Taunting

[A Director]

Posted: 12/22/08 at 2:08am

With all the talk about the "rape" in West Side Story, I decided to do a little checking. In the listing of Musical Numbers, there is something called TAUNTING (Anita and the Jets). In the published script, the stage directions read, "The taunting breaks into a wild, savage dance, with epithets hurled at Anita, who is encircled and driven by the whole pack. At the peak, she is shoved so that she falls in a corner. Baby John is lifted up high and dropped on her as Doc enters from the cellar door..."

I saw a production that used the original Robbins choreography. The scene was shocking and unsettling. It was graphic enough.

Based on what has been posted, it appears that Mr. Laurents wants to be more graphic. He fails to understand the power to dance and movement.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 12/22/08 at 2:12am

OR he does understand the power and chooses another way to tell the story.

Honestly, I think Laurents gets too much grief. I think he knows perfectly well what he is doing. He has a lot of knowledge. It's his decisions I don't always agree with.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/22/08 at 2:15am

According to members who were there, the scene is STILL choreographed.

[Dein Herr]

Posted: 12/22/08 at 2:20am

Based on what you've posted, you should probably see the frickin' show before you start moaning.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/22/08 at 2:30am

A Director has hatred for anything involving Arthur Laurents and or Patti LuPone.

[A Director]

Posted: 12/22/08 at 3:27am

ljay889 - I think Arthur Laurents is a third rate playwright. His book for Gypsy is very good. His book for West Side Story is the weakest part of the show. His book for Anyone Can Whistle is a mess. His book for Do I Hear a Waltz? is a yawn. I've never met him, but from what I read and heard about him, I sounds like a ****.

Patti LuPone has become too mannered for my taste.

As for Liza, I hate needy performers. Great art should look easy. She wasted her talent and has become trapped in her past. She never grew as a performer. Wondering if a performer is going to make it through a performance is not my idea of entertainment.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/22/08 at 3:29am

At least you are finally trying to justify your opinions. But who brought up Liza? lol

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/22/08 at 8:57am

I think Laurents gets too much grief.

Not if there's such a a thing as karma...

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 12/22/08 at 10:25am

Can someone fill me in on what heinous acts Laurents has committed? Because to me, he seems like a sweet, harmless, nutty old grandpa who rants about Mexicans and didn't want Patti LuPone in his show.

[morosco]

Posted: 12/22/08 at 10:26am

Updated On: 12/22/08 at 10:26 AM

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 12/22/08 at 11:03am

I actually find it fascinating (and creepy) how LIFE magazine devoted so many photos of that 'taunting' scene from the original 1957 Broadway production of WEST SIDE STORY. I think they took more photographs of that one sequence than any other in their section of photographs from the show.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/22/08 at 11:25am

You'll notice that Baby John is fully clothed.

Because to me, he seems like a sweet, harmless, nutty old grandpa...

Never sweet. Hardly harmless. He and Jerome Robbins both prided themselves on being the nastiest men on Broadway. They were proud of their reputations and did everything they could to live up to them.

If you do a search, I think you'll uncover my story of Arthur's bad behavior toward Gretchen Wyler.