing ends with Maria's sad realization that she probably should have killed herself after the whole ordeal (for closure as well as greater dramatic effect), thus sending her grandchildren into a state of shock and inspiring in them a killing rampage much like "Silent Night, Deadly Night".
Or, a die-hard theater aficionado, going through his collection of vinyl albums, finds his vintage 'West Side Story' record and plays it in his apartment, and the characters come to life and perform the show in his apartment, every now and then punctuated by the theater aficionado's commentary.
"You mean what was the best picture of the year or what did they pick as the best picture of the year?" - California Suite
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