Bilingual West Side Story: What effect will that have on Sondheim's lyrics?

[monestere]

Posted: 8/2/08 at 5:54pm

Arthur Laurents has said that he wants the new revival of West Side Story to be bilingual with the Puerto Rican characters speaking Spanish with subtitles but what does this do to the song lyrics and the dramatic interaction of these characters with the English speaking ones? For instance, Maria has to be able to understand and speak English to at least communicate even minimally with Tony for the balcony scene and to sing “Tonight”. But if Maria, who just recently migrated to the US speaks English, why would Bernardo, Anita and for that matter, the Sharks, who have lived in America for years, speak only Spanish?

Even more important, what does this decision do to Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics for “America”, "A Boy Like That" and the “Quintet”, in which Maria, Bernardo, Anita and the Sharks sing? Will these lyrics be sung in Spanish as well? The songs would be compromised severely, in my opinion, if this were the case. I don’t think it would be a problem if Bernardo, Anita, Maria & the Sharks speak to each other in Spanish in their separate scenes not involving any of the English speaking characters but that still does not solve the even greater problem of the song lyrics which these characters sing.

It sounds like this multilingual version of West Side Story, arguably one of musical theater’s national treasures, will bring with it a sort of chaos and inconsistency that will hurt the show rather than enhance it. Does anybody have any idea what Arthur Laurents is up to? Does he?

Does anyone else have any knowledge, opinions or thoughts on this subject to share?

[madbrian]

Posted: 8/2/08 at 5:58pm

I expect an approach like The Light In The Piazza, where the Italians spoke Italian among themselves, but spoke English to the Johnsons. With this approach, I Feel Pretty and America would be in Spanish.

[jennyish]

Posted: 8/2/08 at 6:00pm

I don't think Laurents ever said that they would speak ONLY Spanish. It wouldn't make sense. For instance, Bernardo has to speak to the Jets. I assume that the Spanish will be for conversation between the Puerto Rican characters, although I don't know about the songs.

[monestere]

Posted: 8/2/08 at 6:14pm

That is precisely my point. The dilemma is that “America”, “I Feel Pretty” & “A Boy Like That” are extensions of the characters’ conversations and if the conversations are in Spanish, it would be jolting to have the song sung with Sondheim’s English lyrics. However, the Spanish translation of these lyrics cannot be literal, as they would not fit the music so the lyrics have to be re-written in Spanish to match the music and such lyrics would cease to be Sondheim, unless Sondheim himself writes new Spanish lyrics for the show. The impact of his brilliant original lyrics would be lost in this production and, in my opinion, that is too high a price to pay for the novelty of a bilingual production, no matter how interesting or innovative this would be.

Updated On: 8/2/08 at 06:14 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 8/2/08 at 6:20pm

It doesn't really sound like the premise would be that certain characters speak only Spanish and thus cannot understand English. I think it's employing the more realistic idea that these characters who speak both would be more comfortable communicating with each other in their first, native language. It creates a barrier, but not one so solid that characters on different sides of it literally cannot understand one another.

[SDav 10495]

Posted: 8/2/08 at 6:21pm

Erm...not everything Sondheim wrote was a masterpiece. The lyrics for "America" are clever but not so brilliant that a Spanish translation (presumably with different jokes to fit the rhymes better) couldn't be just as good. Even "I Have A Love" wouldn't lose much without the literal English lyrics. And as for "I Feel Pretty"--well, Sondheim himself thinks those are the worst lyrics he's ever done.

Not every show can successfully weather a translation into another language, but I honestly can't think of anything in the Puerto Rican songs of West Side Story that is so well-written in English that we'd lose something in Spanish. I look forward to this concept.

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 8/2/08 at 6:24pm

Well, I imagine one effect on the lyrics would be that they'd be in a different language. That's just me, though.


Seriously, it worked in PIAZZA and in the opera world for years. I mean, let's face it, "America" and "I Feel Pretty" are very cute songs. But, I think hearing "A Boy Like That" sung in Spanish but brimming with so much emotion that you know exactly what she's saying without speaking a word of Spanish.....that sounds exciting.

