Anyone seeing WEST SIDE STORY in D.C. today?- Page 8

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 12/18/08 at 12:45am

seeing it tomorrow night...can't wait!!!

[KChenowethfan]

Posted: 12/18/08 at 12:58am

I just got back from the show. Overall it is in great shape. The dancing (and choreography) is wonderful. In terms of the performances, I thought Matt Cavenaugh was miscast. Definitely not believable as a young guy in love with a gang past. Vocals were very weak compared to Josefina Scaglione who is a real find. Beautiful soprano and quite good acting. I had quibbles with her accent going in and out (though it may have been intentional with attempts to assimilate etc.), but she was brilliant. Karen Olivo was also a scene stealer. Even in the large cast dance scenes, my eyes were drawn to her. Excellent singing and acting and dancing.

I came into this show excited that it would be bilingual in a lot of ways. It felt true and not forced in practice.

I loved the translations Lin Manuel did. I Feel Pretty is a major improvement from the English actually and he did the internal rhymes superbly. Unfortunately, I had to keep myself from looking over at the surtitle screen because I would get annoyed at the fact that they were not literal translations but the original English lyrics/text and would bring me "out" of the show. Yes, I understand why the difference is the case due to the nature of translations, but it still annoyed me as a Spanish speaker who understood the dialogue and some things didn't even remotely match up.

I plan to see it again in NY. It is a very exciting production.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/18/08 at 1:05am

Damn. I wish they were using the literal translations for the surtitles.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 12/18/08 at 1:13am

"I thought Matt Cavenaugh was miscast. Definitely not believable as a young guy in love with a gang past. Vocals were very weak compared to Josefina Scaglione"

Yikes...reading this scares me. I'm going into the show tomorrow wanting to love Matt Cavenaugh...

[NY_Broadway2]

Posted: 12/18/08 at 9:38am

I'm so interested in seeing this show. I'm very curious about the boy soprano as well. Spork - how do you feel about operatic countertenors then? Can you not stand it?

[Sleeper2]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 7:51am

Ditto to everything KChenofan said.

I thought this would be Cavenaugh's big return after the debacle of Urban Cowboy and slogging through the trenches of supporting roles in small shows and national tours.

But, sadly, it is not to be.

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 8:42am

Can anyone who has the Playbill tell us the understudies? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Drunk Chita Rivera]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 9:08am

The are on the site.

http://www.broadwaywestsidestory.com/cast.html

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 9:55am

Here goes:

I was highly anticipating this latest incarnation of West Side Story. Most of the production last night fell kind of flat for me.

What I liked about the production:

The cast. The performances were uniformly good. Matt Cavenaugh surprised me. I thought his acting and singing were fine. Josefina Scaglione was wonderful. I really like Karen Olivo's acting and singing as Anita, but she definitely read older on stage. Cody Green as Riff was just there. I could actually see Curtis Holbrook playing that role. I could not keep my eyes off of him whenever he was on stage. He definitely has a presence about him.

I loved the Quintet in terms of the staging, the singing and the spanish lyrics. It was finally when the show seemed to receive a bolt of energy. Up until then, things seemed kind of lackluster.

The dancers and choreography were amazing. The number I liked best in terms of dancing was the abbreviated dream ballet. It was the only time during the production that gave me tears. It was extremely beautiful. I loved how the dancers interacted with each other during that number. The choreography for "America" has definitely been altered.

I Feel Pretty was a complete joy! A Boy Like That was also very good. Karen and Josefina were both very strong in this number.

What I didn't like:

Let's start with the costumes (and the women's shoes). Definitely a lot of different periods going on throughout. To me it was all very distracting. So much so, that throughout I questioned, "What are the wearing?" The jeans the guys wore looked very current. The dresses the women wore, were all over the place. The mini skirts on the Jets girls...ugh!! The Sharks girls dresses looked like bad 80s prom/bridesmaids dresses. Sorry. Karen's dress for the dance at the gym was beautiful, but overall they need to go back to the drawing board.

Scrap the projections - both the zodiac sign ("Tonight") and stained glass window ("One Hand, One Heart") are not necessary and very distracting.

"America" kind of came off dull. It didn't have the zing that I've seen in other productions.

I'm very disappointed that they didn't do the complete dream ballet. But what was there was wonderful. The boy soprano didn't bother me at all. It worked.

