I Like To Be In America - The WSS Love Thread

Sure, there are haters, but I think its time for some WSS love!
10 days 'til the first previews! Break a leg!

Saw it in DC. LOVED IT! (If you can't tell by my avatar :) )

Crap, I don't know who to root for for Featured Actress: Steph, Karen or Haydyn.

I'm leaning towards Karen, though. :)

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I'm saving up like mad for WSS. I missed Karen in ITH, and I vowed not to miss her as Anita. I've never seen a production of WSS either, and I love the colours in this revival, and a certain Mr. Cody Green, who's dancing is truly mesmerizing, and they tell me he is also Canadian.

(But it's mostly for Karen! xD)

I want to watch WSS. NOW. But I'm hoping it won't be long now :)

This board has been around for 6 years and had dozens of threads about the show "in general". Let this thread be about the revival and post your Bernstein dissertations in one of the countless others.

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Updated On: 2/14/09 at 06:24 PM

Here's my first peeve about this revival -- having Maria speak with an Argentinean accent! She's from Puerto Rico, for chrissakes!

Argentinean born Josefina Scaglione should have made the effort to use a Puerto Rican accent, just like the other actresses playing Shark girls do. If Kate Winslet, Nicole Kidman, Colin Ferrell and countless of other non-American actors can emulate American accents -- she can damn well recreate a Puerto Rican accent.

I guess no one in the creative team speaks Spanish so they have no idea she's speaking in a solid Argentinean accent in the show. Plus... its jarring whenever the other girls speak to her and she responds with that accent.

Eeek! If she starts speaking with an Argentinian accent I'm going to have to leave the theater to laugh a little, she should have mastered the Puerto Rican by now!

I remembered how many praised Gael Garcia Bernal's performance in The Motorcycle Diaries. But few noticed how he started with a strong Argentinian accent and he kept losing it more and more throughout the film until he had lost it completely by the end of it.

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Yes, I've posted that same note on other posts... which emphasizes my peeve with Josefina's interpretation. That peeve has NOTHING to do with the actual production, hence why I don't attack the revival whatsoever. Reread my post and you'll see I only comment about Josefina's Argentinean accent... and that's it.

Personally, I enjoyed the revival more than I expected to... so I'm not hatin'. I hope this revival succeeds in every capacity. I found the addition of Spanish in the book refreshing and more than apropo for a new interpretation of WEST SIDE STORY. Having Josefina speak with an Argentinean accent while the rest of the cast speaks in Puerto Rican accents is jarring in every possible way. At least EVERY actress who played Sally Bowles in the recent Sam Mendes reinterpretation of CABARET attempted an English accent. Yes, some better than others... but they attempted one.

As a fellow Argentine myself... I can emulate a Puerto Rican accent as easily as I can emulate a Cuban and Mexican accent AND I'm not an actor by any stretch of the imagination. Josefina IS an actress. What she's doing up there on stage totally throws off any level of authenticity being attempted by the rest of the cast.

You don't have a 10-page monologue to deal with so... what's the deal, Josefina?

Seriously?!

Nope. I'm not talking about using a cartoon-ish accent but at least try to imitate Karen Olivo, Yanira Marin, Jennifer Sanchez, Mileyka Mateo, Marina Lazzaretto, Kat Nejat, Danielle Polanco & Tanairi Sade Vazquez's dead-on Puerto Rican accent.

I'd love to see how audiences would react to a Baltimorian Tracy Turnblad with a British accent or a New Jersey Frankie Valli with an Australian accent.

I guess since you are Argentine then you would notice and be able to tell, but personally, I could not decipher her accent from a Puerto Rican accent

I'm so excited and I can't wait!! I just have to save up for tickets first...

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I'll be happy if I hear they restored the full ballet and Laurents hasn't kept it to its 3 minute cut :S

"Does anyone think there's a chance for a cast recording?"

I feel that there is a BIG change for a CR and I cannot WAIT until it comes out!!!!!!!

If GYPSY got recorded when there was a recording in 2003, WSS will definitely be recorded. Plus I think this production is going to be a pretty big hit.

Updated On: 2/16/09 at 10:12 PM