So I went to see the show last night, having read some of the vicious reviews, some of the discontent reviews, and the few praises. I avoided spoilers, barely skimmed through this thread earlier, and actually went ready to love the show, and thought I'd come back and tell everyone that this is THE revival of the season... and then I saw the show.
Laurents is currently misdirecting WEST SIDE STORY at the Palace. A production (and obviously a show) that has tons of potential and yet the show reads like a series of missed opportunities:
-The cast can hardly be blamed for Laurents' awful direction. However, I must single out Matt Cavenaugh terrible "acting" as Tony. How did this man get hired? Did he just take his shirt off and Laurents said "okay"? Now, I loved Cavenaugh in GREY GARDENS. I thought I'd like him in this too. His singing is enjoyable to me (though I know most people hate the vibrato), but what is with his accent? It's the same accent he had for GREY GARDENS. Tony is not Joe Kennedy! His death scene was almost laughable and just overall I never bought him as the former leader of a gang, not to mention he had absolutely no chemistry with his alleged best friend, Riff aka Cody Green. Which leads me to the casting of Green. He can dance, but his acting just leaves lots to be desired. George Akram fares better as the leader of the Sharks, yet overall I didn't feel that neither him nor Green made for great authority figures. They felt too pretty for me. Oh, and if Laurents wanted them to look gritty and real, then why do some of the Jets look so incredibly effeminate? (I'm looking at you blonde guy with the green tanktop). And the guy who plays Chino cannot speak Spanish, by the way, his post-Rumble scene was awful.
-The women fare a lot better. Josefina is a charming Maria, and I blame some of her underwhelming on Laurents' misdirection. She does a wonderful job with "Me Siento Hermosa" and she injects some life into a rather wooden Matt Cavenaugh. I agree with PalJoey about her "killer" moment, what was Laurents thinking? I wanted some chest-pounding, some real accusation. She just stands there! I couldn't tell if she was crying or laughing. Just awful. Karen Olivo has brilliant vocals, is a great actress, and yes, not a showstopping dancer (which I thought she was in IN THE HEIGHTS). However, I think if a strict, mean choreographer had worked with her, he'd have gotten her where she needs to be. She knows the steps, she needs to learn how not to be sloppy in her execution of them and how to trust her own moves. Overall though, she--along with Josefina--comes out the best. Her rape scene was overwhelming and tragic, she did a brilliant acting job with it. I disagree with PJ re the "A Boy Like That/I Have a Love" scene. Why is Anita so calm? Why is Maria the angry one? Don't get it. Graziella is fantastic! I loved her every time she was on stage. And I have a bone to pick with Laurents, in a production that is trying to be somewhat more about the Latinos, why is the one girl who wants to go back to Puerto Rico acting/talking like she has mental problems during "America"? Now that's Laurents' own stupidity coming through.
-Costumes...where do I even begin? Awful all throughout, though I enjoyed the women's costumes overall. I don't think Anita's purple dress even remotely matched the iconic pink/lilac dress that Rita Moreno wears in the film (not sure if Chita wore the same for the original production).
-The Spanish concept: I'm a native Spanish speaker. I was born and raised in Venezuela (where George Akram is from actually). It didn't work. It could have worked in the hands of a more innovative director. The way it is, it's extremely inconsistent. Laurents said he wanted to show how language divided up the gangs and the lovers. Well, Maria speaks perfect English when she meets Tony, she sings the perfect Sondheim lyrics in "Tonight" and "One Hand, One Heart." Guess what? No barrier! Same with the Sharks. As PJ pointed out, it works wonders in "Me Siento Hermosa" (sorry, don't think it worked at all for "A Boy Like That," but I blame it on the fact Laurents directed Karen to stay somewhat restrained during the scene). "Me Siento Hermosa" shows what a great potential the concept has, the girls do a great job with it, it's the "America" of this production.
-Direction: I blame Laurents for the overall underwhelming effect of the production. I could not stand what he did to the final scene. What's with that weird thing Maria is doing with Action? It almost feels sexual instead of angry. So ridiculous. Laurents just misses the mark. The scenes don't pop at all. The dancers go through the steps, but they don't feel the steps, and the music seems to get ahead of them. "Me Siento Hermosa" is fantastic, the rape scene is really uncomfortable to watch as it's meant to be (A-Rab's pants are still up, though he buttons them up when Doc comes in, he does thrust into Anita as if he's actually raping her which is not done in the movie at least). Why did Laurents cast Cavenaugh and Green? What's with the costumes? What's with the weird choices he makes for some scenes?
-The show: What a beautiful, tragic musical. Even Laurents' misdirection can't keep me from being in tears during "Somewhere," or having a smile plastered on my face through the Mambo and the "America" scene. The Bernstein/Sondheim score is sublime, perfection, beautiful. The choreography is brilliant. I'd see it again in a heartbeat, because it is WEST SIDE STORY, regardless of how much Laurents tries to make it something else.
"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"
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