WEST SIDE STORY reviews: opened Feb 20 2020 — Page 2

Rolling Stone loves it:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-live-reviews/west-side-story-broadway-review-ivo-van-hove-955669/

ljay889 said: "Luminaire2 said: "Brantley is up:



https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/theater/west-side-story-review-sharks-vs-jets-vs-video.html?smid=tw-nyttheater&smtyp=cur



is this what one calls a pan? Not a critic pick, mostly does not like the video or the choreography from what I gather. Barely discusses the performances."

Not as cruel as he’s been in the past, but it’s certainly an “ouch.” Not what the production would be hoping for. He did like a few elements."

Yesenia Ayala is probably okay with the review. It’s one of the only times I’ve heard anyone talk about her performance, and I think it’s the first time it was complimentary. It’s crazy how little Anita’s actress is being discussed. She’s usually a huge favorite.

Anyway, looks like this production’s reviews are gonna be mixed, as I thought they’d be. Given audiences’ divided reaction and all the controversy surrounding the show, they really could’ve used positive reviews. Still, it’s West Side Story, so they’ll probably recoup.

EW is mixed:

https://ew.com/theater-reviews/2020/02/20/west-side-story-broadway-review/

gives it a B

^ Right? That is the weirdest review ever.

Hot Pants said: "ljay889 said: "I think there’s enough positive reviews to satisfy the producers, but there certainly isn’t across the board raves, and the negative Brantley review has got to disappoint all involved.

Based on these overall reviews, I think Company and Caroline will likely fare better come Tony time, but we will see. "

I always figured those two will do better at the Tonys. This revival of West Side Story has been divisive since the beginning, meanwhile those are imports of well received London productions. My guess is Company takes revival, but Caroline or Change will win actress. I think Company’s gonna be helped by the fact that it’s a timely reimagining if the show, especially since it’s reimagining will competitively look better than West Side Story’s."

I completely agree with this.

Ya gotta love the sting of Brantley;

"Here, Tony, the peace-loving former Jet is played by Isaac Powell, while Maria, the innocent young Shark girl he falls for, is portrayed by Shereen Pimentel. Both performers sing pleasantly."

"As such, those fatally rivalrous street gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, have probably never loomed larger. Yet these disembodied Goliaths wind up upstaging their flesh-and-blood selves."

"And as the camera caresses each photogenic face, the men’s tattoos start to look less like don’t-mess-with-me emblems of tribal membership and more like fashion choices. We might have stumbled into a casting call for a Calvin Klein fragrance ad."

"Yet in this version, both gangs appear to be multiracial melting pots. Could this be van Hove’s point, that prejudice exists only in the mind’s eye? Maybe, but once these boys and girls start to rumble, you’ll wish they were wearing team uniforms."

"Their choreography has aggressive accents of taekwondo and boxing, along with an air-slicing assortment of somersaults. Yet generally, these dancers seem less like kamikaze street warriors than scampering puppies, who like nothing more than to run around in circles and wriggle on their backs."

Daily Beast negative:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ivo-van-hoves-west-side-story-broadway-revival-aims-to-shock-but-ends-up-lost-in-time

Wapo positive:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/this-gutsy-new-west-side-story-is-unlike-any-youve-seen--and-its-exhilarating/2020/02/20/3f3533e6-5017-11ea-9b5c-eac5b16dafaa_story.html

ljay889 said: "“ When the Sharks and Jets go at it, they do so as physical ballet, at one point stripped off, water showering down, soaked to their skins, tumbling over one another angrily. It looks less like gang warfare, and more as if a group of muscle boys have suddenly stopped feeling horny, and started arguing about the merits of Pete Buttigieg as an out-gay candidate.”

LOL from The Daily Beast review."