Scenes from 1980 WEST SIDE STORY revival — Page 2

Go see the new production. It has the best versions of America and the Quintet I've ever seen. Lots of goosebumps. The actresses playing Maria and Anita are knockouts.

Was this revival really as "white bread" as Laurents considers it?

Nothing is ever as melodramatic as Arthur Laurents puts it.

Arthur, it was explained to me by the late Fritz Holt, lives his life by finding a a "villain" and a "victim" so that he never has to blame himself for anything. The villain is responsible for everything that is wrong, and the victim is the one who can be blamed.

Often, as Fritz explained, the villain isn't villainous and the victim doesn't deserve to be victimized, but Arthur must have one of each anyway.

The truth about Arthur's contribution to West Side Story is that the Jets, as written, are what is too "white bread." This was crashingly clear in the 1980 revival, because Jerome Robbins had the misguided notion that if he cast the Jets midwestern and all-American, there would be more tension between the two gangs.

That--and the fact that the Jets had to be good enough dancers to perform "Cool," the opening, the Rumble and the ballet for him--meant that they ended up looking weak, particularly next to the Sharks, who seemed tougher, because they were all dark-complected and they have less silly dialogue to say and they don't have to all dance "Cool."

But the Jet boys became Arthur's neat little villains--THEY were what was wrong with the 1980 revival, not something intrinsic in the writing of the book--HIS portion--that can probably never be fixed without changing the dialogue and using the structure of the screenplay.

Jump-cut to last year: Gypsy is a success. Arthur announces he has figured out the way to "fix" WSS...meaning, in his mind, how to fix it without changing the dialogue or the structure--he'll have the Sharks speak in SPANISH!

Only problem is...that was never the problem.

I'm sorry. Did I answer your question?

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Updated On: 1/7/09 at 10:51 PM

That does help. Thanks a lot, PalJoey!

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^ I am wondering the same thing.

Updated On: 1/8/09 at 02:57 AM

Was Laurents allowed to come up with his own staging of the QUINTET for the new revival, or is it Robbin's?

Oh. Some have been saying the Quintet is stunning in the new revival. I guess the way it is sung/performed.

The reason there was very little staging in the Robbins original was that the number was done "in one" (in the old vaudeville phrase) in from of a drop while the Rumble set was being put in place behind them.

So you had all of those people, all the way downstage, in a line from stage left to stage right

Also--Bernstein did not WANT there to be any staging. He wanted all the focus to be on the complicated choral arrangement.

That said, there were a few highly specific Jerome Robbins flourishes that made it all the more exciting, like Anita raising one leg up into the air and smoothing her stocking with both hands from ankle to thigh while she sings "He'll walk in hot and tired--so what? No matter if he's tired, as long as he's hot--tonight!"

Also the Jets jerked their heads over toward the Sharks on "Well, THEY began it!" and the Sharks jerked their heads back at the Jets when they repeated the phrase, and then both gangs clenched their fists while they sang "And we're the ones to stop them once and for all! Tonight!"

Little precise things like that were part of his genius.

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PJ---I have to ask you about Harolyn Blackwell. When was the last time an opera singer could DANCE like that? Wow!

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OMG! That's funny and horrible, all at the same time, PJ.

Robbins was a charmer, wasn't he?

Probably why he was fired roughly 7 weeks into the shooting of the movie. And yet he co-won an Oscar for Best Director!

Initially, he was going to direct all the musical scenes, and Robert Wise was going to direct all the dialogue scenes. They started with the opening sequence. And what was supposed to take Robbins two weeks to film took seven. He went so far over budget and off-schedule and started being a Diva with the producers and United Artists. He did begin work on one or two more filmed numbers, but he wouldn't listen to anyone else in charge. So ... they canned his ass.

It was a shock to everyone, especially Robert Wise, who directed most of the film, after that. Including the rest of the musical sequences. And it was kept a BIG secret at the time. But they all talk about it on the DVD. What you see of Robbins' directorial work in the film is largely the opening sequence. (Which is saying a lot.) But after that? It's Mr. Wise all the way.

So while "America" is my favorite number in the movie, I now know that it was neither choreographed NOR directed by Jerome Robbins. I find that amusing.

I wonder if they used Gennaro on the film at all to help out. I was under the impression that a lot of the musical staging AFTER Robbins was fired was done by the dancers themselves, many of whom had been in the original show. But they must have had a "leader" after Robbins was sacked. They had to be staged for the camera as well. And I know Robert Wise didn't teach them the choreography. LOL

I also know that Robbins was "unofficially" coaching them after he was sacked. So he may have helped too. But from the sidelines. NOT as a co-director.

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Updated On: 1/8/09 at 01:05 PM

I thought Robbins choreographed Cool and one other number besides the Prologue before he was fired?

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Gotcha. Thanks.

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ALL of the choreography in the film is Robbins/Gennaro. ALL of it.

Gennaro signed an agreement with Robbins under which he would receive a fee, royalties and first-class transportation for himself and Mrs Gennaro, but Jerome Robbins would retain ALL rights to Gennaro's work, including the copyright. Gennaro also promised never to discuss the extent of his work on West Side. Chita Rivera finally broke the silence in A Dancer's Life and paid tribute to Gennaro's work.

But the reality is: Robbins created all of the Jet movement and Gennaro created most of the Shark movement, including Bernardo's iconic leg extension in the Prologue, Anita and Bernardo's amazing Mambo at the Gym, the Sharks' ensemble Mambo and "America."

In addition, 4 Robbins dancers were given "dance assistant" credit on the film: Tommy Abbott, Margaret Banks, Howard Jeffrey, and Tony Mordente. Mordente, of course, was Chita's husband. I've heard that he could do "America," almost as well as she could, so he might have had a big hand in adapting the girls-only choreography to the boys and the girls.

Gennaro got no credit on the film, but he might have been around at the beginning. Robbins somehow inspired people to work for him, despite his abusive behavior.

Tommy Abbott (the original Gee-Tar on Broadway) became Robbins's ballet master as New York City Ballet and re-staged West Side several times in the 60s and 70s and he and Lee Theodore (the original Anybodys) restaged the 1980 revival.

Tommy was a lovely, troubled man, and he and Jerry had been lovers while Jerry was his boss, which couldn't have been easy. Tommy died in 1987, during those horrible years. I remember he had one of those obituaries common back then that didn't list the cause of death. It might have been AIDS, it might have been suicide, it might have been "cancer." I just remember being sad because he had been so nice to me and taught me a lot about Jerry's craft.

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Updated On: 1/8/09 at 01:39 PM