WEST SIDE STORY first preview reviews!- Page 13

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/5/09 at 7:31am

Tonight, tonight,
I'll see my love tonight....

But tonight will stars stop where they are?

Updated On: 3/5/09 at 07:31 AM

[SNAFU]

Posted: 3/5/09 at 11:58am

I truly hope you like it Pal Joey.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/5/09 at 12:27pm

Today the minutes seem like hours,
The hours go so slowly,
And still the sky is light.

Oh moon, grow bright,
And make this endless day endless night,
TONIGHT!


I have been listening to the Quintet from the Nashville Symphony complete recording over and over and over.

If you don't know it, I recommend it. It's not perfect, but it's a nice antidote to the complete recording Bernstein conducted, which has Kiri Te Kanawa and Jose Carreras over-opera-izing the songs.


West Side Story: The Original Score

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 3/5/09 at 12:49pm

"They sold standing room in both the orchestra and balcony on Saturday."


How do they have standing room in the balcony?



There are spaces behing the last row of the balcony on the sides.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 3/5/09 at 12:58pm

How are audiences reacting to the "dance fighting" in the beginning thus far? When I saw it in DC it received snickers from the younger members of the audience. I wondered if our youth is too cynical to really see the beauty of it. Kids today can blow some guy's head off on XBox or Playstation. Can see what gang warfare looks like in numerous films and TV shows. Can they take this fablous choreography seriously?

[Trish2]

Posted: 3/5/09 at 1:44pm

I doubt Pal Joey will "hate" it, but i can assure you, he won't love it.

[CSonBroadway]

Posted: 3/5/09 at 2:59pm

"How are audiences reacting to the "dance fighting" in the beginning thus far? When I saw it in DC it received snickers from the younger members of the audience. I wondered if our youth is too cynical to really see the beauty of it. Kids today can blow some guy's head off on XBox or Playstation. Can see what gang warfare looks like in numerous films and TV shows. Can they take this fablous choreography seriously?"

I'm a teenage boy and I see it as art...but maybe that's because I am a dancer.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/5/09 at 3:20pm

Just found this, on the Library of Congress online exhibition. This is how Robbins spoke to Bernstein and Laurents, circa 1955:

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/5/09 at 3:26pm

It also has some production photos from the original I don't remember having seen:



The "Breathing" section of the Somewhere Ballet
West Side Story: Birth of a Classic: Online Exhibition

[wirepaladin]

Posted: 3/7/09 at 6:11pm

I posted this review on another board and after taking some flack and reflecting on it, I want to make clear that it is intended to be honest and is by no means an exercise in snarkiness. As has been pointed out to me, some of the actors have an array of credits, however, those are the exception and not the rule.

I really wanted to like this show and arrived at the Palace last night with great anticipation in seeing a full scale revival of an American Classic. Perhaps, it is a case of you just can't go there again. Or maybe the show for all of its past glory just does not withstand the test of time. However, the show's story line of racial tension remains relevant and despite the dated slang should have been presented with the reverence that this turning point in American Theater deserved.

Frankly, I have no idea what the producers were thinking of when they put together this ill conceived, run of the mill production; one whose cast is weak, sound is poor (or was it the lack of enunciation and emotion in delivering the dialog and lyrics), staging pedestrian. . . Well you're getting the idea. The show never builds any momentum. There is not a single show stopping moment. The is no tension between the Jets and the Sharks. I dare say in a show in which the star is machismo, there was just no testosterone! The addition of Spanish to the dialog and lyrics while well intentioned misses the mark. Perhaps the same end could have been reached by putting actors in place that were capable of projecting a Latin air.

It's not that the performers were not trying! And I applaud then and every other actor that takes the stage and puts themselves out there for critical review. However, much of the cast is miscast. While everyone needs to start somewhere, there was not a single member of the cast that had any real Broadway experience and it showed.

When Robbins originally choreographed this show it was with a maddening devotion to precision, however, this group could not even coordinate their finger snapping highlight. There was just no punctuation or emotion in the delivery of dialog, orchestration, song or dance. In a word, this show is lazy. But then again it was a preview and perhaps the best is held back until the show's doors officially open!

There were some moments. . . though they were few and far between. The dancing had a few intermittent performances that separated this production from being characterized as a great high school rendition.

I will say in this day and age where money is dear that spending the face value for a ticket is a pure waste of your cultural budget and the producer's bankbook. In fact, I might say that if this was an angel's way of showcasing a favored performer than it missed its mark as there is not a single performance worthy of such an investment.

I trust that this production did not live up to its responsibility to future generations as this will likely close quickly, and deprive a whole new generation of the magic of this masterpiece, relegating it to mothballs on account of what will likely be a pitiful box office that will be attributed to the times or the integrity of the book and lyrics.

Refunds are due to the audience and apologies to Messrs. Bernstein, Sondheim and Robbins.


Updated On: 3/7/09 at 06:11 PM

[Trish2]

Posted: 3/7/09 at 6:38pm

Well, i couldnt help but think of the male dancers in the recent CRY BABY. They were much more intense and menacing than what is on stage at the Palace. Plus, they were knockout dancers with plenty of conviction !

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 3/7/09 at 7:18pm

Good, bad, or indifferent, I happily booked my seats for June. Very much excited for this one ... Will it still be open come June? The word-of-mouth is mixed right now, has me worried.

[CSonBroadway]

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

It will be open in June. It made over a million last week without any good reviews. WSS is popular with toursits AND theater goers.

[marknyc]

Posted: 3/8/09 at 12:23am

Some adjustments were slight (a fist was added to an originally balletic arm movement in the prologue) and some more significant, like those made to the second act ballet, which Mr. Laurents said could look “like a dance concert unless you pull it into the story.”

To make that dance more organic to the stage Mr. McKneely decided not to include the nightmare scene, which retells the deaths of Bernardo and Riff, and to make Maria and Tony front and center in the dance featuring the Sharks and the Jets. “They are generating the ballet,” he said. “It just doesn’t happen around them.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/arts/dance/08bloo.html

[ljay889]

Posted: 3/8/09 at 1:08am

There is no way this will close anytime soon. It has a 12 million dollar advance. It's going to be a big hit.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/26/09 at 11:53am

Bumped for hmpeterson

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 3/26/09 at 11:57am

While this is bumped, I'll mention one thing I noticed at a repeated viewing -- Tony's solo in Tonight was back in! I nearly jumped in my seat. Go Bernstein kids! It's such a lovely moment when he's alone up there, singing that, and the bass clarinet accompanies with "there's a place for us." Just wonderful.

And I realized looking back, I didn't get upset at the end of Something's Coming -- I can't decide if that's because I just imagined it as it should be, as I did the finale, or if they went back to the original ending. I'm sure it's the former, but could someone who's seen it lately or seeing it confirm that it still ends on the resolved high note of the movie?