I saw WSS tonight and loved it! - Review - SPOILERS

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I saw WSS tonight and loved it! - Review - SPOILERS#1

Posted: 3/8/09 at 12:35am

SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS


Hello folks,

Well I tried and tried to wait until opening night but I couldn't. I grabbed a last minute ticket to WSS tonight and I am thrilled that I did.

Keep in mind the following is my opinion so count to ten before you choose to flip out/disagree.

What is new about this production of WSS is that it really attempts to turn it into something gritty. In the playbill, Arthur Laurents says "I don't see any point in doing a revival unless you have a fresh look at it ... I don't want to do what I did before or what anyone else did before". That statement is the crux of the production, and possibly what some people dislike about it.

Enough has been said about the actors and my opinion doesn't really differ drastically. Josefina Scaglione is beautiful and a wonderful Maria. Matt Cavenaugh is solid, though perhaps a little quiet - possible an issue with mic volume. Karen Olivo - brilliant. Couldn't give a damn if her dancing was not as good as previous Anita's. Honestly, I think Anita is only considered such a "dancy" role because dancers have played it. She moved wonderfully and the role doesn't suffer at all from not having a "dancer" in it. That being said - she can dance. Cody Green - great job, but an example I think of where the production might be clashing with itself.

I don't think anyone will deny that Cody can dance. I mean, he's amazing. His singing was solid, no note problems. I know that some people here have issues with his acting and maybe I can defend him a little bit. Cody is playing the dialogue and the role in the very gritty and urban sense that the whole production is based on. However, his dialogue does not really "fit" with the tone of the show. Riff to me, is the fast talker, the smart mouth, and can be played as a caricature of the "best friend". "Frabba - jabba", "Daddy-O" were easily skimmed over in the somewhat stylized acting of the original / film/ subsequent revivals but not here. Here they sound awkward and silly and need to be replaced. That being said, by playing Riff as more a realistic street tough and not a musical theatre gangster, the dialogue just doesn't go with the mood and there I think, is where people are having problems with Cody Green.

I am going to give him a thumbs up. If he wasn't so bogged down by trying to modernize pseudo slang of 50 years ago, I think people would appreciate him more. Also, I believe that in Act 1 he completely steals the show from Tony. My opinion of course, but in my eyes, in this production Riff is the focal point of Act 1. He steals the Act from Matt C, who really does play second fiddle to him in the first half of the show. This is not any fault of Matt's, the show is so directed that at least for the first hour and a half, it seems as if Cody views for male lead. Whether this is a good or a bad thing is up to you to decide.

I think a lot of the complaints with this show simply have to do with the book/lyrics not matching the new "feel". I didn't see why everyone was so up in arms about the costumes. They fit fine with the rest of visuals, they just don't fit with what we know as "West Side Story". The Spanish is brilliant and really, really grounds the show. Anyone who honestly thinks they have "ruined" the classic, needs to stay home and watch the movie. If they wanted the same old, same old they'd just project the film in The Palace instead. It is done brilliantly, easy to understand (though a little quiet in general this show) and the switching between English and Spanish is designed to add to the tension/alliance switching etc.

Last point on the gritty - a much more sexual WSS then I expected, but then again I've never seen it done professionally so correct me if this is not a new addition. The masturbation reference in Krupke was great, Anita rape scene - fantastic. Like I said, it's just more realistic, more rough, more like street gangs and less like ballet wrestlers.

This is all my opinion folks, do with it what you will. I will see the show again after it opens and I wish it a long life.

...and last but not least - I have to throw in some audience stories.

-Coughing fits all through the bloody place.
-At the end of "A Boy Like That/I Have a Love" the obligatory cell phone goes off. Rings twice. Silence. Then .... "hello". Followed by "Are you f***ing serious", "Turn your phone off". I'm pretty sure it was an older man. The audience gave it to him. No mercy.
-And the Usher ... a sweet little old lady, I don't know whether to laugh or be annoyed. A guy with SRO in back asked if it was OK to sit and lean against the right side of the aisle. She gave a confused "well... I don't know..." and then said "well, that's my spot" or something. Later, as the curtain comes down on Riff and Barnado it is very quiet and the scene was just so fantastic the audience was silent. Before the curtain is fully descended, the usher RIPS open the curtain and flicks on the hall lights, effectively ruining the moment for everyone involved. Then the curtain hit the ground.

Also, I apologize for an over use of the word "gritty".

[Pianolin717]

re: I saw WSS tonight and loved it! - Review - SPOILERS#2

Posted: 3/8/09 at 12:46am

wow... thanks for taking your time out to write this :)
and I agree, if people want the same old same old, they could have just seen the movie or chosen not to see this
but I pretty much agree with what you state