WEST SIDE STORY (2019 Revival) Preview Thread — Page 25

I finally saw it tonight after reading the gossip for the past few weeks.

I had a few reservations about the use of video, but overall I loved the production. Much of the controversy over the cuts, multi-racial casting, and new choreography seems positively silly in retrospect. My one great disappointment was the overall quality of singing, which was the weakest of any WSS I've seen.

I was sad not to see Ben Cook as Riff, but his replacement is first-rate. Isaac Powell's understudy less so. Never once did I feel I was watching ballet dancers pretending to be gang members (which is all I remember of the 2009 revival.)

I loved the new choreography and sassy, smart take on Maria. No longer is she a archetypical virginal social convention written by four gay men. The rumble and finale are stunning. I hope to see it again with Powell as Tony (and pray for no more injuries!)

I doubt you can recall the last time in the past 9 years when during previews TWO principal cast members were injured and out of the show forever/long term. It just doesn't happen. If you think rain (said it again, oh no!) has nothing to do with it, cool, but that is just dumb speculation on your part.

I never claimed to have seen this sh*tshow, of course I am not supporting it, like most people who support Alexandra and women in general. But, the only thing I've commented in this thread in a month have been about a partial view seat and the incredibly unfortunate injuries. I can not care for a show and still be bummed out when two people I really admire, have seen perform, and met several times are hurt. It seems this show is dangerous for the actors and things should be fixed so the actors feel safe and no one else gets injured. That's my opinion, feel free to have another one.

Updated On: 1/11/20 at 03:41 AM

ModernMillie3 said: "I doubt you can recall the last time in the past 9 years when during previews TWO principal cast members were injured and out of the show forever/long term. It just doesn't happen. If you think rain (said it again, oh no!) has nothing to do with it, cool, but that is just dumb speculation on your part.

I never claimedto have seen this sh*tshow, of course I am not supporting it, like most people who support Alexandraand women in general. But, the only thing I've commented in this thread in a monthhave been about apartial view seatand the incredibly unfortunate injuries. I can not care for ashow and still be bummed out when two people I really admire, have seen perform,and met several times are hurt.It seems this show is dangerous for the actorsand things should be fixed so the actors feel safe andno one else gets injured. That's my opinion, feel free to have another one."

We’re not saying rain has nothing to do with it. We’re saying we don’t know so making any assumption is just wild speculation.

If there is something inherently dangerous in the current production, be it rain, choreography, costume, whatever; I’m sure everyone would want it to be made as safe as possible.

I doubt you can recall the last time in the past 9 years when during previews TWO principal cast members were injured and out of the show forever/long term. It just doesn't happen. If you think rain (said it again, oh no!) has nothing to do with it, cool, but that is just dumb speculation on your part.

Couldn't agree with this more. It never happens.

And Hot Pants, you are absolutely correct in that it's not a leap in logic to make that assumption. I guess it's easier to attack users on this thread who are making sense that it is to actually think about what's causing these injuries.Maybe people don't want to feel guilty about seeing this show knowing it's dangerous to the performers involved. Hmm....

Updated On: 1/11/20 at 02:45 PM

No one has said rain isn't a factor. But the people pushing the "the water is endangering cast members" are the same insisting that "casting Amar endangers cast members" and the ones trying very hard to spread the word that this show is/was going to be (long before anyone had seen any of it) a total disaster. And they are more joyful than sad because what they want is for this show to fail/have a dire reputation at all cost. When issues causing the accidents are fixed, they'll find something else.

Pretty sure two principal cast members out in less than a month proves it's dangerous....

trpguyy said: "Two people injured in an intensive dance show is actually not that unusual at all."

Not when one of those people (Ben Cook) was most recently in Newsies and two different Casey Nicholas shows. And he's the more injured one.

Listen, when I heard that there would be a West Side Story revival, I was really excited. I had just gotten into the musical a few months before after watching the movie, and we were practically bombarded with news about this and the upcoming movie - I was thrilled. I want the show to succeed, but the casting of Amar concerned me, as did the removal of an entire song. Just because recent events have disappointed me doesn't mean I want the show to fail.