[monestere]

Posted: 8/2/08 at 6:58pm

I agree. Regardless of what Sondheim thinks, his lyrics for West Side Story are an important reason why the show has been so popular for 50 years and to tamper with those lyrics for a revival in the United States would cause the show to cease to be the West Side Story that he and Leonard Bernstein wrote, unless Sondheim himself wrote the Spanish lyrics. It is a given that lyrics have to be rewritten for complete translations of American musicals for foreign markets but this is being called a revival for American audiences, regardless of which language they speak at home, and that is not the case if the show’s songs have different lyrics than the original. Such a production would not be a revival of West Side Story, but a new show based on it and should be advertized as such. And how much “brimming with so much emotion” is to be expected in any language if the songs are performed by inexperienced 18 year old unknowns with little if any acting or life experience on which to draw?

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/2/08 at 7:29pm

Will SOMETHING'S COMING be translated to Polish?

[little_sally]

Posted: 8/2/08 at 7:35pm

I'm sorry, I just think the whole idea of the Sharks speaking Spanish is stupid.

[Weez]

Posted: 8/2/08 at 7:37pm

Yeah, what the hell's with those PRs speaking Spanish anyway?! If you're going to come to our country, you should learn our language!!!

(This post intended as satire.)

[jv92]

Posted: 8/2/08 at 7:47pm

Can Sondheim PLEASE rewrite "I Feel Pretty" and can they PLEASE cut "One Hand, One Heart?" I don't even care about "America" and "Somewhere" and their missed accents anymore. "Pretty" and "Hand" are the eye, or rather earsores of the score, especially the lyrics.

[dayao]

Posted: 8/2/08 at 8:13pm

Actually Puerto Ricans are American citizens and have been since 1917. So Bernardo, Anita, Maria & the Sharks are not immigrants in the normal sense. But they were treated as outsiders by Americans in New York whose families at one time were themselves immigrants such as the members of the Jets and the police but have long since assimilated into US culture. English has been part of the curriculum in Puerto Rican schools for a long time and all of the characters in West Side Story would have been educated in it before moving to New York, but they would still speak with an accent. It is the feeling of superiority by the Jets and their looking down on the Sharks that is the very core of the feud and hatred between them in West Side Story. This can be conveyed in any language but was done brilliantly so in the original English speaking production and even more brilliantly in the 1961 film version which was adapted and written by Ernest Lehman, who on his worst day is a better writer than Arthur Laurents on his best day. I for one would not buy a cast recording in two languages without Stephen Sondheim's lyrics intact but I wouldn't mind this new production using the greatly improved lyrics he wrote for "America" for the 1961 film version. These lyrics illustrate the frustration and problems of the Puerto Rican characters much more than any language change could.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 8/2/08 at 9:20pm

Doesn't the word "bilingual" alone cover the fact that it won't be in all Spanish? It makes complete sense that these characters, while speaking to their own gangs, would speak Spanish.

[keen on kean]

Posted: 8/2/08 at 9:23pm

I think Sondheim would love to re-write "I Feel Pretty" since he consistently quotes "it's alarming how charming I feel" as the worst lyric he ever wrote! But "One Hand, One Heart" is beautiful in its naive simplicity.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 8/2/08 at 9:32pm

I'm pretty sure "One Hand, One Heart" belongs to Bernstein (who graciously gave Sondheim full lyric credit).

Updated On: 8/2/08 at 09:32 PM

[jv92]

Posted: 8/2/08 at 9:41pm

No, Sondheim wrote "One Hand, One Heart", but he asked for the dotted half notes in Bernstein's original melody (?) to be changed to dotted quarter notes. It's still not a favorite of mine. There are only one or two lines that are Bernstein's in the entire show.