The final scene needs to be reworked.

I'll be going back again Saturday night and probably once more towards the end of their DC run to see if any changes have been made.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 10:04am

Just curious, what didn't you like about the final scene?

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 10:26am

What did they cut out of the dream ballet? I'm assuming you're just referring to the 2 introductions to the Schirzo, and the Schirzo itself, which did they cut?

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 11:10am

"What did they cut from the ballet" - They cut the 2nd half where Riff and Bernardo come back. Now that I think of it, it was very reminiscent of they way it was staged for Jerome Robbins Broadway. You only got to see the "good" part of the dream and not the "reality" of Bernardo and Riff being killed.

I didn't like the staging of the final scene as it seemed all over the place (if that makes any sense). I don't want to give too much away though.

Oh, and to the couple who brought their 5 year old; shame on you. The child talked throughout the entire first act. Thankfully they didn't return for the 2nd act. I really don't know what they were thinking.

Updated On: 12/19/08 at 11:10 AM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 11:44am

Arthur Laurents has been trying to cut that ballet since 1957!

He even wrote a line into Gypsy: "Cut the ballet. It stinks anyway."

Well, on behalf of Jerry Robbins, let me say: "Arthur, it stinks that I'm dead and you're able to cut my ballet. If I were still alive I'd be cutting your second-rate dialogue that makes the Jets seems like a beatnik Girl Scout troupe. JOEY MCNEELY--PUT BACK MY GODDAMNED BALLET!"

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 11:48am

Wow, PalJoey, I didn't know that. What a shame!! That was one of the most glaring omissions of the evening (IMO). It's funny because the "womb to tomb; sperm to worm" were very underplayed and not that noticeable.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 12:22pm

NY_Broadway2: Falsetto anything creeps me out. Tenor leggieros are okay because they don't use falsetto.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 7:43pm

They cut the nightmare?!?!

I can't believe it. I mean, I wouldn't be thrilled if they cut part of the Schirzo, but at least you get some of it in there but the entire nightmare? The transition musically made from the perfect dream world, where everyone is in sync, singing "There's A Place For Us," and how it gradually gets darker and more sinister when Riff & Bernardo come out, and then just goes crazy, and then sneaks in the Rumble music...

But even getting past the music, the nightmare, in my opinion, plays such an important part in the theme of the show, of the sequence. To dream about a perfect world, and then get brought back to reality -- it kind of foreshadows the ending, saying, you know, this world does not exist in the reality they live in. The nightmare demonstrates how in the story, hate is too strong for their love to triumph.

I could go on, but I have to leave now...I'm sure everyone is happy for me to not go on. Sorry for the rant.

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 8:19pm

Boy falsettos remind me of eunuchs.

[My Oh My]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 8:28pm

Can anyone post the orchestra from the Playbill? How were the orchestrations, btw? Did they use the originals?

I am fluent in Spanish and recently defended the decision to incorporate it into the show, but I was under the impression they would only translate lines here and there. I don't like the idea of there being subtitles at all or the fact they're singing whole songs in Spanish. Not only is it distracting, but unnecessary.

And yes, the costumes look absolutely terrible. I was hoping the show would have a grittier look/feel to it. This just looks like something out of "Saved By the Bell."

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 10:58pm

wickedqrent, it's ok to rant, that's what this thread is for.

The cut portion in the dream ballet makes the original staging of the final scene unneccessary. Hence it's different now.

[Marlothom]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 11:42pm

Another question I have, and someone who has seen the show can answer; do they do America in Spanish? If they are going to do "I feel Pretty" and "A boy Like That", surely they would do "America" in Spanish, where spanish speakers are speaking to other Spanish speakers.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 11:47pm

Laurents has stated that "America" is not done in Spanish since the number is about the girls wanting to be part of America.

[Marlothom]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 11:51pm

Not Rosalita (?) who sings half the song about wanting to go back to Puerto Rico?

[Pianolin717]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 11:57pm

nope, she still sings in english

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 12:01am

According to the logic he's set up for this revival, Rosalia should sing the "Puerto Rico, you lovely island" sections in Spanish.

[Marlothom]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 12:02am

Oh, then I guess the Spanish thing is just a silly gimmick. I am seeing the show in a few; I suspect though that Laurent's direction worked better in Gypsy where the acting/words were so crucial and will not work as well in West Side, where the dancing is so well known.