My review of West Side Story 12-30-08

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 2:05pm

***Spoilers***

Alright, well, last night I, and four of my friends, went and saw the pre-Broadway tryout of West Side Story in DC.

West Side Story has always been my favorite musical, so I was anxious and nervous about this revival.

Let me start with my negative opinions...

The worst part of the show is the direction. Arthur Laurents should stay away from his own work. Arthur Laurents has taken West Side Story and sucked the life out of it. The pacing of the show is so slow with beats added into SO many places where there shouldn't be. I didn't know that making West Side Story more gritty meant making it slower and more boring. For example:

During Tony's "Something's Comin" he moved around, back and forth, on stage while in "Maria" he stood stage right and didn't take a single step the entire song! It should almost be the opposite. I think Tony should stand still during "Something's Comin" because he's preparing himself for something, watching it and for "Maria" he should be running around the streets of New York. Watching Matt Cavenaugh, I could just see it in him. I could just tell that he wanted to be moving about, but Laurents put limitations on the way he could express his excitement and new found love for Maria.

So many actors in that production took so many dramatic pauses, beats, before they continued with their lines and it got to be a bit much. For the first time of my life I felt like West Side Story dragged.

While, I can see where Laurents was going with the whole...teenage lust/love/can't keep your hands off each other thing...it sucked all the love out of this tragic love story. Basically, you watched two horny teeangers rub and kiss each other and we're suppose to think they were in love? West Side Story is a love story, but what we have here is just horny teeangers.

The costumes...some were alright. Most were just confusing. The production doesn't know what it is. The Jets look like they're dressed to go clubbing at Splash (gay club).

The tempos of some of the songs were awful. I didn't know "A Boy Like That" could be sung as a ballad. Right when you're expecting an intense moment between Anita and Maria the orchestra starts in with the slowest version of "A Boy Like That" I've ever heard.

The boy soprano singing "Somewhere"...didn't work.

Now, the dancers were incredible. The actor who played Baby John was one of the most remarkable dancers I have ever seen although when he opened his mouth I didn't believe a single thing he said. I know these are gang members doing ballet, but most of them were not masculine enough. And during "When You're A Jet" and "Officer Krupke" their harmonies were ALL off. While they were incredible dancers, they weren't actors and were decent singers. The combination of Robbins' choreography and Laurents' book can be done in a more masculine, manly way. I didn't see it last night.

I liked the sets. I don't think the show needs anymore than what is already there. The rumble set was great and I think that chain linked fence needs to be the show curtain.

The spanish...well, if I didn't know the show already, or at all, then I would not have had any idea what was happening. I would not fully understand Anita and Bernardo's relationship and I definitely wouldn't have understood why Anita goes to Doc's Drugstore. It threw me off and while I knew what Maria, Bernardo, and Anita were saying to each other...I just wanted to understand what they were saying to each other. A Spanglish would have worked much better. There were children all around me and I'm sure none of them understood what was happening. And the Quintet...when the Sharks were singing Spanish against the Jets singing English it sounded like a bunch of gibberish. You couldn't understand anything.

The taunting scene...wow. The reinvention of that scene sure did work. I felt completely uncomfortable. It literally sent chills down my spine. I liked what he did there. Finally, Laurents had me effected.

Matt Cavenaugh- now, I know everyone on these boards has said that he is the weakest part of the show, but I found him to be one of the strongest parts of the show. If he had better direction, he would almost be perfect for the role. The way he looked at Maria, I knew he truly had feelings for this girl. I only see him getting better. Despite his very strong vibrato, I loved his voice. It sounds very similar to Larry Kert IMO. He took the higher note in "Maria" and it was beautiful. Although, the scene where he is screaming for Chino did bother me because he wasn't screaming it. He was just wandering around stage quietly asking for Chino. It was awkward. But nevertheless, I really enjoyed his performance and I can't wait to see him again in NYC to see how he grows.

Josefina Scaglione- I don't get what all the hype is about. She is a very beautiful girl with a beautiful voice, but I just didn't get the strength from her that Maria needs. The creators of WSS decided not to kill Maria at the end because they thought she was too strong of a character to die. Well, I didn't see that in Josefina. Although she does capture Maria's innocence and naivety wonderfully and I really believed that she cared for Tony. And her last scene...well, she sure can fake cry.

Karen Olivo- probably the most consistent performance in the show. I thought she danced the role just fine. I LOVED her long hair that she just threw around. She could have been a little more fiery. She was fantastic with her book work. She had some really great moments and had the audience laughing and rooting for her the entire time. I'm still kind of at a crossroads of what I thought of her performance, but I did like her. Although, she did come off more motherly with Maria than a best friends.

Cody Green- get him out! The direction is the worst thing about this production and Cody Green is the second worst thing. I hope this show doesn't move to New York with him because it'll only hurt the show. He was constantly flat and needs to learn how to act. The scene between him and Matt Cavenaugh in act one fell flat. I didn't believe that they were best friends...at all. He danced the show well, but dear God...

George Akram- he was alright. Nothing memorabe. Not tough enough and not sexy enough.

Curtis Holbrook- definitely the most believable Jet. But, I think he may have been a little too crazy. But, maybe he just came off that way because the rest of the Jets were too gay.

Steve Bassett- really?

