WEST SIDE STORY Reviews- Page 3

[jagfkb]

Posted: 3/19/09 at 10:50pm

so wait... a gang member moons the audience?

[loverly]

Posted: 3/19/09 at 10:57pm

These reviews are all over the place. Interesting.

[loverly]

Posted: 3/19/09 at 10:57pm

These reviews are all over the place. Interesting.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 3/19/09 at 11:24pm

These reviews are all bringing up very valid arguments and interesting opinions. I had such conflicting thoughts after the show and these scattershot reviews are highlighting my schizophrenic thoughts on the production.

[marknyc]

Posted: 3/19/09 at 11:24pm

NY Times is Positive.

The best news is how newly credible and affecting the show’s central love story becomes in this context, with Matt Cavenaugh and Josefina Scaglione as the doomed Tony, an idealistic Polish-American, and the virginal Puerto Rican Maria. As Mr. Sondheim has observed, “There are no characters in ‘West Side,’ nor can there be.” They are by necessity, he said, “one-dimensional characters for a melodrama.”

http://theater2.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/theater/reviews/20west.html Updated On: 3/20/09 at 11:24 PM

[marknyc]

Posted: 3/19/09 at 11:25pm

.

Updated On: 3/20/09 at 11:25 PM

[BroadwayProducer2]

Posted: 3/20/09 at 5:55am

From: BroadwaySergey.com:
http://www.broadwaysergey.com/2009/03/west-side-story-broadway-review.html

"During the performance of “Maria” voice of Tony (Matt Cavenaugh) was ok, but too dim and not sonorous. It sounded like a bad opera singer for me. Sometimes too high, sometimes too quiet that I couldn’t hear beginning and the end of some words in the song. His acting wasn’t perfect-pitching also"

"Set and light design did not really impress me. Especially light design. In my opinion there should be some more colors in West Side Story. Through play of colors light designer and director can express the feelings of the characters, the whole situation, can make it more powerful, emotionally, touching. But this production of West Side Story was colorless..."

"In spite of all the minuses it is still West Side Story. And it’s still must see show for all fans of musical theatre. It just could have been done better. I would recommend to see it from mezzanine or even from balcony, perhaps like me for half price (partial view seats). The choreography scenes are amazing from mezzanine and balcony, and you really don’t have to see all the face expressions of the actors..."

West Side Story Broadway Review (Video review on YouTube) Updated On: 3/20/09 at 05:55 AM

[Princeton78]

Posted: 3/20/09 at 7:09am

The reviews seem to be more generous than posters on this board thought they would be, but I'd still venture to guess that the door is open for "Hair" to get a set of raves and perhaps the Tony.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 3/20/09 at 7:52am

Brantley's review reads more like a stream of consciousness than a review.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/20/09 at 7:57am

Seriously. Like he wanted to be more critical but was afraid to.

Or like someone was standing over him, with a gun to his dog's head, saying, "Pan this show and the dog is dead."

[marknyc]

Posted: 3/20/09 at 8:03am

It feels like most of the reviewers saw the same flaws that posters here have been pointing out for weeks (the weak male leads, the Spanish gimmick), but weren't bothered by them.

One thing no review has mentioned is the lack of energy - has that problem been fixed?

[GatorNY]

Posted: 3/20/09 at 8:34am

The jeans were pulled down and belt buckle undone on Monday night. It definitely escalated the abuse that Anita endures to a different level. This is one of the aspects that does fulfill what Laurents claimed he would do with making the gang members more violent...and THEN...when Action showed A-rab his approval for this behavior, the hate and violence was pushed even more over the top. At that point I really hated Action. It showed me how despicable this guy really is!

[Trish2]

Posted: 3/20/09 at 9:10am

Daily News: MIXED

Unfortunately, the principal guys don't fare as well, starting with Maria's ill-fated love, Tony. Matt Cavenaugh has a fine tenor, but his body language and diction, with its odd hints of New England, seem out of place on Manhattan's mean streets, if not in Maria's arms.
By acting every note of "Something's Coming," he turns optimism into spun sugar.
Cody Green, a reality-TV hoofer, plays Jets leader Riff. There's no question he can dance, but like the rest of the gang members, he's too boy-next-door to be thug-down-the-block.
As the Sharks' biggie, Bernardo, George Akram is low-key competent, but as the always scowling Jet, Action, Curtis Holbrook makes "Gee, Officer Krupke" a marathon of felonious mugging.


