Speculate on the mysterious West Side Story "concept"- Page 2

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 1:59am

Or, a die-hard theater aficionado, going through his collection of vinyl albums, finds his vintage 'West Side Story' record and plays it in his apartment, and the characters come to life and perform the show in his apartment, every now and then punctuated by the theater aficionado's commentary.

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!

[EugLoven]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 2:31am

I'm presuming it'll be some drastic changes of staging and choreography. And perhaps some mixed racial casting (some black guys in the Sharks or Asian-Americans in Jets?)

[ggersten]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 8:07am

1. The show will be staged on the actual streets of New York City. Patrons will be bussed from the theatre to the playgrounds, stoops and fire escapes. Tony and Tina will be the guides.

2. Mamet has done some script doctoring. No more "Daddy-O" or "Krup you". Tony now sings "Somethings...yes..no..yes. something's, um, ****, well, ****, i think, .... yes .... something ****ing great is coming."

[jbdc]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 9:14am

They're speaking spanish. The choreography will be the same, because it has to be according to the Robbins Estate. But Arthur Laurents is playing Anita. Maria is going to be played by Candis Cayne. Anybodys is a lipstick lesbian, and Meryl Streep is playing all of the adult men.

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 9:43am

Gay and Naked - works for me.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 10:00am

Me too. Bring it on!

~Steven

[folkyboy]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 1:31pm

maybe they'll do a production where America casts who will play the Tony and Maria? called "A Cast Like That"!

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 3:32pm

The theatre will be a giant skate park, and all gang members will be on BMXs, rollerblades or boards.

Akiva

[FranklinShepard-Inc.]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 4:00pm

They might bring in a detective to solve the murder of Tony in the first place and then let the audience decide.

Or how about staging WSS with actual teenagers?? All around 14 or 15.

Or perhaps a revival with disabled actors.

So many exciting possibilities...

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 4:36pm

That Cher video just made my day! lol I have no words...

[lancerpanz]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 5:22pm

It'll be co-directed with John Doyle and they'll all play instruments on stage.

[FranklinShepard-Inc.]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 5:24pm

The dance at the gym done by John Doyle would be a blast.

Sort of.

Kinda "walk at the gym". Considering the difficulty of the score I'd doubt they'd find many actors/instrumentalists for something like that.

[fengshuihellnyc]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 5:28pm

they'll change the gangs names to blood and crypts. LOL

[jam_man]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 6:04pm

They're not going to sing a note - the whole thing will be rapped. And the dancing will be updated. It'll be Romeo & Julliet meets 8 Mile meets You Got Surved!


Or they'll all be painted green and dance on cherry pickers.

Updated On: 12/19/07 at 06:04 PM

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 6:08pm

I just know that we're just gonna see another reproduction of West Side Story. I don't know what concept Arthur Laurents has in mind but I just know we're not gonna get it at all.

[DickonDefysGravity]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 7:32pm

Underwater Laser Show.

(Maria will be black.)

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 7:57pm

The Puerto Rican's will all be Puerto Rican... but the Jets will all be black!

...and deaf.

[BrianIdol]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 8:06pm

in all seriousness...i really do think the jets are gonna be black.

[jbdc]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 8:39pm

All those African-Polish-American guys running around NYC are just dying to play Tony.

[GladysBumps]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 8:50pm

You've all got parts of it right, but the big coupe de theatre will be the double casting of Laurent's new best friend, Miss Patti Lupone in the both the roles of Anita AND Maria. Anyone who has seen La Lupone's "Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda" concert already knows she's perfectly capable of doing the "A Boy Like That, Who Killed Your Brotha" duet--all for Maria's high notes where she just smiles at the audience and points to the ceiling--and she WILL, she CAN (CAN), and she SHOULD. But contrary to speculation, she will NOT be performing any of the roles in black face.

[JRybka]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 9:11pm

In All Honesty...
A Couple years ago there was a recording of West Side Story (It had Selena's final recording "A Boy Like That") and it was done with some major modern touches.
There was also an amazing version of I Have a Love by Trisha Yearwood.


Anway~ I always thought that if they did a version of WSS using this music (except maybe the Little Richard's I Feel Pretty) it would be really neat. I would love to see it done more modern.

Anyway~ that's all I have to say about that.

[GladysBumps]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 9:26pm

Or maybe in the spirit of age-blind casting, he'll get as many of the original cast back as possible and do the whole thing with old people. Some even in walkers, like a that number from "The Producers," mobility challenged-blind casting.

But hey, Little Richard singing "I Feel Pretty?" That sounds pretty tasty.

[jbdc]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 10:57am

Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur as Maria and Anita, respectively. And Elaine Stritch as Anybodys.

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 11:10am

It's the High School 50th class reunion and new young actors shadow the older performers ala Deaf West's Big River as they remember the past.

[Neverandy]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 11:28am

It's either going to use actual teenagers, or the Jets are going to be black, or both. From what I understand the Choreography is pretty much set in stone, and Laurents said that he isn't changing a word (and I think we can be sure that there won't be any additions as well. So any flashback/commentary probably won't happen).