Anita Dancing 'America'- Page 2

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 11:32am

Here, from a dancer friend, the changes made for Karen:

First, Anita and Bernado's variation in the dance at the gym is way simplified: Karen basically shimmies and he dips her. She gives a small kick over his head while he kneels, but this is supposed to be a huge fan kick, followed by a flick into a double partner-turn to the floor with a partnered layout at the end, featuring HER, not Bernardo. They don't do any of that.

Then in America, Anita's first variation was previously solo, but Karen is immediately joined by two girls. This particular variation was always supposed to be Anita's technical specialty, but it is severely toned down for Karen.

Not one single ounce of the ballet/theater synthesis Robbins was so adept at remains.

Some of the more charming, quirky sections that are fast enough to mask her technical shortcomings are partially intact, but only in bits and pieces.

Finally, the most iconic part of the dance--the huge jumps at the end that mirror the huge crescendo in music--are replaced by single turns and are completely anticlimactic.

The audience still goes wild though.

Updated On: 3/9/09 at 11:32 AM

[ljay889]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 11:35am

Thanks for that!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 11:39am

I think the reason the audience goes wild is the crescendo in Lenny's music and the fact that the girls are moving downstage in unison, not Karen's dancing.

[ljay889]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 11:45am

Agreed. I was disappointed with the number. It was good, but there was no spark.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 11:47am

What a difference between the clip and what occurs in the present production. None of "America" pops now.

I liked Karen as Anita, but the one thing I mentioned the first time I saw her was that her dancing lacked any kind of spark or excitement.

[shesamarshmallow]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 11:59am

Can someone explain to me why Anita has to be a dancer? Is it just because she always has been?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 12:06pm

For the same reason Tony has to be a good singer: She has two numbers in the first act to cement her connection with the audience: "The Dance at the Gym" and "America."

If she doesn't soar in those two numbers, the show never reaches its most exciting potential.

Similarly, if Tony doesn't thrill the audience with "Something's Coming" and "Maria," the show never reaches its most exciting potential.

Does that answer your question, marshmallow?

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 12:12pm

Those changes just make me want to cry.
Olivo is a wonderful actress and singer, but it seems like a slap in the face (by Laurents not Olivo) to all the dancers who can dance the role but were overlooked.

She should be a dancer because it is the way the character was created. She says so much about her passion and fire during her dance numbers. Watch Debbie Allen again and you will see how discriptive she is with body and face. Remember Robbins was using, for pretty mich the first time, a cast that had to sing, act and dance. Before that you had a group of singers and a group of dancers. Think Dream Curley and Dream Laurie.
Updated On: 3/9/09 at 12:12 PM

[shesamarshmallow]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 12:13pm

It answers my question, but not in a way I find satisfactory. Tony's songs are both character and plot-defining and essential to finding him a sympathetic and interesting character, and comparing them to the dance aspects of "Dance at the Gym" and "America" is comparing apples to oranges. Speaking specifically of Karen Olivo, I think she connects with the audience immediately because of her dynamic personality, great acting and a fabulous voice. She does fade a little in "Dance at the Gym," but "America"? Really? That number has great choreography, but I don't find it any less thrilling just because Karen's a little stiffer than Debbie Allen.

[ljay889]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 12:17pm

Yeah. But Karen's choreography HAS been dumbed down for America. The number doesn't reach its full potential for that reason.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 12:25pm

Tony's songs are both character and plot-defining and essential to finding him a sympathetic and interesting character

Similarly, Anita's dances are ALSO both "character and plot-defining" and "essential to finding him a sympathetic and interesting character."

Like it or not, that was Jerome Robbins's innovation here, and in On the Town: The story and the characters would be advanced by all three elements: acting, song and dance. But each happens in certain parts of the show.

The crescendo that Bernstein composed into America and Robbins (or Gennaro, actually) choreographed into it define the indomitable spirit of Anita...and, by extension, the rest of her community.

Updated On: 3/9/09 at 12:25 PM

[WestVillage]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 12:27pm

Having seen Debbie Allen & Company in the last revival, and from reading all these comments, I think this is a WSS I will skip. Debbie was THRILLING, and if Anita isn't thrilling, and Tony is miscast and the choreography dumbed down to satisfy the lack of dancing ability, I have absolutely no interest in seeing a production that sounds guaranteed to disappoint. I'll stick with my memories of a fabulous production (and those wonderful youtube clips), and save myself a chunk of money that sounds like it would be wasted otherwise.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 12:53pm

That clip of America had more passion and tension in it then the entire present revival has! The applause for America when I saw it last week was a little bit above polite.