Daily News: Broadway's 'West Side Story' revival is halfway there

[Trish2]

Posted: 3/20/09 at 9:14am

NY POST: MIXED

Tony and Maria: 21-year-old Argentine cutie Josefina Scaglione does her mighty best but she can achieve only so much, paired as she is with the handsome plank of wood known as Matt Cavenaugh. They may grope each other constantly, but they spark no heat. Worse, his bleaty vibrato and park-and-bark delivery lay waste to "Maria."

Cody Green barely registers as Tony's main man, Riff, while George Akram brings determination to Sharks leader Bernardo. In a league of her own is Karen Olivo, who all but steals the show as Anita. She's not a perfect dancer, but she attacks her role with a convincing mix of vitality and enraged pride; her final scene, when she's assaulted by the Jets, is simply gut-wrenching.

What do we remember of this production, then? Laurents may not like the answer, but it's precisely what the original was about: the singing and the dancing. "West Side Story" had not been seen on Broadway in almost three decades. For a new generation to discover it live is almost good enough.

Shark Attack

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/20/09 at 9:26am

I don't really know the Post reviewer, Elizabteh Vincentelli, but her review seems dead-on:

===

The work of Bernstein and lyricist Stephen Sondheim is 75 percent of the reason this often-frustrating revival gets three stars: You can't underestimate the pleasure of hearing those songs played at full volume by a 30-piece orchestra.

Add Jerome Robbins' iconic choreography (reproduced here by Joey McKneely), and you have lightning in a bottle.

Yet at least one person thinks the aforementioned elements aren't the point: Arthur Laurents, who wrote the book back in 1957 and directs this production, has snipped that "the original was about dancing and singing."

Clearly he thought that not enough attention's been paid to his own contribution over the years. So he set out to boost the narrative "Romeo and Juliet" transposed to New York gangs in the late 1950s in his revival. Because who wants to see "West Side Story" for the dancing and singing, right?

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 3/20/09 at 9:58am

AM New York is Mixed:

“West Side Story” is a dated but great show. Little else can compare with its incredible integration of song, movement and dialogue. And the ingredients and production values necessary to make an outstanding production were definitely present. Unfortunately, Arthur Laurents’ ego ruined it for everyone.

The performances vary in success. Matt Cavenaugh is truly miscast as Tony, looking far too clean and aged for the role and singing in an ugly vocal style. 21-year-old Josefina Scaglione sings sweetly but her acting is unnaturally forced. However, Karen Olivo is fiery, sexy and vigorous as Anita, Maria’s mature companion. And anger runs through Curtis Holbrook as Action like an electric current.
Link

Updated On: 3/20/09 at 09:58 AM

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 3/20/09 at 10:08am

I'm impressed with all the love for Holbrook and Otterson, great performers in great roles that normally take a backseat. Although I suppose that's because Cavenaugh, Green, and Akram are so lackluster.

I'm very interested to see Roma's review.

P.S. Does anyone know who got the Gypsy Robe? It better have been Manuel Herrera.

Updated On: 3/20/09 at 10:08 AM

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 3/20/09 at 10:17am

Well, doesn't it go to the chorus member with the most credits?

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 3/20/09 at 10:18am

I don't think that's automatic. If that's true, then it would probably be Herrera (Holbrook, I'm guessing, is too big a part to be eligible)

[wickedfan]

Posted: 3/20/09 at 10:21am

Brantley's review seems to be a back-handed compliment. Kind of like "It's not what you intended to do, nor is it what West Side Story SHOULD be, but I enjoyed it nonetheless because, well, it's West Side Story."

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 3/20/09 at 10:28am

I'm disappointed in Brantley. I expect something more definitive from the New York Times.

Have an opinion! It's your job.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 3/20/09 at 10:29am

Didn't Curtis get it for Xanadu? Can someone get it twice?

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 3/20/09 at 10:33am

Action is a real role. It's not a chorus role. The actor playing Action would not get the Gypsy Robe.

Updated On: 3/20/09 at 10:33 AM

[jagfkb]

Posted: 3/20/09 at 11:01am

So wait, is there butt nudity in the show, because that's what it sounds like from what I've heard. I'm only curious because I was thinking of bringing my parents as a birthday presents, and they're a little uneasy about nudity and such. Not violence or language, just nudity...

[Pianolin717]

Posted: 3/20/09 at 11:03am

There is no nudity. He has his pants down, but he still has on his underwear