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
