Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

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Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 7:24am

Per Riedel, Arthur Laurents is gearing up to direct a revival of West Side Story (which he wrote) next season.

"Now that he's given New York a great "Gypsy," Laurents is gearing up for his next directing project - a Broadway revival of "West Side Story," scheduled to open next year.

"There was a revival in the 1970s that was no good," he says. "It was too white-bread. I've come up with a way of doing it that will make it absolutely contemporary without changing a word or a note.

"And what will annoy you is that I'm not going to tell you what it is.""

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07272007/entertainment/theater/directors_cut_theater_michael_riedel.htm

re: Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 7:26am

Oh my god.

I'm seeing this.
I'm seeing this.
I'm seeing this.

No matter what.

About freakin' time.

re: Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 7:27am

Oh. My. F*cking. God.

I'm... speechless. I can't wait.

"Hey, you! You're the worst thing to happen to musical theatre since Andrew Lloyd Webber!" -Family Guy

re: Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 7:29am

Seriously. Speechless is like an understatement to the feeling I have right now.

WEST SIDE STORY....directed by...LAURENTS? Oh geez. I can't wait for this season!

re: Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 7:56am

It's about time! Although it should have been done to commemorate the show's 50th anniversary. Better late than never I guess.

I believe that "white bread" revival Laurents is referring to is the '80 revival that earned Debbie Allen her Tony nomination for playing "Anita".

There wasn't a revival of WSS in the 1970s.

re: Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 7:57am

After seeing his fresh and effective take on his own GYPSY, I can hardly wait to see what he'll do with WEST SIDE STORY.

"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"

re: Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 8:01am

Great news. So this will be in 2008. This season or next?

"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad

"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)

re: Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 8:05am

A very talented writer and director his books for both GYPSY and WEST SIDE STORY are unparalleled. His screenplays not so much. THE WAY WE WERE and THE TURNING POINT are both high-brow soap operas. THE WAY WE WERE being the more cloying and manipulative of the two. Pure mush.

Oh and he's immensely full of himself:

At the age of 90, I'm wanted," Laurents says. "They want me to direct the Bible next."

re: Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 8:09am

You know... his West Side Story book could use a brush up too. It's a tad quaint.

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

#10

re: Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 8:13am

It's reflective of it's time. It takes place in the late 1950s. Some of the dialogue could use a brush up but the structure of that book as such is one of the best ever written for the stage.

#11

re: Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 8:24am

"there wasnt a revival of WSS in the 1970's"

No...it was in 1980.

#12

re: Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 8:31am

...and exactly HOW was the '80s revival "white bread?" There's a clip of it on "that site" that kicks ass.

He always pisses me off with his arrogance.

Let's see if he has his finger on the pulse of "what's contemporary" with his revival plans... or more likely has his finger somewhere else.

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

#13

re: Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 8:43am

As I said, it needs a brush up. All those "Daddy-O's" and "buggins" make it sound about as terrifying as the argot of the gangsters in Guys & Dolls.

Laurents is right that the '80 revival of West Side Story was tame. An absolutely fine recreation, but apart from Debbie Allen's Anita, and the as always amazing Robbins/Gennero choreography, it sort of sat there. Of course, the Minskoff can suck the life out of any show.

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

#14

re: Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 8:47am

Indeed the man couldn't be more arrogant if he wanted to but the current production of GYPSY shows that he knows what he is doing. I really admire the fact that he encouraged each and every one of his actors to give completely different and unique takes on their roles when he could have just asked for carbon copies impersonations from the previous productions he has directed.
I hope he does a good job with this revival.
Is Natascia Diaz too old for Anita?

#15

re: Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 8:59am

Broadway is full of arrogance both onstage and off, and I couldn't care less how arrogant he is if he can do for WSS what he just did for Gypsy.

"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg." -- Thomas Jefferson

#16

re: Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 9:05am

He directed the Tyne Daly revival of Gypsy too (which is still my favorite version yet).

I didn't say he wasn't talented. But he still pisses me off.

And "tame" is one thing, but "white bread?" What a lousy choice of words!

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

#17

re: Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 9:10am

To keep things in perspective I always remind myself that this is the man that gave us NICK & NORA.

#18

re: Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 9:14am

And I agreed that the dialogue could use a brush up but it's still one of the best books written for a Broadway show.

#19

re: Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 9:24am

"Oooh, oooh, ooogly-poo!"

"Womb to tomb? Sperm to worm!"

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

#20

re: Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 9:32am

The biggest problem I have with City Center's Gypsy is his directing. The blocking is unnatural. The pace is too fast. The chemistry between characters is not well developped.

#21

re: Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 9:42am

Regardless, it is a great show that deserves a revival. It has great music that should be brought to another generation. I have been fortunate to be hooked based on a regional production 15 years ago, but the music still did its magic on me. It would be a thrill for me to see it done in a "full-blown produciton"

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not cast Tony and Maria through a reality show. I think that may just ruin it for me...

#22

re: Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 9:45am

I saw a regional production of WSS a month or so back and my thought was 'it really is time to reimagine this show and do something new with the choreography.'

Hopefully that's what's happening. I'm as big a fan of WSS and the iconic choreography as anyone but I think it's time to try something else with it.

#23

re: Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 9:45am

Oh. My. God. It's about time!

#24

re: Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 9:52am

I think Maria should be played by the young lady in In the Heights, whose name escapes me now. She'd be brilliant. I don't know about anyone else.

"A birdcage I plan to hang. I'll get to that someday. A birdcage for a bird who flew away...Around the world." "Life is a cabaret old chum, only a cabaret old chum, and I love a cabaret!"-RIP Natasha Richardson-I was honored to have witnessed her performance as Sally Bowles.

#25

re: Laurents to Direct Bway WEST SIDE STORY Revival

Posted: 7/27/07 at 9:59am

Yes! I agree it's about time, and I can't think of a better director.

"I wouldn't let Esparza's Bobby take my kids to the zoo...I'd be afraid he'd steal their ice cream and laugh."- YankeeFan
"People who like Sondheim enjoy cruelty."-LuvtheEmcee

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