Anyone seeing WEST SIDE STORY in D.C. today?- Page 2

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 2:36am

Thank you for your thoughts

So is "Womb to tomb" and "Sperm to worm" gone?

and does KRUPKE end with "Officer Krupke, f*ck you." ?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 2:37am

What is it with people here and curtains? I don't get how that's an essential detail at all.

It might not be essential, but it is part of the experience. You get your playbill, you take your seat and (when there is one) you look up at the show curtain and it sets a mood and charges the atmostphere creating a buzz throughout the house before the show has even begun. Sometimes it's magical.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 2:56am

Yeah but is it an essential piece of information regarding a first preview. I admire Rentboy's pluck and passion but his questions are either research he doesn't want to do or questions about banal details about the set.

How is Cody Green as Riff?

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 2:56am

ljay889 -- the actual lyric that ends the KRUPKE number is:

"... gee, Office Krupke, krup you!"

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 3:03am

ljay, those lines are still in it, and it ends "Krup you" from what I could understand.

The curtain was a basic gold house curtain that's probably been hanging in the National Theatre for decades. Nothing special.

The more I think about it, I would have preferred if they put the subtitles above the stage instead of on screens off to the side. I usually have no problem with subtitled movies, because the text at the bottom catches my attention without pulling me away from the visuals. Here, I had to recognize they were speaking Spanish, recognize it was Spanish I didn't understand, shift my sightline over to focus on the screen and start reading- only to have missed the first two lines in the process. During the Sharks' conversations, I felt like I had to choose between seeing what was happening and understanding what was being said.

Updated On: 12/16/08 at 03:03 AM

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 3:04am

Fosse, I know that.

But when someone joined and posted here about a month ago spilling all the details from the WSS rehearsals, they said the ending lyric was changed. The posts were deleted quickly, it could have all been lies.

ugh, I cannot believe he kept "sperm to worm" and "tomb to womb." Updated On: 12/16/08 at 03:04 AM

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 3:11am

So since you're not commenting on anything bad about the show, skittles, and you didn't mention Cody Green, can we assume he wasn't a standout? I think he's a talented dancer but lacks the right look for Riff.

[bethnor]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 3:39am

i did not give a detailed review because i do not think i am qualified to give one.

that said. for me, karen did have the fire of anita for her singing and acting, and knocked it out of the park in those arenas. but if you know the original choreography, she did not do all of it for either the dance at the gym or america (i could be mistaken). i enjoyed the production and i want it to do well, but this is one of the things that worries me a little because it WILL be noticed when it hits broadway. my point of reference is charlotte d'amboise's performance as anita at jerome robbins' broadway on youtube, as well as the clips of debbie allen and rita moreno. despite the griping about cavenaugh's age, it was actually karen who registered as oldest opposite scaglione--which i believe to be the real life case. not a value judgment, btw, just something to note.

as far as i could tell, the f bomb was never dropped. but there was liberal use of racial slurs, and i swear i heard "sh*t" peppered throughout the play, though in none of the dialogue, per se.

cody green was a standout for me, but i admit my biases. when he is speaking to tony in the beginning, there is a slight quiver in his voice, that is not present when he speaks to the other jets, which to me was evocative of that awareness that you know that one of your close friends is drifting away and you're not quite sure what to do about it, that most of us felt as we turned eighteen and everyone goes their separate ways. that was a nice touch. he radiated a palpable hatred for the sharks and i was pleasantly surprised by his singing voice. his dancing was outstanding, but all the jets were. YMMV.



Updated On: 12/16/08 at 03:39 AM

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 3:46am

Heh, if I didn't mention it, it wasn't necessarily bad, just not the forefront of my perspective. I will be critical in future posts, but I didn't want the first response to the first night of the out of town tryout to be picking apart the negatives and badmouthing actors who are still in a glorified rehearsal.

His look probably isn't something I can comment on, though. I was in the balcony; they all looked about 4 feet tall. Honestly, with Cody Green, after I read in his bio that he was in the god-awful Center Stage sequel, anything he could have done would have been an improvement.

Updated On: 12/16/08 at 03:46 AM

[Trish2]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 4:10am

"Love it! All these posts and not ONE single review of the show. One non-detailed and vague opinion and hords of pointless rants. "

I'm with you on this one Brody. Nothing very cohesive in these early posts. Considering the scope of the piece, it's surprising how much they neglected to comment on. I'm sure someone more seasoned in review structure will be seeing it shortly though.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 4:30am

I said my post wasn't supposed to be a review. I don't like reviews in general. I posted about the Spanish content because based on all I've read over the past 8 months, that's the only thing anyone seemed to care about in this revival.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 6:21am

Gee, give the two posters with opinions a break. THey told about the stuff they felt was paramount. If you have specific questions: ask...don't chastise them for not writing about what you want to know!


Looking forward to additional comments on the show.

[MCfan2]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 7:22am

What's the zodiac thingie? I read the review on the other site but didn't get what they were talking about.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 7:26am

I don't see anything wrong with what Bethnor and Orangeskittles posted. They gave me an idea of what I'm in store for on Thursday. I kind of appreciate that they didn't spill everything.

I have one point I whole heartedly disagree with Bethnor - the government might be hiring a lot of people, but, there are other sectors in DC that are greatly affected by the economic downturn. Being in the law industry I have seen many of my friends and co-workers lose their jobs as of late, with no end in sight. This isn't just with my present firm, but firms throughout the city.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 7:41am

Zodiac Thing: in some photos posted of the set there was a strange zodiac-like symbol....I can't remember when it appeared...in the street scene perhaps.

It reminded many of a wicked-esque image.

[morosco]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 8:01am

Is this production using the overture?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 8:19am

So Arthur didn't change the godawful Jets dialogue.

Frabbo-jabbo!

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 8:27am

PalJoey, did you really think he'd change that?! I was in a summer theatre production of WSS in 1979 and even then my reaction to that dialogue was, "who talks like that?"

[bethnor]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 8:33am

What's really bizarre is that both of us qualified our posts beforehand, that it would not be substantive. And no one else in the thread had seen the show, so there was no way they could review it, so it seems doubly off to be surprised that the thread would be full of thorough reviews.

There were questions about discounted tickets and I felt compelled to answer. I also felt the need to guide prospective viewers as to their seats, as I wasn't crazy with mine (too lateral, though I did have a good view of the performers, I was watching their backsides more often than I'd like).

Everything else I commented on was incidental and that's it.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 8:54am

Geez for all the people having a go at the posters for posting reviews which are not to your liking....go watch it yourself

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 9:12am

I was in a summer theatre production of WSS in 1979 and even then my reaction to that dialogue was, "who talks like that?"

Isn't that kind of the point? Laurents made up his own slang rather than use real 1950s slang in an effort to seem timeless. Whether you think he achieved that or not is one thing, but it's pointless to complain about the fact that it's not real slang, because it's not supposed to be.

Whenever I hear "womb to tomb, sperm to worm" I always thought it was a stupid little code just between Tony and Riff. You know, the kind of thing they've been saying for years that they made up. I have stupid little catchphrases and inside jokes with my friends that would sound stupid to anyone else. I think if you approach that line that way, it adds to their history and friendship.

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 9:24am

yes, but only a super-cultured homo like Laurents would come up with "timeless street slang" such as "frabbo jabbo".

I'm sure more and more of it will go as he sees it more. He's fun to poke fun at, but there's no question that Arthur Laurents is a brilliant director and truly a gift and treasure to the American musical theatre.

I have the utmost faith in this revival - I also can't wait to see Scaglione.

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 9:37am

Karen Olivo should prepare her Tony speech. Seriously, what's her real competition for that award with barely any shows opening?

Those subtitles don't sound good to me. It would have been much less lazy to change around the blocking so that we get the gist of what they're saying. It seems like Arthur only made some parts "more authentic" while keeping his hilarious "street slang" that sounds like, well, Arthur Laurents trying to write 1950s teen slang.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 9:41am

PiraguaGuy2, if Haydn Gwynne goes in Featured Actress for BILLY ELLIOT as rumored (since the producers learned their lesson the hard way when they put her in Lead for the Oliviers,) she's pretty stiff competition.

[NY_Broadway2]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 9:57am

I have to see this production when it goes to New York! WSS is one of my favorite musicals and I would love to see a new interpretation of it. I hope they record a cd of it.