Laurents confirms GYPSY for St. James, WEST SIDE STORY B'way Revival- Page 3

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

re: Laurents confirms GYPSY for St. James, WEST SIDE STORY B'way Revival#50

Posted: 12/18/07 at 12:48am

I didn't think Laurents would change anything, but I do think there's an argument to be made about the effectiveness of the film version of "America."
Now, I have a question. The production that I saw had the men and women during "America" very much like the movie. PalJoey just said Laurents opposed the idea. So was this change illegal?

"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

re: Laurents confirms GYPSY for St. James, WEST SIDE STORY B'way Revival#51

Posted: 12/18/07 at 12:51am

Cock to Doc!

[alxscrz2]

re: Laurents confirms GYPSY for St. James, WEST SIDE STORY B'way Revival#52

Posted: 12/18/07 at 1:24am

Does anyone know when the tickets for gypsy go on sale ??

[RentBoy86]

re: Laurents confirms GYPSY for St. James, WEST SIDE STORY B'way Revival#53

Posted: 12/18/07 at 2:22am

Anyone know if Gypsy will have a preview period or if the March 27th is the start of previews?

[Brick]

re: Laurents confirms GYPSY for St. James, WEST SIDE STORY B'way Revival#54

Posted: 12/18/07 at 2:30am

Gypsy opens March 27th. And the sale date for tickets hasn't been announced yet. My guess is they'll go onsale mid-January.

[jbdc]

re: Laurents confirms GYPSY for St. James, WEST SIDE STORY B'way Revival#55

Posted: 12/18/07 at 8:24am

As far as putting men in America--Peter Gennero choreographed the dances for the Sharks, and he originally had the men in the number. Robbins pulled them out during rehearsals, because he thought it made no sense for their characters to stop on the way to the war council to sing and dance when Bernardo says earlier that they are just going to escort their ladies home.

Also, it's in the licensing agreement that you can't make the film changes in stage productions (even though some productions do). So I doubt they will be in the revival.

I imagine they will have the Puerto Ricans speak spanish and have supertitles for the white people in the audience to understand what's going on.

[desiree armfeldt]

re: Laurents confirms GYPSY for St. James, WEST SIDE STORY B'way Revival#56

Posted: 12/18/07 at 8:58am

I'm VERY surprised that nobody has begun to cast! Come on, people!

I think they are generally going to cast very age appropriate if they are updating the show to make it more genuine.....so, with that in mind...

I think Lea Michele or Ali Ewoldt will be in the running for Maria.
Anita: Natascia Diaz


what do you guys think?

[best12bars]

re: Laurents confirms GYPSY for St. James, WEST SIDE STORY B'way Revival#57

Posted: 12/18/07 at 8:59am

Laurents's ego bores me to tears.

I predict the revival will stink.

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

---

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

[WickedBoy2]

re: Laurents confirms GYPSY for St. James, WEST SIDE STORY B'way Revival#58

Posted: 12/18/07 at 9:03am

AGAIN, still NO official announcement about this show at the St James'. It was just a comment from Mr Laurents.

A young actress with Noel coward after a dreadful opening night performance said to him 'Well, i knew my lines backwards this morning!'' Noels fast reply was ''Yes dear, and thats exactly how you said them tonight'!'

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

re: Laurents confirms GYPSY for St. James, WEST SIDE STORY B'way Revival#59

Posted: 12/18/07 at 9:29am

Also, it's in the licensing agreement that you can't make the film changes in stage productions (even though some productions do). So I doubt they will be in the revival.

Right, because there's never been a Broadway revival that made changes to the original.

[ljay889]

re: Laurents confirms GYPSY for St. James, WEST SIDE STORY B'way Revival#60

Posted: 12/18/07 at 11:29am

Natascia Diaz has played Anita 10029393.01 times. I think they'll go with someone new and AGE APPROPRIATE.

[PalJoey]

re: Laurents confirms GYPSY for St. James, WEST SIDE STORY B'way Revival#61

Posted: 12/18/07 at 12:57pm

jbdc--I never heard that Gennaro originally choreographed it for the men too. Does that mean the choreography in the movie is Peter's original.

During rehearsals for the 1980 revival, whenever they rehearsed the Shark choreography, like their part of the Dance at the Gym or America, Robbins would leave the room. I always wanted to ask him what he thought of Peter's work, but there were two things I was expressly ordered NEVER to bring up with Mr Robbins: one was Peter's choreography and the other was Robbins's testimony in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

re: Laurents confirms GYPSY for St. James, WEST SIDE STORY B'way Revival#62

Posted: 12/18/07 at 1:40pm

No Lea Michele, can they just cast Puerto Ricans played by *gasp* Latinos? Maybe that is what Laurents means by a revival like none have been done before.
People on here get their panties on a twist when it is merely suggested that a black actor plays a role typically played by a white actor, a role that never specifies the race of the character (read all the bitchy comments instilled by Phyllis' suggestion that Vanessa Williams plays Phyllis, or the CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF thread). But they are so quick to throw around all these names of non-Hispanic actors where the whole story is about the racial tension between Puerto Ricans and whites.

"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"

[jbdc]

re: Laurents confirms GYPSY for St. James, WEST SIDE STORY B'way Revival#63

Posted: 12/18/07 at 8:07pm

PalJoey--Jennifer Dunning's biography of Jerry Robbins talks about how he cut the men from America in rehearsal.

There seems to be a lot about that show that wasn't spoken publically once it opened, like which lyrics Sondheim actually wrote. One Hand, One Heart (lyrics and all) were originally written by Bernstein for Candide. Bernstein was originally slated to write all the lyrics, but he realized he couldn't do that and write such a huge score--so they brought in Sondheim. But several songs were already done. Originally they were listed as co-lyricists, but that Bernstein gave Sondheim full credit once it opened in DC. And Sondheim doesn't say much about WSS.

Also--they're allegedly going to cast "unknowns."

[Ed_Mottershead]

re: Laurents confirms GYPSY for St. James, WEST SIDE STORY B'way Revival#64

Posted: 12/18/07 at 8:17pm

Never been changes to a Broadway musical revival? What about Cabaret -- it changed drastically from revival to revival.

BroadwayEd

[mywonderwa11]

re: Laurents confirms GYPSY for St. James, WEST SIDE STORY B'way Revival#65

Posted: 12/18/07 at 8:33pm

I like "Krupke" being in Act II. It's the comic relief...makes sense to me. And "Cool" in Act I is perfectly placed since they're about to embark on a war council and a rumble.

West Side Story is my favorite musical of all time. I've been in it. Seen it on stage many times. Researched the crap out of it. And watched the movie too many times to count. So, I'm very excited for this revival! No matter what they do to it! Well, maybe not not matter WHAT...

"Somethin's comin', I don't know what it is but it is gonna be great!"

[PalJoey]

re: Laurents confirms GYPSY for St. James, WEST SIDE STORY B'way Revival#66

Posted: 12/19/07 at 12:04am

jbdc...I'm making a new year's resolution to slog through the rest of Jennifer Dunning's Robbins biography. I fell asleep halfway through.

Bernstein's original lyrics to "One Hand, One Heart" were just that--extrememly boring:

BERNSTEIN'S VERSION "One hand, one hand. / One heart, one heart. / One vow, one vow. / Only death will part us now."

It was Sondheim's idea to add the lyrics "Make of our" in triplets:

SONDHEIM'S VERSION: "Make of our hand, one hand. / Make of our hearts, one heart. / Make of our vows, one last vow. / Only death will part us now."

That was when Bernstein declared him a genius.