It's official. West Side Story ditches some of the spanish - Page 4

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/26/09 at 5:48pm

Not sure who was attending auditions for the Robbins Estate.

Arthur waited until Floria Lasky was dead before moving forward with this production. She was Robbins's longtime attorney and barracuda-like fierce defender.

Whoever took over Floria's job of defending Jerry's artistic integrity did a stinky job.

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/26/09 at 5:50pm

No idea. But here's what Matty said.

"My second and final audition for the part was like a mini-performance -- full of suits. Arthur, Stephen Sondheim, the musical director, the casting director, the choreographer, representatives from the Jerome Robbins estate, the Leonard Bernstein estate, lawyers, producers, publicists,? he says."


http://out.com/detail.asp?id=25240

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/26/09 at 8:27pm

I repeat, whoever was representing Jerry Robbins did a lousy job.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/26/09 at 11:19pm

Where was that audition held?
Carnegie Hall?

Arthur must have had the last call and he just had to be OK'd by others.
And he is OK.

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/26/09 at 11:54pm

The FULL storying regarding the changes.

?Audiences were getting the general idea of ?A Boy Like That,? but they weren?t getting hammered by it,? Mr. Laurents said in an interview Wednesday. ?The sheer power of ?A boy like that who?d kill your brother? has no real equivalent, and for people who don?t understand Spanish, the impact was diluted.?

, Mr. Seller said that the production was expected to recoup its original multimillion-dollar investment and begin making ?a very nice profit? in the next three weeks. He added that advance ticket sales total more than $7 million. The musical, one of the biggest commercial successes now on Broadway, grossed $1.15 million for eight performances for the week ending Aug. 23; the weekly operating costs are approximately $600,000.

Arthur still manages to praise Olivo, I wonder if the "turning on her" rumor was true.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/theater/27west.html?_r=1

[Eris0303]

Posted: 8/29/09 at 10:40pm

Karen was in for the matinee and I much prefer Matt Hydzik as Tony.

This was the first time I've seen the show since DC and I have to say that having Chino's shot come from off stage rather than seeing him run on and shoot Tony. Not seeing Chino pull the trigger is much more powerful.

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/29/09 at 10:47pm

The shot was done off stage at DC?

[Eris0303]

Posted: 8/29/09 at 10:52pm

I was at one of the first previews and, at that point, the shot came from off stage. When it was changed I don't know. But when you hear the shot out of nowhere just as they're about to embrace it makes you jump. Seeing Chino run out took away from the moment a bit.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/29/09 at 11:33pm

When I saw it in DC I thought Chino shot Maria.

That would have been ground-breaking!

[My Oh My]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 1:46am

The Spanish was cool until it took over large sections, giving those who aren't fluent a fragmented understanding of what's going on at best.

"America" is the number that suffers the most--it's completely underwhelming, and it's usually one of the single most thrilling moments in the show. Karen is a wonderful Anita. Had her dancing been stronger, she would have been a great Anita. While much of the original choreography is intact, the more impressive bits are toned down dramatically.

Matt is miscast, unfortunately. I think the problem with him is that he tends to lay the vibrato on thick in all the wrong moments. For example, he sounds beautiful during "One Hand, One Heart," as that piece of music is more suited for constant vibrato. But he sounds terrible, almost grating, during "Maria." The song sounds best when sung with long, sustained notes with a little vibrato added for expression at the ends. Instead, he sounds like a lawn mower with that sustained vibrato throughout. His acting needs work. I don't believe half the things his character says.

Though I must applaud the use of a full orchestra in this production, as well as staying true to the original orchestration, and their attempt at recreating Robbins' iconic choreography.

[blaxx]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 1:49am

Instead, he sounds like a lawn mower with that sustained vibrato throughout.

LOL

[CSonBroadway]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 8:29am

I still think America is one of the best parts of this production. It is so exciting to hear it live.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 8:44am

To hear it, yes, in this production, but not to see it.

You oughta see it when it is danced well. It would take your breath away.

[CSonBroadway]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 8:47am

Hahaha yeah I know.

However, I'm only a kid and haven't been able to see the other productions so this is the only thing I got : ) :/

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 8:53am

Wait, how has the ending been changed?

[Eris0303]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 11:57am

Wait, how has the ending been changed?

I don't know if you're being sarcastic or not since this has been discussed at length but in case you're serious:

In the original production the Sharks and Jets carried Tony off the stage signifying their putting aside their fight. In this production when the curtain comes down everyone is standing on stage staring at Tony's body. The sense that the gang war is ending due to the death of the "innocent" Tony is completely gone. The audience is left with no feeling that anything will change. Yes, Baby John picks up Maria's mourning shawl but only because she tells him to nonverbally. It wasn't his idea.

Updated On: 8/31/09 at 11:57 AM

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 12:47pm

Ugh, I don't like that ending. It's kind of signaling a moment of "OMG, what happened" and as soon as the curtain falls it right back to the fighting.