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Gotta agree with JayElle. Saw it today and have to admit it wasn’t the disaster folks on here have been bemoaning. Today’s run time was 1 hr 45.


Surprisingly, the cuts didn’t really bother me...and the orchestra played that most excellent score beautifully. Even the updated choreography was well done. That young ensemble danced their hearts out throughout the performance.Tony and Maria’s vocals were more than just serviceable. (Ms. Pimentel’s soprano was actually quite lovely). Only Anita didn’t work for me. And the rumble is very well staged, indeed.

But that enormous video wall gimmick ruined it for me, especially during the dance sequences. Frantic camera work (even in movies) has never been my thing. IMHO the images projected overshadowed the actual dancing on stage. Very distracting.


Would I see it again? No, but I’m glad I saw it. This director’s vision of the material came up short for me. Anxiously awaiting Spielberg’s take on it this coming Christmas.

MollyJeanneMusic said: "trpguyy said: "Two people injured in an intensive dance show is actually not that unusual at all."

Not when one of those people (Ben Cook) was most recently in Newsies and two different Casey Nicholas shows. And he's themoreinjured one.."

This is an excellent example of a logical fallacy.

Ben performing in Newsies without a noteworthy injury is irrelevant. All dancers expect to get injured, and most plan for that one career-ending injury. I'm not arguing that dancers are expendable, rather pointing out that we should view injuries as dancers do - unfortunate but expected, rather than exceptional.

Thursday night:

Ivo has done it again. I really liked his production but it still needs work. (Un)Luckily another dancer got injured (he has now lost a Tony and a Riff) so his already long preview period has been lengthened by two weeks.

He uses a backdrop of video throughout the production. The entire back wall of the theatre in crystal clear digital. Sometimes it's close ups of the gang members faces (just because) sometimes its moving tours of the West Side of Manhattan (not really, Manhattan doesn't look like that anymore, my guess it's the Bronx) sometimes closeups of scenes happening onstage, sometimes entire sequences in off stage rooms. I am surprised at how much of the choreography I loved,inasmuch as the Jerome Robbins is iconic.

The only downfall is he wanted young fresh faces. Young. And trained dancers. And the best dancers aren't studying acting at that age. So I have to say I have never seen a Broadway musical with such uniformally bad acting. I mean it isn't exactly amateurish, but maybe good high school acting? Maria was cast because of her soprano (and an absolutely gorgeous soprano it is) not for her subtlety in acting (her last monologue is awful), Tony at least has this wonderful energy to him that convinces us he's in love even if his line readings don't. Anita should know better (oh no Anita no) as she has Broadway credits and even though she has a nice quality to her, she isn't up to it. Bernardo is the best, but he was also Jigger in the last Carousel. Most of the cast are just college professional high school graduates (the new Riff, who's first night I saw comes off very gay for a street tough). I worry Ivo is so busy making a whole other play with video he is ignoring his neophyte cast on stage But a lot of it is thrilling and I think it will get by on name brand alone if it doesn't get great reviews.

O

BeNice said: "He was on, yes."

I doubt that very much. I saw the show the previous night (Friday) and Riff was still played by Ahmad Simmons (the Riff understudy). Dharon was still playing Action.

I spoke to Dharon briefly at the stage door and asked him when he'd start as Riff. He said probably the following Friday. It would be very surprising to have him jump into the role a week early (unless Ahmad Simmons got injured or something). Otherwise, my understanding is that they still needed more time for Dharon to learn the role or to bring the new Action up to speed.

"I remember seeing The Crucible in early previews, and feeling like the actors really hadn't found their rhythm or their characters yet, but I was pleased when I returned to the production shortly before it closed, and I thought the performances had settled in very nicely. IMO, Ben Whishaw and Sophie Okonedo started outseemingreally miscast, delivering bizarre, stilted performances. But seeing it again later on, I thought both performances were very strong, and well-deserving of the Tony nominations they received. But Saoirse Ronan (who I think is a brilliant actress, and perfectly cast in the role of Abigail) continued to feel just a little bit lost on that stage. Bill Camp was phenomenal though."

I thought the exact same about Saoirse's performance.