I will say that I am super glad I went to DC and saw the show, but I was disappointed with the way the show is now. If they get rid of Laurents, pick up the pace of the show, change a few costumes, re-cast Cody Green, convince the Jets that for two and a half hours it's okay to act straight, and bring back what was cut of the ballet...it'll be a good show!

Sorry, I know I just came off super negative and super b**chy, but I went in to this show with so many hopes and little expectations and was so sad to see what they have done to this remarkable show. There are so many concepts in this show and no solid direction. The production just doesn't know what it wants to be yet. I hope it finds itself soon.

Updated On: 12/31/08 at 02:05 PM

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 2:14pm

If they get rid of Laurents-

Never happen. Laurents conceived the revival: it'll live or die on his shoulders.

[matty159]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 2:17pm

Thanks for that great review. Very thorough.

Glad to hear that Matt is back and that you enjoyed his performance.

I keep forgetting that I have tickets for next Saturday! As I have said several times, I am going in with great trepidation, but based on the varied opinions on here, I am also interested in seeing where I agree and differ.

Do you think the show is pretty much locked for the remainder of the DC run and they will make improvements in the interval? Or are they constantly working on it during this run?

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 2:17pm

Well, obviously...I'm just sayin.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 2:19pm

It's an out of town tryout, of course they will continue working on it.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 2:19pm

I thought your review was very accurate. I'm going to try lotto tonight. I've seen it twice already and the show was much tighter the second time around, but I agree with mywonderwa11 in that some scenes really drag.

[matty159]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 2:27pm

I am quite aware that it is an out of town tryout. I was just curious as to whether they were going to try to take care of major issues in DC or during the interval since it is getting close to the end of the run. Didn't mean to ask a dumb question...many apologies.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 2:30pm

The more I think about it, the boy soprano doesn't work. The boy sings well enough, but there is absolutely no emotional connection to his rendition of, "Somewhere".

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 2:32pm

I so agree with your comments on the direction.
The book scenes are deadly paced.
And I agree about Josefina, she's fine but I know a dozen female singers who could knock her out of the park, and some of them are part Latina.
I don't know what they can do about Riff, the turnaround between DC and NYC is not really enough to re cast (that's if they even see the problem).
It will be interesting to see what the critics say, I will be pissed if they give Laurents an easy time because of who he is, they should remember NICK AND NORA.

Is there an official opening night in DC?

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 2:34pm

CPD, I believe the official DC opening is sometime during the first week of January. I'll ask tonight.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 2:53pm

Didnt't Laurents audition in Puerto Rico for Maria...and didn't find what he wanted? So if Josefina is what he wanted..so be it. She's still Spanish.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 3:08pm

She is from Argentina, I mean't there are better singer/actresses out there who would fit the nationality.

Thanks Dottie.

[Drunk Chita Rivera]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 5:21pm

I heard somewhere (Maybe a NPR interview) that Laurents found Josefina Scaglione on YouTube, someone saw a video of her in Argentina and told Laurents about it or something along those lines.

And I agree with pretty much all of your points. Although I think I liked it more than you. I loved Josefina!

[karen24]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 7:40pm

I have a question regarding the Spanish-language parts of this production. In some of the earlier articles I read about this revival, it was mentioned that "surtitles" would be used (I remember one in Playbill.com, for example.) Now it seems from everyone's reviews that this is not the case, that the cast just speaks/sings in Spanish at times and there is no translation offered. Does anyone know if "surtitles" were ever used, or was the decision made even before previews to just dispense with that idea? It just seems really odd to me. So many people here have posted that having parts of the show sung/spoken in Spanish with no translation offered causes the show to drag and makes it inaccessible to much of the audience. I just don't understand why Laurents would go with this decision.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 7:59pm

Karen24, surtitles were used during the earlier previews. There were screens on either side of the stage. They were more of a distraction than anything else. I found that both the spanish speaking and singing worked. I didn't have a problem with it, and I didn't need a literal translation either.

My name wasn't called at the lottery tonight. Although they were supposedly sold out, they would not sell me a standing room ticket. I have stood at the National Theatre before, so I don't know what was up with that.

[gypsy4]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 8:13pm

a little Off topic but could someone tell me who the character Kiddo is supposed to be did they recently add him in to the script.

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 8:17pm

Kiddo is the little boy soprano who sings "Somewhere." He also stands upstage in the background with Anybodys for a few scenes...the opening scene, the rumble, etc...

[gypsy4]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 8:18pm

why did they add him? Somewhere is not meant to be sung by a little kid.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 8:23pm

SOMEWHERE is usually sung by a female soprano. It really doesn't make much of a difference. A boy or a female soprano. I think the boy obviously represents more.

[gypsy4]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 8:25pm

well I guess your right.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 8:30pm

Like I mentioned earlier, the boy sings without any emotion whatsoever. So what should be a beautifully meaningful song, just comes off as a pretty song.

[MCfan2]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 8:31pm

They took the surtitles out? First I've heard of it. I'm surprised. I've found they work just fine during operas; I never expected they'd be a distraction here.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 8:32pm

If they can get the boy to sing with some emotion; it's a good concept.

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 8:32pm

It's weird...it's like Tony and Maria present the boy soprano and he just stands there and sings. It's awkward, it doesn't work, and it's basically ridiculous.

[gypsy4]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 8:35pm

well maybe they could have a young boy and a young girl sing it.