WEST SIDE STORY DC SO MAD!

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 2:49pm

I have lot to say about this production and I will give them the benefit of doubt that things will get better but, boy.
The casting went on for months and spanned the world and this is what they come up with for the 5 leads!!!!

Josefina has a lovely voice, but it lacks any shading or color, she is pleasant on stage but her acting chops need to season. it's interesting that a lot was made of the fact that she is an opera singer, but her bio just says she has studied opera and all her credits are musical comedy.

Matt is totally miscast, he is a good looking man and his age is not the problem, but his singing is. He was making all kinds of weird vocal choices, and his falsetto is just not pretty, it's hard to tell if his acting scenes are badly acted or badly directed. The first scene with Riff is a disaster as it is now. You could drive a truck thru the pauses and I never believed he and Riff were best buds.

Cody Green is no actor at all. his dancing is fantastic but everytime he speaks i had to cringe.

Karen Olivo is a good performer but her Anita lacks any warmth (in the first act) and just had no spark for me. it's not good when I was watching all the girls dance AMERICA behind her, she is the weakest dancer in this number and that's just wrong.

George Akram as Bernardo, I can barely talk about because he's barely there, nothing to write home about.

The adult actors, especially Schrank and Krupke made me check my program to see if they were actually professional actors.

I will say the ensemble are terrific but at this point all the show had going for it for me were the dancing numbers.

The sets are fine except for that damn astrological chart and a huge gold church thing during ONE HAND ONE HEART.
Most of the costumes are great and the palette is stunning, but as everyone has said there were NO mini skirts in the 50's, what are they thinking?

I have more but I am just so mad that I need a drink.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 2:52pm

Stay Cool boy.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 2:56pm

I feel it's like a slap in Chita Rivera's face to cast a weak dancer as Anita.

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 3:11pm

How? Karen's more than capable, anyway.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 3:15pm

It is a dancer's role, plain and simple. It is not right to simplify Robbin's original choreography for AMERICA, because the Anita isn't a great dancer. She needs to be a great dancer. I haven't seen the production yet, but people are saying the choreography was simplified a bit for Karen.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 3:17pm

So you want the emphasis to be on the dancing and not the acting. That's dumber than people who care more about singing than acting.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 3:18pm

The role has always been a dance role.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 3:20pm

It's not a dance concert.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 3:20pm

Double. "The Office" is distracting. So are hot dogs.

Updated On: 12/20/08 at 03:20 PM

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 3:23pm

The same thing happened to Jane Krakowski over the summer. She performed the original Lola choreography in DAMN YANKEES, but almost all of the critics noted how her dancing wasn't as strong as Gwen Verdon's dancing. There are some roles that are just known for the dancing, and to cast a weak dancer is pretty insulting to the original choreographer and star. Jerome Robbins would never have cast a weak dancer as Anita.
Updated On: 12/20/08 at 03:23 PM

[hmpeterson]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 3:23pm

I think you are all right. Anita needs to be the triple threat...dancing, acting, singing. But especially dancing.

It sounds like there are mixed reviews of the dancing (some are saying great and others saying not so much.) I've never seen Karen Olivo but I have heard wonderful things about her. I hope they didn't "dumb down" the choreography for her! I'm with ljay889 that she really needs to be the stand out in the dance numbers and if she isn't, then that's disappointing.

But some people have said she should prep her Tony speech...ha! So I guess we'll see.

[uncageg]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 3:23pm

Isn't this supposed to be an "updated" revival? maybe the mini skirts were supposed to reflect that? With all of the posts about this show so far, I would like to know what they "updated".

It sounds like everyone just needs to get comfortable in their roles. They still have time to make changes and get the show together. Isn't that what an out of town try-out is for?

[B3TA07]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 3:25pm

*shrug*

[hmpeterson]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 3:29pm

I'm starting to get nervous because with all the reviews, there have not been such great things said about Matt Cavanaugh. May be a dumb question but is it possible he may get replaced?

[Drunk Chita Rivera]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 3:29pm

Sure Anita should be a amazing dancer but Karen is not a dancer. I have not seen her as Anita (although she is what I am most excited about) but I did see her in In The Heights multiple times and she had to dance a lot. Karen has said she is not a dancer so I think she pulls it off pretty well for not being a dancer. But most people have said she takes control of the stage and all eyes go to her, but you must have seen different.

