WSS CD — Page 3

Completely agree CATSNYrevival!

ljay889, do you concede then?

"I am Nosferatu. You will be undead when I am done."

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What flaws? The fact that the characters are so wooden and boring? That there really isn't much drama?

I still wanna get this CD.

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Don't criticize this version of WSS unless you've heard the Jose Carreras/Kiri Te Kanawa version that Bernstein himself conducted. Bleah!

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I liked the clips of the Quintet and I Feel Pretty. Those were the two numbers I enjoyed when I saw the show.

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They use the original orchestrations. Do you mean the way the orchestra performed on the CD, jasonf?

~Steven

Both recordings lack energy. Coming from someone who enjoyed both shows.

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I have no idea what you're talking about. Karen's version is NOT angry. That has been made very clear. Her interpretation is a plead of desperation.

I agree. I was listening to it and missing the sarcasm. And by that, I mean I was thinking, "I like this, but I want to hear Karen Olivo sing the English version so I could hear her be sarcastic too."

I don't think the Quintent works in Spanish either, but I think the Sharks sound really good too. So I'm torn. They should probably change it on the stage, but I do enjoy it a lot on the recording.

My favorite Tony by far is the recording with Kenneth Schermerhorn with Marianne Cooke and Nashville Symphony Orchestra. What a gorgeous voice without sounding too old, boyish without sounding too silly. But for some reason when you click on the i-tunes album that's not the right one, so don't go there if you want to listen to a sample. Go here: http://www.amazon.com/West-Side-Story-Original-Score/dp/B00006LI1Z/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1243882646&sr=1-2

The Anita/Maria duet doesn't work for me unless Anita is really Mad.
She just walked in on her dead boyfriend's sister having just slept with his killer.
It's Maria who is desperate for Anita to understand her love for Tony, know matter what he has done.
If they are both desperate, it makes no sense.
I always felt that Anita's anger starts to melt when Maria says:
"You were in love, or so you say"
That's the whole turning point of the scene.

Jasonf, that would probably lie more in the musical direction, not orchestrations. The orchestrations haven't changed since it opened 50+ years ago, although they did alter some musical passages and played with the tempos in this production. That's probably the decision of the musical director, arranger, and director. But I understand what you're trying to say. :)

And I agree with you, Curtain. Anita's initial reaction probably would be an angry one, a reaction that she doesn't fully comprehend yet but lashes out full force like a jerk reaction. And listen to the song's intro. It's definitely angry. It doesn't become desperate until the "A boy who kills cannot love" section, but then returns to being angry until Maria enters. Sure, it can be justified the other way, but it's definitely not the strongest acting/directorial choice, and it certainly wasn't the original intention of the scene. Arthur, there was no need to mess with what you, Lenny, Steve, and Jerry already made brilliant.

~Steven

Well, the winners of the night were still Jerome Robbins and Leonard Bernstein. Poor Stephen Sondheim was compromised and Arthur made himself look like more of a louse. My little brother saw the show with me and had never seen the movie before and he didn't know much of the plot. After he viewed the movie the next day, he commented that the current Broadway production was as if it were a high school production (as in, he thought it was amateurish in comparison). And this is coming from an eleven-year-old.

~Steven