WSS Cool vs. Officer Krupkie(sp) ???
WSS Cool vs. Officer Krupkie(sp) ???
WSS Cool vs. Officer Krupkie(sp) ???#1
Posted: 12/22/08 at 8:37pm
I was watching the movie of WSS again i was wondering what you guys prefer:
The placement of the song COOL and KRUPKIE(sp?) in the show or the switch they did for the movie
PS Also the addition of the boys in AMERICA?
I know form watching a documentary about the movie that Sondheim preferred the switch they did in the movie.
re: WSS Cool vs. Officer Krupkie(sp) ???#2
Posted: 12/22/08 at 8:40pmI have never seen America performed by just the girls so I will get back to you on that in about a week. But I do think right now for me having the boys makes perfect sense as they are treated differently than the girls.
re: WSS Cool vs. Officer Krupkie(sp) ???#2
Posted: 12/22/08 at 8:44pm
I think I prefer having Action singing "Gee, Officer Krupke" in the second act. With Riff gone he's now the most vocal "leader" of the Jets and I think it makes more of an impact with him than with the guys simply being goofy like in the film.
"Cool" has an impact in the show and in the film. In the show it's about trying to get Action and the other Jets to not rise to the occasion when people like Krupke push their buttons. In the film it's about the Jets trying to cover up what happened that evening and not rat on anyone. It has a "point" in both places while "Gee, Officer Krupke" as more of one in the show.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
re: WSS Cool vs. Officer Krupkie(sp) ???#3
Posted: 12/22/08 at 8:44pm
I LIKE the boys in America in the movie: because it gives the boys even more explanation for their bitterness. Also in the movie, it is truly beautiful to watch Bernardo watching Anita; so full of love for her. BUT....I don't dislike the stage version.
I prefer the stage placement of the other songs to the movie, however.
re: WSS Cool vs. Officer Krupkie(sp) ???#4
Posted: 12/22/08 at 8:47pm
I think changing the placement of "Krupke" and "Cool" may have been the right choice for the movie, but for the show it should be kept the way it was originally.
It's funny about Sondheim. In Zadan, he says that Laurents was right about "Krupke" being in the second act. So it seems that he's changed his mind.
re: WSS Cool vs. Officer Krupkie(sp) ???#5
Posted: 12/22/08 at 8:50pm
I like to think that the movie placement works for the movie and the stage version works for the stage. Both great but different.
~Steven
re: WSS Cool vs. Officer Krupkie(sp) ???#6
Posted: 12/22/08 at 9:06pmI literally had an hour and a half argument with my friend on this very topic. I'll put it this way, I don't know whether or not the movie placement of the songs works better, but I've yet to see a production in which "Officer Krupke" worked for me in the second act.
-best12bars
"Sorry I am a Theatre major not a English Major"
-skibumb5290
re: WSS Cool vs. Officer Krupkie(sp) ???#7
Posted: 12/22/08 at 9:18pm
The movie structure is superior, both in terms of the Jets' songs and using the Shark boys in "America."
But Arthur will NEVER allow the Ernest Lehman screenplay to be used as the structure of the stage show. NEVER.
Not even after he's dead. (Which is never, because of all the blood he drinks. He's become one of the Undead.)
re: WSS Cool vs. Officer Krupkie(sp) ???#8
Posted: 12/22/08 at 9:24pmI don't know much about WSS past the movie and OBC soundtrack, so I think the placement of Krupkie in the second act would be strange. I've never seen it done live, but if it was done this way wouldn't it almost seem almost psychotic? I probably sound like the biggest idiot and am showing my ignorance but a bunch of guys behaving that way after killing someone does [i]not[/i] seem normal.
re: WSS Cool vs. Officer Krupkie(sp) ???#9
Posted: 12/22/08 at 9:36pm
Well, in today's world Action would probably have been diagnosed as psychotic. It's not as clear in the film as it is in the stage production. He's just a barrel of TNT ready to blow. Of the Jets he comes across as the most dangerous. And, really, none of the Jets actually killed someone other than Tony and he's not there. They witnessed a killing but didn't actually kill anyone. They don't have the maturity to deal with what they just witnessed and this is simply their way of processing it. They're running from the cops and Action has just come back from being "downtown". If you don't know what leads up to the number it can seem confusing but once you see it unfold onstage it makes sense.