[blaxx]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 3:37pm

May be a dumb question but is it possible he may get replaced?

It is possible, but doubtful.

[IAMmyownMUSICAL]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 3:55pm

I completely disagree about ANITA. The only reason people think it's a dancer role is because CHITA originally played it.

But when we get down to it, she only ever dances in 2 numbers. But instead SINGS in what...5 or 6? Personally I'd take strong vocals, and even stronger acting over the dancing with Anita. Yes she does need to dance, and we all know Karen can, but its not a DANCE role. A DANCE role would be Riff, or Bernardo. Not Anita.

Let's think realistically, and not make up your mind because a dance legend originally played her. The original interpretor is not the be all and end all of the what the role should be.

[jaystarr]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 4:02pm

Its look like that this Revival is having a bumpy on the road to broadway. I wouldn't be suprised if this show gets a lackluster reviews! Too many bad choices! ay!

J*



Updated On: 12/20/08 at 04:02 PM

[beltingbaritone]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 4:10pm

No! I had high hopes for this show! Lets just hope they're off to a rough start?

Curtain, could you elaborate a tad on what was bad about Matt's falsetto? Not asking sarcastically, just curious.

Updated On: 12/20/08 at 04:10 PM

[teka21]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 4:15pm

Karen Olivo won a dance award for her dancing in In The Heights. It was the 2008 Fred and Adele Astaire Award for Best Female Dancer on Broadway- "America's only award recognizing excellence in dance" according to Broadway World.com.
ITH showed Karen Olivo's talent is a triple threat.

[Drunk Chita Rivera]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 4:30pm

"Karen Olivo won a dance award for her dancing in In The Heights."

"Question: This year you won the Fred and Adele Astaire Award for Best Female Dancer on Broadway. What did that mean to you?

Olivo: It was completely humbling. I feel like dancers are the hardest-working people on Broadway. They really are. They make the leads look good. Specifically for me — I'm a trained dancer as much as I can say I'm "a mover." [Laughs.] All of [choreographer] Andy [Blankenbuehler]'s stuff is so complicated and so specific. The dancers in our show were so encouraging and so helpful. They break down steps for me all the time. All of my dance partners in the club — I dance with all these different men — they are so supportive and so responsive. . . . To be in those ranks is unbelievable. They work so hard and they never complain, and it's never an issue of how many times we have to do it as long as we get it right. It's just so cool to be in that club."

So by that it sounds like she is not strongest dancer but she does "move" Personally I would have given the award to Nina Lafarga...

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 4:30pm

Yeah, Anita sings in three songs. I don't even think Maria sings six songs.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 4:37pm

Jerome Robbins would never have cast a weak dancer as Anita.

Jermone Robbins would have never cast a lot of these people. That's what happens when you have a generation of theatre without dance shows and no great choreographers emerging in over a decade. You can't cast a type of actor who doesn't exist anymore.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 4:59pm

The thing is...

When Robbins and Fosse and Bennett and Gower Champion were directing and choreographing musicals, a bunch of musicals were created in which certain roles derived their theatrical excitement from the dance element.

Thus...if you do Sweet Charity with a Charity who is not a world-class dancer, the songs and the dialogue in that show do not give enough material for the character to come across. She needs to wow you with her dancing in order for the show to work.

Similarly, a Pal Joey with a Joey who's not a dancer or an Anita who dances no better than the other Shark girls can't thrill on the writing alone. Mantello hasn't got a clue how a musical moves, and Arthur is too invested in his own ego to understand that his collaborators are responsible for what makes West Side legendary. Not he.

These shows were designed to have dance moments that made your heart soar. Without those moments, the shows don't soar. They are, ultimately, a disappointment.

To paraphrase the great Yip Harburg, when the characters in a musical reach a certain level of emotionality, they simply have to stop speaking and sing. And when that emotional level goes even higher, they must dance.

What Broadway needs are a few director/choreographers with vision. Musicals that don't soar might as well as be straight plays.

Updated On: 12/20/08 at 04:59 PM

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 5:23pm

PalJoey, you hit the nail on the head! This production of West Side Story does NOT soar. All the moments that would have made that so, are the "Dream Ballet" (had it not been cut in half) and a watered-down version (choreographically speaking) of "America".