It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

#1

It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 2:56pm

Looks like Arthur admits that he is wrong, well almost.
Laurent's admits he's wrong

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#2

re: It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 2:59pm

He didn't say he was wrong. I don't think he ever would say that even though the Spanish wasn't even his idea. He said that it's an ongoing process.

#3

re: It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 3:01pm

Now we need to get those hemlines lowered on the skirts.

#4

re: It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 3:09pm

This strikes me as odd. What's not working? They are hauling in over $1 million a week. Is it that big of a problem? Right or wrong, some Spanish singing was the decision they made for this revival. Now it's something different.
Why not just change the sets, or actors (oh, wait, they have), or change the order of songs if someone else doesn't like it?

#5

re: It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 3:15pm

It was the kind of directorial notion he himself has always railed against: wrongly conceived and poorly executed.

It's bringing in money not because of HIS contributions, but because of those of his collaborators, whose work he has diminished with this revival.

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#6

re: It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 3:16pm

What's not to love about people reading the english translation in the playbills by the light of their cellphones?

#7

re: It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 3:33pm

Now I need to go back and see it with the English.

#8

re: It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 3:38pm

Now if Arthur would revert that ending back to the original!

#9

re: It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 3:42pm

Now I need to see the show again. I have mixed feelings about it. I really enjoyed the Spanish but Karen sang A Boy Like That so well on the English track. Definitely need to see the show soon.

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"It's about the Benjamins, not the Bernsteins."-CapnHook

#10

re: It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 3:43pm

Laurent's admits he's wrong

Why did a last name warrant an apostrophe and not a verb?

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Everything in life is only for now. ~ Avenue Q
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#11

re: It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 3:45pm

Now if Arthur would revert that ending back to the original!

Thank you, ljay.

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#12

re: It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 3:45pm

Personally, I am very happy they are eliminating the Spanish. I think it could/would have only worked if it were Spanglish (cross between Spanish and English within the same sentence or sentiment). When I saw the show, the Spanish lyrics were distracting and pulled me out the moment.

Updated On: 8/25/09 at 03:45 PM

#13

re: It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 3:47pm

meh.

you know, before, even if laurents was a viper, you could at least say he was a viper with an opinion.

now he's just a viper who is as susceptible to the critics as the next schlub, making a feeble grasp for TONY glory, as if those were given out retroactively. despite talk as to otherwise, he was clearly hurt by the snub. from interviews, it seemed as if the spanish changes were the ones that were closest to his heart, that he wanted most to work, as he teared up whenever talk turned to hatcher.

guess that was nothing but bluster, too.

#14

re: It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 3:55pm

Tom would have come to the first preview and said, "You know what, Arthur? It just doesn't work. Put it back the way it was."

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#15

re: It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 3:56pm

Nothing will make me revisit this bland revival. I'll keep my memories of the 1980 revival, which was not perfect, and the great movie.

#16

re: It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 4:11pm

Now it would be great if Laurents would also put the original choreography for "America" back in, along with the nightmare ballet and the original ending.

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"You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!" - Betty Parris to Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller's The Crucible

#17

re: It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 4:23pm

James, you took the words right out of my mouth, although I want to add - get rid of Kiddo.

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#18

re: It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 4:47pm

Ugh. "Kiddo."

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#19

re: It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 4:54pm

I think that has confused me the most about his attempts to make it "more realistic." He let the Sharks speak Spanish but kept his made-up attempts at gutter slang for the Jets.

#20

re: It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 5:11pm

Eh. I didn't mind the Spanish. It was no more inconsistent or lopsided than the fact that in the original score, the male Sharks only sing a few lines of their own in one song (and join in the chorus of Somewhere). I never saw the original choreography on stage, so I can't really comment on what was or wasn't changed, but I was mostly disappointed in the choreography in the Jets Song and Gee Officer Krupke, but I just assumed the original choreography might have been enhanced for the film. I did hate the new staging of the ending and the overly symbolic precious little boy singing Somewhere. That was too twee for words.

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#21

re: It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 5:18pm

I always felt this change was inevitable for the tour. Audiences in Alabama "don't want to hear no foreign speakin'."

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the original ending quietly worked its way in.

#22

re: It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 5:23pm

Please please please put the Nightmare back in there!

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#23

re: It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 5:37pm

Wonder if this choice has to do with the understudies going on so much. Don't want to have to worry about casting Spanish speakers.

#24

re: It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 5:40pm

It doesn't seem as if the Spanish dialogue has changed. The Anita and Maria understudies will still need to speak Spanish.

#25

re: It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish

Posted: 8/25/09 at 9:34pm

MisterMatt--the original choreography for the Jet Song and Cool is very similar to the movie, except of course that the steps "travel" more in the movie.

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