[Jenna Maroney]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 2:01pm

That the exit music is "Dance at the Gym" doesn't help matters either.

I'd never seen WSS on stage before (and hadn't seen the movie since grammar school), so I was emotional at the "new" ending with Maria and her veil. Then I promptly learned that there was an even more powerful way to end it ... key word being "was."

Didn't Laurents say it's unrealistic to depict a crime scene being disrupted? Because just a few moments earlier, he had us believing that Tony picked up Spanish in a day's time.

I've also heard someone claim that in prior Broadway productions, there was no curtain call, since all the bowing and applause would have taken away from the final scene's impact. Is that true?

[alightinthedark23]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 6:57pm

I actually kind of like the new ending. I think it's more emotional rather while the older version is more symbolic. I think it fits more with the direction they were taking for the show. Just my opinion.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 8:43pm

"Didn't Laurents say it's unrealistic to depict a crime scene being disrupted?"

Arthur Laurents will say anything to justify the diminishment of his collaborators' work in the pursuit of magnifying his.

A man who is capable of having a gang (in whatever time period) say things like "Frabba-jabba" and "Ooblee-oo" has no credibility on matters of "realism." None whatsoever.

Besides, Arthur always claims that certain directors "don't have the musical in their bones."

As a director with the musical in his bones, he should understand that Bernstein's music ("The Processional") combined with the staging in which the Jets hoist Tony's dead body up and falter, only to be aided by two of the Sharks was a moment of beautiful physical poetry. It was created by Robbins and Bernstein, not Laurents.

Arthur has the musical in his bones, he saw that moment, and he set about destroying it.

Updated On: 8/31/09 at 08:43 PM

[Eris0303]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 8:57pm

Not a great videio quality-wise but the emotion of the final scene is apparent even here
WSS ending

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 10:10pm

That is NOT the Jerome Robbins staging.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/1/09 at 12:44am

Unfortunately, the only way to get a sense of the genius of the Jerome Robbins staging of the finale is to see how the movie did it. Once Tony has been shot, the staging is pretty much the same as it is onstage in a Robbins production. And Natalie Wood's delivery of the "How many bullets left, Chino?" speech is pitch-perfect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSPNhyJsF4c

The emotional highlights of the Robbins staging are visible:

* Maria looks to the Sharks to help her with Tony's body, and they look away, because Tony was a Jet.

* She looks to the Jets, helplessly, and Action is the first to come forward to take the body. The Jets line up on either side, and lift Tony's body, like pallbearers at a funeral.

* Suddenly, Tony's lifeless arm falls, endangering the balance of the pallbearers and seeming as if the body might fall to the ground.

* Two of the Sharks rush over and support Tony's arm and shoulder.

* In the briefest of moments, all the pallbearers realize they have helped each other, Shark and Jet, for the very first time. They exit, to Bernstein's majestic music.

* Baby John comes up behind Maria and lifts the kerchief from the ground and places it over her head.

* Maria is the last to exit, leaving the adults, who stand there, useless as ever.

And no, Mr. Laurents, of course that is not "realism." It's poetry-in-movement, done by someone who genuinely has the "musical in his bones."

Updated On: 9/1/09 at 12:44 AM

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 9/1/09 at 7:58am

I would like to state for the record, Eris, that I was NOT being sarcastic. I have not seen this production yet.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 9/1/09 at 12:49pm

"* Maria is the last to exit, leaving the adults, who stand there, useless as ever."

I was going to say this was the one part of the ending direction that the movie left out -- the adults weren't standing there useless. I miss that moment in the movie. Still, it's a hell of a lot better than what's going on in the revival.

The Finale music...so amazing. The genius idea that once Tony dies for good, Maria can't get the words out anymore, and the orchestra has to take over the melody. The overlapping of "Somewhere" with "I Have A Love" -- (I can't remember is that part still in "Somewhere" in this production? Before the nightmare would start? I think so, but I'm not positive) and the different instruments deliberately picked to play...how each one comes in a little bit as the finale goes on, but not too much. And then the final notes...the beauty of "Somewhere" with that bass sound sneaking in...it just illustrates everything. The beauty and poetry of the story, Tony & Maria's love, but the bass still represents the hatred that still exists. Okay, done with daily Bernstein gushing.

I don't know for sure, but there not being bows in the original production sounds right, because there is no curtain call or exit music written. Or they took bows without music -- that actually sounds a bit more familiar. What the orchestra is playing as the exit music in this production is the discarded overture -- but I don't think the whole thing. The overture has the Tonight Quintet, Balcony Scene Tonight, Somewhere, & Mambo, I feel like one or two, maybe Somewhere, is cut. The exit music didn't really bother me since the ending was ruined anyway, but if the ending was performed as it should be, I could see how exit music seems like it takes away from the mood.