[dutch46mill2]

Posted: 8/2/08 at 10:07pm

Well when you translate to another languafge it is not literal there will also be grammatical which say you might need 8 words to say the same thing in English.
The other effect it will have is the run on Broadway will last 2 months.
What happened to sticking with the original. If it doesn't need fixing ,don't try to fix it.

[Weez]

Posted: 8/2/08 at 10:19pm

Bilingual West Side Story: What effect will that have on Sondheim's lyrics?

Simple!

Some of them... *drumroll* ... will... *drumroll drumroll* ... be... in... Spanish!

Almost 3.30am? You're absolutely right, I really SHOULD try for sleep... o_O

[dayao]

Posted: 8/3/08 at 3:07am

If the English lyrics are translated into Spanish by anyone except Sondheim himself, the effect will be that the lyrics for at least 5 songs in this production will not be by Sondheim. The show presented will not be a revival of "Bernstein & Sondheim's West Side Story" as it claims to be. The production will be a downright fraud. That's a quite significant effect, in my opinion.

Updated On: 8/3/08 at 03:07 AM

[Jon]

Posted: 8/3/08 at 12:06pm

So, you are saying that the thousands of productions of WSS that have been performed in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portugese, Japanese, etc... are frauds? Do you think Sondheim should NOT earn royalties from those productions?

So, when Chekhov, Ibsen, Strindberg, Moliere, Lorca, Aristophanes, Sophocles, etc. are performed in translation, they don't count?

[gypsy4]

Posted: 8/3/08 at 12:08pm

this should all be interesting when it all comes together.

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/3/08 at 12:26pm

This thread hilarious. Everyone is flipping out about a concept we barely know anything about yet. Now some are even saying with some of the Spanish, it won't be Sondheim's lyrics anymore. Ok! As Jon said this musical has been translated into many different languages many times before. It's still Sondheim's lyrics.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 8/3/08 at 2:47pm

Yeah, what the hell's with those PRs speaking Spanish anyway?! If you're going to come to our country, you should learn our language!!!

"You live in America, speak American!" - SweetQintheLights


When they're in an environment of only Puerto Ricans, they would speak in Spanish to each other because it's their first language, but they can still switch back and forth to English. That happens in real life all the time. If you think this is so unrealistic that it's worth lamenting, do you actually know any Spanish speakers?

Sondheim doesn't have to rewrite the entire show or any of it, because having even a few interspersed Spanish words and phrases in dialogue would be an improvement.

[dayao]

Posted: 8/3/08 at 5:23pm

No, you are reading what you want to read instead of what I said. I am saying that a production of West Side Story being produced in the country in which it originated does not have to be changed or translated at all. Surely the thousands of productions performed in other countries are done in various translations, most by people other than the original writers, but this is the United States and if a version of West Side Story is produced in its country of origin that does not include the music as it was originally presented then such a production is NOT a revival of that show. Call it a rethinking, a rewriting but don't call it West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim. Foreign productions are performed in translations out of necessity and you are correct that they are a solid source of revenue to the originators of the show but again I emphasize this is done out of necessity so that people who would not understand the language of the original production can at least enjoy some semblance of it in their native language. The majority of people who will attend this new production are English speaking, even the majority of Puerto Rican and other Latin American citizens.

When Chekhov, Ibsen, Strindberg, Moliere, Lorca, Aristophanes, Sophocles, etc. are performed in translation, they do indeed count but again they are translated out of necessity for English speaking audiences, but just like the foreign productions of West Side Story they are adaptations of the original work, not the original and the translator is given credit in the program as the author of the adaptation much as the author of the screenplay of a film adaptation of a play is credited.

There is nothing wrong with having the Puerto Rican characters speak in Spanish among themselves if that is done to convey a sense of authenticity in these scenes but leave the music and lyrics alone. They were composed to be sung in English in English speaking countries and last time I looked the majority of people who attend Broadway shows understand and speak English in this country. West Side Story was composed in the English language and to perform it in its native country any other way except for a specialized audience is an insult to the audience and its originators.

Updated On: 8/3/08 at 05:23 PM