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

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.

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

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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

The shot was done off stage at DC?

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

That would have been ground-breaking!

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

LOL

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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.

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Wait, how has the ending been changed?

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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.

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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.

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

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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."

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

"* 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.

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"If there was a Mount Rushmore for Broadway scores, "West Side Story" would be front and center. It snaps, it crackles it pops! It surges with a roar, its energy and sheer life undiminished by the years" - NYPost reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli