WEST SIDE STORY (2019 Revival) Preview Thread- Page 29

[Globefan]

Posted: 1/27/20 at 7:20pm

cfbrrr said: "A few things about the cutting of “I Feel Pretty” and the “Somewhere Ballet” that I don’t believe have been mentioned.

First of all, many, perhaps most, people tend to envision/remember “West Side Story” from the 1961 movie rather than via the 1957 original Broadway version — a significant issue given that many things were changed/adapted for the movie, a number of which were attributable to neither Bernstein nor Laurents nor the demoted-as-director Robbins.

In the original, “I Feel Pretty” comes right at the top of Act 2, which is hugely significant because the “Rumble” (not the “Tonight Quintet,” as is often assumed) ends Act 1. And the “Rumble,” of course, is where Tony kills Bernardo, Maria’s brother (who is also her best friend Anita’s lover), right after Bernardo has killed Riff.

The essential point is that when Maria, in the original version, sings “I Feel Pretty,” directly following a tension-breaking intermission, she is *totally unaware* that Tony has just killed her brother, resulting in dramatic irony of the most poignant kind. Though the audience knows what’s up, Maria is still able to bubble with glee over her newfound guy as if everything were right in the world and forever would be. On one level, it’s so deliriously joyful. Yet underneath, it’s so very, very sad. Great writing. Great psychological pacing. (In the movie, “I Feel Pretty” comes rather more daintily in advance of any dead bodies being strewn across the stage.)

And though Mr. Sondheim has for decades loudly voiced his displeasure over what he regards as his unsuitable lyrics for the song (I don’t agree; I cherish them, and remember how much, as a kid, I loved the line “Miss America can just resign&rdquo, he was the juniorest member, by far, of the quartet of creators of the show, and I seriously doubt whether any of the other three would have “not minded the loss of the song” in the current revival.

”I Feel Pretty” is musically brilliant, with a snappy Hispanic rhythm useful to the show, and a terrific middle section, starting, via the women’s ensemble, in minor mode, leading, with nifty key-changes and inspired text-settings (“this is nót the Má-ri-a wé know,” e.g.) to the final section, with its great and quirky “which, what, where, whom?” interjections and its rousing conclusion. Not only is it Maria’s only solo song [!], its setting with female-ensemble back-up is the original show’s only all-female ensemble number except for “America,” which, as in the movie, has been made into a multi-gender affair in the current revival. (Yet there is much all-maleness that remains . . .)

Thus, “I Feel Pretty” has gone from genius placement (original) to tepid placement (movie) to no placement (van Hove).

As for the “Somewhere Ballet,” let me just state that in the 1989 “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway,” which won the Tony for Best Musical that year, the concluding and climactic set of numbers ending the first act was a suite of dances from “West Side Story,” with the final number of that concluding segment — everything was chosen by Robbins himself — being not one of the flashy, jazzy, energetic numbers, as you might expect, but rather the “Somewhere Ballet,” so touching and so gorgeous in both music and choreography that it brought tears to my eyes on what was a most memorable (and long!) night in 1989. It’s super-obvious how much that number meant to the now-not-able-to-defend-himself Robbins.

In the current revival, not only is there no “Somewhere Ballet,” but the song itself — entrusted on Bernstein’s recordings to no less that Reri Grist and Marilyn Horne — is initiated/dominated by Tony, with him already having had tons of solo opportunities, thereby diminishing any sense of Maria’s parity yet further. A questionable holdover from the movie is worsened by Maria’s now seeming less significant — less eligible even — in Mr. van Hove’s world.

Say all you want about these these two cut numbers not fitting into the revival’s “concept.” I counter that any “West Side Story” that — jettisoning Robbins’ Prologue choreography, perhaps the most important and iconic piece of choreography in The Entirety of the American Musical Theater, in favor of having the rival gangs merely, at the outset, emit “meaningful” stares (their menacing finger-snaps that are *part of the actual printed score* having been summarily junked) — is already dead in the water, with or without superfluous rain.

That there needs to be, or even should be, “modernized” versions of classic shows to render them relevant or even palatable to contemporary audiences is a highly debatable notion — especially when, if then canonized on Broadway and accompanied by commercial recordings/video representations, they come to be accepted by/revealed to large swaths of the public as *the show itself*. Artistic license can be destructive as well as liberating — in the long as well as short term. Murder can result from both a bullet and a virus.
"

I wonder where I Feel Pretty will be placed in Spielberg's film. 

[MollyJeanneMusic]

Posted: 1/27/20 at 7:40pm

cfbrrr said: "That there needs to be, or even should be, “modernized” versions of classic shows to render them relevant or even palatable to contemporary audiences is a highly debatable notion — especially when, if then canonized on Broadway and accompanied by commercial recordings/video representations, they come to be accepted by/revealed to large swaths of the public as *the show itself*. Artistic license can be destructive as well as liberating — in the long as well as short term. Murder can result from both a bullet and a virus."

I think there's a delicate balance between taking a revival too far and not taking it far enough.  Some more recent revivals that I'd score with different degrees of "messing with the material" would be, in order, My Fair Lady, Pippin, and Oklahoma.

My Fair Lady is a pretty faithful revival - but it did have a new, albeit controversial, ending that reflected the times - and, fittingly, lined up with George Bernard Shaw's original view of the show.  Pippin had a few changes - the circus element, the gender swap of the Leading Player - but it still remained faithful to the intent of the authors, as well as keeping much of the original Fosse choreography.  Oklahoma had some radically different elements from the original - the dream ballet, the lighting, the orchestrations, the staging of the fight - but its big selling point was that it did this without changing a word of the text (besides adding "Oh, come on, not the guitar" for Laurey).

The key thing that unites all these revivals is that they made changes, but are still faithful to the visions of their original writers.  Shows can be "modernized," but there's a balance to be found, and it's a very delicate one.

(Also, and this is a moot point, but after seeing her in the John Mulaney special, I really want to hear Shereen Pimentel sing I Feel Pretty.)

[Globefan]

Posted: 1/27/20 at 7:46pm

MollyJeanneMusic said: "cfbrrr said: "That there needs to be, or even should be, “modernized” versions of classic shows to render them relevant or even palatable to contemporary audiences is a highly debatable notion — especially when, if then canonized on Broadway and accompanied by commercial recordings/video representations, they come to be accepted by/revealed to large swaths of the public as *the show itself*. Artistic license can be destructive as well as liberating — in the long as well as short term. Murder can result from both a bullet and a virus."

I think there's a delicate balance between taking a revival too far and not taking it far enough. Some more recent revivals that I'd score with different degrees of "messing with the material" would be, in order, My Fair Lady, Pippin, and Oklahoma.

My Fair Lady is a pretty faithful revival - but it did have a new, albeit controversial, ending that reflected the times - and, fittingly, lined up with George Bernard Shaw's original view of the show. Pippin had a few changes - the circus element, the gender swap of the Leading Player - but it still remained faithful to the intent of the authors, as well as keeping much of the original Fosse choreography. Oklahoma had some radically different elements from the original - the dream ballet, the lighting, the orchestrations, the staging of the fight - but its big selling point was that it did this without changing a word of the text (besides adding "Oh, come on, not the guitar" for Laurey).

The key thing that unites all these revivals is that they made changes, but are still faithful to the visions of their original writers. Shows can be "modernized," but there's a balance to be found, and it's a very delicate one.

(Also, and this is a moot point, but after seeing her in the John Mulaney special, Ireallywant to hear Shereen Pimentel sing I Feel Pretty.)"

Maybe they can put I Feel Pretty on the cast album as an extra 

[SisterGeorge]

Posted: 1/27/20 at 8:11pm

cfbrrr said: "I Feel Pretty” is musically brilliant, with a snappy Hispanic rhythm..." 
I like the song and  I did miss it in the revival (more than I missed the ballet) but "Hispanic rhythm"? That is a meaningless description of the music. Is it a tango? conga? danzon? salsa? That's the kind of cluelessness about Latinx culture that led Lloyd Webber to write a Brazilian samba for Evita's arrival in Buenos Aires. Don't get me wrong. I love that number too. But authentic it's not. And neither are the castanets and flamenco steps in "I Feel Pretty."

 


 

 

[NYCblurb]

Posted: 1/29/20 at 12:18pm

It's still quite awful. Stark. Boring.  Not yet winning. Seen it now three times and opening looms.

[JSquared2]

Posted: 1/29/20 at 12:31pm

NYCblurb said: "It's still quite awful. Stark. Boring. Not yet winning. Seen it now three times and opening looms."

a)  Obviously many people disagree with your assessment.

b)  Why do you keep going back??

[joevitus]

Posted: 1/29/20 at 2:36pm

^^

That second one baffles me, too.

[Miserent]

Posted: 1/29/20 at 7:53pm

West Side Story is one of my favorite musicals, so I went into this very excited and with an open mind, but I did not like it at all. The acting was overall mediocre at best, the singing left much to be desired. I was looking forward to some thrilling new choreography, but I found almost all of it to be very boring. How many somersaults do we really need? The video projection was an interesting concept that worked a few times, but was very overused and sometimes laughable (those projections during America? Don’t get me started). Gee, Officer Krupke was the worst moment of the show for me, the performers didn’t seem to enjoy themselves and once again, the bland singing and acting sunk what I already find to be one of the show’s weakest songs. The audience response was very tepid, minus the three people at the end who immediately stood up; I had to wonder if they were family members of some of the cast. Overall the most disappointing theatregoing experience I’ve ever had.

[brian1973]

Posted: 1/30/20 at 3:39pm

NYCblurb said: "It's still quite awful. Stark. Boring. Not yet winning. Seen it now three times and opening looms."

STOP

WATCHING

IT

THEN.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 2/2/20 at 6:02pm

I caught this for the third time this afternoon, and I can report there have been quite a few changes made throughout the preview period. The biggest changes are to the projections. America, Officer Krupkee, and A Boy Like That/ I Have A Love all have new projection sequences. Maria also has some new costumes. Her white dress for the dance now has sleeves, and she wears jeans and a tee shirt in the final scene as opposed to the dress which she wore earlier in previews. I also felt like there were more strings in the orchestrations of Somewhere. It sounded absolutely heavenly. All of these changes only made the show even better than it already was. I really love this production, and I look forward to seeing the completely polished and frozen show post opening!

[gibsons2]

Posted: 2/2/20 at 6:22pm

bwayphreak234 said: "I caught this for the third time this afternoon, and I can report there have been quite a few changes made throughout the preview period. The biggest changes are to the projections. America, Officer Krupkee, and A Boy Like That/ I Have A Love all have new projection sequences. Maria also has some new costumes. Her white dress for the dance now has sleeves, and she wears jeans and a tee shirt in the final scene as opposed to the dress which she wore earlier in previews. I also felt like there were more strings in the orchestrations of Somewhere. It sounded absolutely heavenly. All of these changes only made the show even better than it already was. I really love this production, and I look forward to seeing the completely polished and frozen show post opening!"

I loved the show too (saw it last Wednesday) and plan to see it again after the opening. But next time from the mezzanine,  I think they are the best seats for this production.  

[Moderator]

Posted: 2/2/20 at 9:00pm

Due to posts earlier this evening that violated our policy on personal attacks, we are locking this thread for the night, and will we-open it during business hours tomorrow when additional moderators are online to handle reported abuse. Thank you for your understanding.

[Hank3]

Posted: 2/3/20 at 12:45pm

brian1973 said: "NYCblurb said: "It's still quite awful. Stark. Boring. Not yet winning. Seen it now three times and opening looms."

STOP

WATCHING

IT

THEN."

I can't. I'm the director.

Sincerely,

Ivo

[BJR]

Posted: 2/3/20 at 1:25pm

bwayphreak234 said: "I caught this for the third time this afternoon, and I can report there have been quite a few changes made throughout the preview period. The biggest changes are to the projections. America, Officer Krupkee, and A Boy Like That/ I Have A Love all have new projection sequences. Maria also has some new costumes. Her white dress for the dance now has sleeves, and she wears jeans and a tee shirt in the final scene as opposed to the dress which she wore earlier in previews. I also felt like there were more strings in the orchestrations of Somewhere. It sounded absolutely heavenly. All of these changes only made the show even better than it already was. I really love this production, and I look forward to seeing the completely polished and frozen show post opening!"

What were the new projections? Anything drastically different?

[52889j]

Posted: 2/3/20 at 4:16pm

It looks like Powell has archived the post announcing his return to the show where he commented that he was "easing back into it." Anyone have any recent experience with him out? Is he perhaps taking off just matinees on two show days? Gonna try to catch him this week.

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 2/4/20 at 11:10pm

i havent read this thread (i will) but i found the production pretty brilliant. 

the projections were particularly clever, and in a way a revelation: it kept the story on stage while opening us up to a real life set. the use of the backstage dressing rooms also worked. really brilliant. 

isaac powell blew me away. i thought he was struggling to sustain a bit but he really opened it up on Somewhere and was heartbreaking towards the end. He was so bland in Once On This Island but this will make his career. The way he put "Maria" together made me laugh and gave me a lump in my throat. I am a cynical guy, so thats no small feat.

Shireen Pementel has a lovely (if boring) soprano but was charming as hell- her Maria oozed personality that prior Marias that i have seen didnt have. I still think cutting I Feel Pretty is a bit of a betrayal but now that Ive seen how this Maria was put together, it made sense. She had a packed house riveted and silent during the finale- a real moment where Theater did its thang. I wasnt as impressed with Riff or the understudy singing Officer Krupke- he who shall not be named was fine as Bernardo, thought its hard not to notice that he cant sing. Yesenia Ayala did a fine job, and didnt overplay the graphic rape scene.

My gripes are twofold: first of all, why stage so much so far away from us? Even with the video, and even with my decent Orchestra seat, the cast constantly felt like it disappeared into Doc's store. Why?

More confusing for me was the makeup of the Jets: casting blind doesnt bother me one bit when racial makeup is not an issue, so bring on Rebecca Naomi Jones and Josh Henry leading big ole Broadway classics anyday. But HERE the actual makeup of two groups of people is critical to the story. I have no issue juggling the story such that the Sharks/Maria are Chinese and the Jets/Tony are Hasidic Jews as long as the racial animus is apparent to teach the lesson of the stupidity of Tribes. But the Jets were made up of different races and you couldnt tell the Sharks and Jets much apart. I just am not sure why they did this other than to make Officer Krupke a police brutality thing (done very well) but then Im looking at 4 white dudes complaining about police brutality, and a black guy telling the PRs to go back home. it didnt kill the production by any means but this felt like overwokeness to me. 

regardless, strong recommend from me. kudos to the production team. like Oklahoma! did, this made me feel pretty good about where musical theater could be headed to make sure classics dont go stale.

[SisterGeorge]

Posted: 2/5/20 at 6:17pm

JDonaghy4 said: "iI have no issue juggling the story such that the Sharks/Maria are Chinese and the Jets/Tony are Hasidic Jews as long as the racial animus is apparent to teach the lesson of the stupidity of Tribes."

If you take a look at at many of the warring gangs of today, often they are of the same race and you can't tell one tribe from another except for their identifying tattoos. I think this is just one more way in which this production makes this classic musical brilliantly contemporary. You have to find a group to hate in order to elevate your own status. If they look different, great. If not, that works too.

 

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 2/5/20 at 7:00pm

Has IvH changed the America projections.

 

Loved the show.  Hated them.  

Updated On: 2/5/20 at 07:00 PM

[19762]

Posted: 2/5/20 at 10:00pm

MollyJeanneMusic said: "Oklahoma had some radically different elements from the original - the dream ballet, the lighting, the orchestrations, the staging of the fight - but its big selling point was that it did this without changing a word of the text (besides adding "Oh, come on, not the guitar" for Laurey).
First time poster, long time follower! Just wanted to chime in because I've been reading a lot on this thread about how Oklahoma didn't change or cut any text, which is not true. They did significant cuts to the text. Off the top of my head, there's some tarot card reading dialogue before Out of My Dreams, and a whole scene before Jud enters the wedding where all the men taunt Curly and Laurey outside their bedroom window. I loved the Oklahoma revival, and I love the West Side Story revival but, yes, there were cuts.

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 2/5/20 at 10:06pm

SisterGeorge said: "JDonaghy4 said: "iI have no issue juggling the story such that the Sharks/Maria are Chinese and the Jets/Tony are Hasidic Jews as long as the racial animus is apparent to teach the lesson of the stupidity of Tribes."

If you take a look at at many of the warring gangs of today, often they are of the same race and you can't tell one tribe from another except for their identifying tattoos. I think this is just one more way in which this production makes this classic musical brilliantly contemporary. You have to find a group to hate in order to elevate your own status. If they look different, great. If not, that works too.

"

I appreciate this point but that isnt the story here. Its *specific* to racial animus towards Puerto Rican immigrants, and *specific* to their mistrust of the Americans who treated them so poorly. That text is still there. Youre hitting the nail on the head: they are de-specifying the context, generalizing it- like when someone takes away the specific traumas/controversies of African Americans or Jews in place of "general intolerance"- it muddies it. The more I think about it the more it seems a grave misstep. 