I liked it in the show but I wonder if it's Curtis Holbrook's performance that I am liking as opposed to the placement of the number.
re: WSS Cool vs. Officer Krupkie(sp) ???#10
Posted: 12/22/08 at 9:52pm
I don't think you sound like an idiot at all, qolbinau, but I disagree. I've been in enough intense, scary, and/or upsetting situations in my life to know that what often happens in those situations is that you make jokes, you start to laugh, you need relief. You kind of disassociate from the scary reality of the moment. "Krupke" seems more realistic to me for that point in the show than "Cool" does. I don't think that kind of behavior is psychotic at all, but very normal.
Having said that, I've never seen the show onstage, strangely enough. I missed the 1980 revival and there haven't been many opportunities since then for me to see it onstage.
re: WSS Cool vs. Officer Krupkie(sp) ???#12
Posted: 12/23/08 at 1:15am
Oh, I think Krupkie is much more effective in its original place, it makes the arch in the lyrics from, "Like inside, the worst of us is good!" to "Like we're sociologically sick!" and finally, "Like the best of us is no damn good!," deeper and darker.
But, I do like the movie version of "America" much better. The lyrics are much better I think.
re: WSS Cool vs. Officer Krupkie(sp) ???#13
Posted: 12/23/08 at 1:17amAren't the placement of "Tonight" and "America" also swapped in the movie? I haven't seen the movie in forever.
re: WSS Cool vs. Officer Krupkie(sp) ???#14
Posted: 12/23/08 at 1:23am
I also prefer the movie's version of America because it helps you understand more of where the Sharks are coming from.
Also, Bernardo and Anita's back and forths are cute. 
re: WSS Cool vs. Officer Krupkie(sp) ???#15
Posted: 12/23/08 at 1:28amIMO, I like the way it is done in the movie but honestly. I feel like America is much better and gives the characters more depth. Also Krupkie and the Cool switch make more sense in my mind. Then again, every stage version I have seen has had them switched and used the lyrics from the movie. So ask my again in March once I have seen the show in NYC.
re: WSS Cool vs. Officer Krupkie(sp) ???#16
Posted: 12/23/08 at 2:01amIt's amazing that so many stage production still seem to do that even though I think MTI now specifically tells you it's forbidden to do that and you might get shut down if you do. Or at minimum told to put it back to what's in the script.
re: WSS Cool vs. Officer Krupkie(sp) ???#17
Posted: 12/23/08 at 2:04amI'm sorry but I prefer AMERICA with just Anita and the girls.
re: WSS Cool vs. Officer Krupkie(sp) ???#18
Posted: 12/23/08 at 8:28am
The changes made for the film are improvements -- however in the stage version, retain the act two ballet. All of it, Mr. Laurents.
Joey, tell us how you really feel about Arthur! 
re: WSS Cool vs. Officer Krupkie(sp) ???#19
Posted: 12/23/08 at 10:26amI've never seen the stage version, but I like "America" in the movie.
The choice may have been mistaken, The choosing was not... "Every day has the potential to be the greatest day of your life." - Lin-Manuel Miranda
re: WSS Cool vs. Officer Krupkie(sp) ???#20
Posted: 12/23/08 at 10:35am
Someone said on another thread that the reason the swtich could never be done in a professional production is because that format is property of MGM. That seems a little suspect to me, and it makes more sense that Laurents is just a tyrant.
That said, either way works fine for me. I don't feel like one placement is superior to another.
re: WSS Cool vs. Officer Krupkie(sp) ???#21
Posted: 12/23/08 at 10:48am
"That seems a little suspect to me, and it makes more sense that Laurents is just a tyrant."
Laurents may be a tyrant, but I can't say I blame him for this. After he's gone and the show is eventually in the public domain, anyone will be able to do what they want with it. Plenty of productions have already done that. I think a playwright should be able to have some control over what is done with his work.
Stand-by Joined: 12/3/08
re: WSS Cool vs. Officer Krupkie(sp) ???#22
Posted: 12/23/08 at 12:32pmthe movie's juxtaposition of 'cool' and 'krupke' and the expansion of 'america' were major improvements.
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