West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
broadwaybelter
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/26/04
#1West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 5:22pm
"A revival of the classic American musical West Side Story — directed by its librettist, Arthur Laurents — will make its premiere at The National Theatre in Washington, DC, in December before arriving on Broadway in 2009.
About the revival, Laurents had previously said it would be "radically different from any production ever done and contemporary to boot."
Laurents-Directed West Side Story to Bow at the National in DC Prior to Broadway
Updated On: 3/4/08 at 05:22 PM
#2re: West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 5:27pm
Hey David Miller! Still busy?
*snort*
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
morosco
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/10/04
#2re: West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 5:30pmExciting! Didn't the original production also try out at The National prior to Broadway?
#3re: West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 5:33pm
I thought Jerry Mitchell was going to re-create Robbins' choreography, oh well.
I can't wait to hear about casting and the "revolutionary" aspects of the show.
"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"
BrodyFosse123
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
#4re: West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 5:40pm
Whoo-hoo! Joey McKneely is recreating Jerome Robbins' choreography! At least he learned it directly from the master himself when he was a cast member of JEROME ROBBINS' BROADWAY back in 1989.
AnnaK<3LMIP
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/20/07
#5re: West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 5:44pm
WEST SIDE STORY REVIVAL?!!!
Thank goodness!
I'm queasy about these revolutionary ideas...
I mean, Denzel Washington? Gun to my head..of course.
WestVillage
Broadway Star Joined: 7/20/05
#6re: West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 5:46pm
"I can't wait to hear about casting and the "revolutionary" aspects of the show."
I read or heard somewhere that some of the dialogue/songs were going to be in Spanish, to further distinguish the cultural differences and the prejudices.
AnnaK<3LMIP
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/20/07
#7re: West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 5:50pm
OH.
Love that.
I mean, Denzel Washington? Gun to my head..of course.
DrTheatre
Broadway Star Joined: 9/23/05
#8re: West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 5:51pmIf AL is to pass away between now and 2009...then what happens?
"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
#9re: West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 5:53pm
Or maybe Sondheim will be permitted to rewrite some of his awful lyrics. (It's alarming how charming I feel!)
But really, I can't wait! Despite the fact that he's an old, bitter prune, I hoe Laurents stays with us for this. I don't THINK he'll die anyway, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
AnnaK<3LMIP
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/20/07
#10re: West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 6:21pmOk, LOOK jv. Maybe it really was alarming how charming she felt.
I mean, Denzel Washington? Gun to my head..of course.
#11re: West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 6:24pm
But I think the world was just a little more than just an address, even in 1957...
I love Sondheim. He's brilliant. Something's Coming and the Jet Song are brilliant lyrics. America is fun, but hard to understand unless you're very familiar with it. Some of the other ones are okay too. They're just not up to his usual standard.
#12re: West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 6:24pmI hope it is nothing like that god awful tour that is going around Europe nowadays with the modern costumes and flat shoes and bare feet and projections. ewwwww
"For me, THEATRE is an anticipation, an artistic rush, an emotional banquet, a jubilant appreciation, and an exit hopeful of clearer thought and better worlds."
~ an anonymous traveler with Robert Burns
#13re: West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 6:30pmwest side story remixed lol
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
AnnaK<3LMIP
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/20/07
#14re: West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 6:35pm
WSS remixed would make me scratch my eyes out.
Fair enough jv. But whenever I feel that way about Sondheim, I just remember some other composers...
I mean, Denzel Washington? Gun to my head..of course.
#15re: West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 6:38pm
Oh God, I know. I Feel Pretty is work of genius compared to some of the stuff in The Phantom of the Opera.
I love Sondheim and West Side, just not some of the lyrics in that show. The only one I truly hate is One Hand, One Heart. I can take I Feel Pretty in small doses though.
#16re: West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 6:41pmSo excited for this!
"Everytime you step on that stage it is somebody's first Broadway show and somebody's last Broadway show. Make it count."
#17re: West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 6:47pmWow, I will definetly be there! It's not too often that shows try out around here. I think that last show that did a pre-Broadawy run in D.C. was HOT FEET.
"You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!" - Betty Parris to Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller's The Crucible
wickedrentq
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/6/04
#18re: West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 9:13pm
Yup, the original tryout was in DC. 
Though I'm weary of any little change being made, all I have to say is not one note of Bernstein's score better be touched.
That out of the way, I'm so excited! I know what I'm gonna try to get as a holiday present next year!
"If there was a Mount Rushmore for Broadway scores, "West Side Story" would be front and center. It snaps, it crackles it pops! It surges with a roar, its energy and sheer life undiminished by the years" - NYPost reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli
#19re: West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 9:37pmI doubt Arthur would ever allow one note of his beloved Lenny's score to be touched, but I second that. Plus the Bernstein estate wouldn't allow it.
wickedrentq
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/6/04
#20re: West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 9:46pm
Oh, of course Arthur wouldn't change a note, look at my signature
"If there was a Mount Rushmore for Broadway scores, "West Side Story" would be front and center. It snaps, it crackles it pops! It surges with a roar, its energy and sheer life undiminished by the years" - NYPost reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli
#21re: West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 9:58pm
Natalie Cortez!
Make it happen!
#22re: West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 10:06pmI'm happy there is a revival.
"I saw Pavarotti play Rodolfo on stage and with his girth I thought he was about to eat the whole table at the Cafe Momus." - Dollypop
#23re: West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 10:11pm
I am a bit worried about how "contemporary" it'll be.
Mmmm, I do love Natalie Cortez.
"I mean, sitting side by side with another man watching Patti LuPone play Rose in GYPSY on Broadway is essentially the equivalent of having hardcore sex." -Wanna Be A Foster.
"Say 'Goody.' Say 'Bubbi.'" ... "That's it. Exactly as if it were 'Goody.' Now I know you're gonna sing 'Goody' this time, but nevertheless..."
Ole Chum
Leading Actor Joined: 12/6/07
#24re: West Side Story Revival To Bow in DC prior to Broadway
Posted: 3/4/08 at 11:17pmam i the only one who thinks karen olivo was born to play Maria?
