You know, I think Arthur Laurents might be trying too hard with this one.
I mean, to recreate the original Jerome Robbins choreography, yet intensify the story and make the characters realistic and violent...we have a dangerous contradiction here.
Gangsters don't dance. That's why the originals weren't realistic. If he can make it work, good for him, but I just can't see it happening in a consistent or enjoyable way.
Wouldn't Krysta be too old? If they are really going for 18 and under she is about 5 years too old. In any other revival I'm sure she would get the part.
I'm sure that eighteen-and-under isn't a hard and fast rule, especially if someone looks the part. But the problem with Krysta is that she's not a soprano (is anyone from SA really a legit soprano?), and I really doubt that she'd be able to sing Maria's part at all, let alone eight times a week. I could see her in the ensemble, though.
I chose, and my world was shaken. So what?
The choice may have been mistaken. The choosing was not.
If they are going for actual teenagers, Andrea Burns is old enough to play Doc. Her "I Have a Love" from A DEEPER SHADE OF RED is beautifully sung though.
"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"
I just don't understand the questioning of re-creating the original Jerome Robbins choreography. It was brilliant and is such an important component of the focus of the show as a whole. After FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, Robbins left Broadway for good and concentrated on creating ballets for the New York City Ballet. His work continues full force in the repertoire of that ballet company which performs at the New York State Theatre at Lincoln Center. You don't mess around with a master artist like Robbins, as unpleasant as he was as a person.