Wow, I forgot how good Debbie Allen was in that role.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 1:01pm

Also through her dancing Anita shows us part of why she is Bernardo's girl. He is the Leader of the gang so his girl must stand out above the others, and the heat and chemistry they show in DANCE AT THE GYM establishes them as a very hot couple making his death more important to her and it also makes the Un Hombre Asi/I Have A Love so poignant.

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 1:12pm

Other than her dancing though, Karen Olivo is amazing. Her acting is heartbreaking and her voice is perfect.

I can understand how some of you would have a problem with the dancing because of the precedent set by Chita and Debbie. I'm angry the dancing was changed too. But I have the feeling the majority of theatergoers won't even noticed.

[LadyDramaturg2]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 2:04pm

… that was Jerome Robbins's innovation here, and in On the Town: The story and the characters would be advanced by all three elements: acting, song and dance…

The idea that the dancer is an actor who emotes and narrates with his/her body is not innovative to most classical dancers, I would think, and is part of ballet artistry (for example) that dates back farther than recorded choreography. I’d bet that Agnes de Mille choreographed from that perspective, contemporaneously with Robbins.

But Robbins’ innovation, perhaps, was that he tried to bring that dance-movement-as-character-exposition thing into contemporary theater dance. And as Pendleton articulated in the Robbins documentary (recently aired), Robbins was deeply committed to translating his (emotional) analysis of the story into movement, as a primary goal. Primal, almost.

So that’s why it’s so important for Anita to be the dancer that he created her to be: her stand-out dancing defined her as a character, and her place in the story. To “dumb-down” her choreography is like removing a key structural support –- add Tony’s mediocre singing, goofy costumes, weird pacing, desecrated Ballet, missed-the-point ending tableau, -- now the building falls down.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 2:11pm

Well, Piragua, unfortunately for anyone involved in a revival, there are going to be comparisions to others who have played the part. And now with Utube, we can see others with a touch of a mouse.
When the Nathan Lane FORUM opened the Times review compared almost everyone (unfavorably) to the originals.
Also, the phrase "Other than her dancing" sounds so wrong to me when we are talking about Anita, and what is amazing to one may be pedestrian to another.

[commasplice]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 2:50pm

"The girl with her, on the left, who doesn't dance, is a very young Harolyn Blackwell, who went on to become an opera star, touring with Pavarotti at the end of his career."

She was also Cunegonde in the last revival of Candide :)

[ACL2006]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 3:02pm

Yamil also had a nice career in Europe where she toured with A Chorus Line on and off from 1990-1997 as well as other productions.

[CSonBroadway]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 3:19pm

This may be cheesy, but watching the version of America in the movie made me fall in love with the Sharks..because of their joy, energy, and passion that they executed with their dancing. It may be campy...but it made me fall in love with all the Sharks and made me be on their side.

And can they cast Natalie Cortez as the Anita replacement please? She can sing, act, and DANCE amazingly.

[LadyDramaturg2]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 3:26pm

CS -- great idea! But how long will it take before somebody says that Natalie Cortez is too OLD?

[TheCharleston]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 3:27pm

Karen can't dance. Kick her out!

[CSonBroadway]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 3:30pm

I think Natalie Cortez is around Karen's age...but I could be wrong.

[hmpeterson]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 3:43pm

Can someone explain to me why Anita has to be a dancer? Is it just because she always has been?


Other people have mentioned this before. Basically that because Chita Rivera, Rita Moreno, and Debbie Allen had been cast as Anita in the past, that is why Anita is perceived to be a dancer's role.

Pal Joey would probably answer this better than me but in my opinion, that is exactly why Chita, Rita, and Debbie were cast....it is a triple threat role with the main emphasis on the dancing. These 3 actresses didn't make Anita's role a dancer's role because of their abilities. It was always a dancer's role so therefore that is why those women were cast! Anita's way to shine in this show is through her dancing. Of course her acting and singing must be great but the dancing is what sets her apart from everyone else. If she just blends in or is satisfactory, then what is her point? What makes her special from everyone else?

I think most people agree that Karen is the highlight of this revival. And no one can knock her acting and singing. But she is one of my favorite all time broadway characters and when I go to see Anita, I want her to blow me away with her dancing. And it sounds as if this was dumbed down to suit what she can do. That's disappointing.

[logan0215]

Posted: 3/9/09 at 4:17pm

Furthermore, she doesn't even need to be THAT stellar of a singer. "A Boy Like That" is basically talk-singing as is the majority of America (yell-singing?). If you listen to Chita in WSS vs. the Rink you'll see which one required a real singer's singer.

I don't think by puffing up the quality of Anita's singing/acting it therefore justifies lowering the quality of her dancing, especially because the singing, I would say, comes third in that triple threat tribunal.