Henrik, i dont know what the prior projections were, but i particularly liked them last night: the images of NYC gave way to images of Puerto Rican shanty towns. At the very end they slipped in a picture of Trump's wall which I found a little on the nose and unnecessary but i thought it otherwise worked well. Didnt realize until much later that they switched the roles- with Anita complaining about missing Puerto Rico and Bernardo playing Anita's role. 

[BenElliott]

Posted: 2/5/20 at 10:18pm

Ok, so I really expected to love this, but ultimately this might be one of the worst, biggest misfires I've ever had the misfortune of witnessing on a Broadway stage. This was HORRIBLE.

Sometimes simpler is better. I would've loved a minimalist WSS, but that's not what this steaming pile of wet garbage is. This is overcomplicated, lifeless, boring "blah." Issac is pretty good (his singing is stunning), but that's basically all I have to say about the cast. Everyone ranges from bad to mediocre to just forgettable.

The VIDEOS!!! They're so BAD. I loved the video work in Network, but here? Trash. Everything is absolutely ruined by it. It's just a big, empty ugly stage with some student film upstaging everyone.

The choreography is a mess. It's just the same flailing motions for the whole show. I thought it would look creative or interesting and it's just ugly and boring. Did we really need to have the border wall projected onto the stage during America? Or videos of police brutality during Officer Krupke? I mean does Ivo not trust the audience to make their own connections? He's talking so far down to the audience that I found it nearly insulting. Everything about this is lifeless, mathematical, painfully on the nose, and at times, exploitive.

It's disgusting and Amar is distracting. It feels like a statement which made me uncomfortable.

This was just really, really bad. When I start questioning whether or not WSS is a good show at all about 20 minutes in, you know you're seeing an absolute sh*tshow.

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 2/5/20 at 10:45pm

BenElliott said: "I loved the video work in Network, but here? Trash. Everything is absolutely ruined by it. It's just a big, empty ugly stage with some student film upstaging everyone.

He's talking so far down to the audience that I found it nearly insulting. Everything about this is lifeless, mathematical, painfully on the nose, and at times, exploitive."

to each their own because i liked it alot but i have to STRONGLY disagree re the video projections as compared to Network. In that show it was utterly pointless; here at least it set a scene, gave you a physical context. God, I hated Network. 

I do agree with you that this director always talks down to us, and some of the projections (like the ones you mentioned) were doing that, even if i found them effective. Didnt he do the Crucible a few years back? Same problem.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 2/5/20 at 10:59pm

I caught this again tonight. Boy oh boy is this production breathtaking. It’s only more breathtaking and wonderful now than it was back in December. Just a big “wow” for me.

Issac Powell and Shereen Pimentel have really found gorgeous shades and layers in their performances - Powell particularly finds a lot of freshness and pathos in his solos. Their “Tonight” is the highlight of the evening, as is the scene after. I still have some quibbles with some of the casting choices in the rest of the cast, but they really didn’t hinder my experience at all.

The projections have been refined. No more giant cars, fewer warehouse lots, more softening of the background during scenes. I agree that it is occasionally distracting, but in the moments when it all works, it WORKS. I’m also the kind of theatregoer who welcomes live camera work and projection; it’s not for everybody.

The choreography has tightened and feels much more alive. I don’t know how much of “America” has been tweaked since I thought it was a low point when I saw it previously, but found it pretty thrilling tonight. “Dance at the Gym” remains a highlight. I maintain that the number one thing to recommend about this revival is the choreography. So much attention paid to the gravity of our bodies, and how that gravity pushes and pulls others; the slicing through the air; the angles and softness. Stunning stuff.

I highly highly recommend this revival if you’re an adventurous theatregoer.

Updated On: 2/5/20 at 10:59 PM

[InTheBathroom1]

Posted: 2/5/20 at 11:14pm

Saw the matinee this afternoon and wanted to love it but it just didn’t do it for me. I loved the choreography and the use of video and camerawork. I thought the performances, however, were uniformly mediocre. The u/s for Tony was on who I didn’t particularly care for. I think the projections and camerawork was far more interesting to look at than anything that was happening onstage. Based on the marketing, I feel like was promised a production that was edgy and did something different, but in the end, it failed to illuminate anything new about the piece.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 2/5/20 at 11:20pm

n/m

Updated On: 2/5/20 at 11:20 PM