West Side Story 50 years old this year--first important modern musical?- Page 2

[Dark_Angel]

Posted: 4/8/07 at 12:59pm

Well if producers would stop concentrating on the 1 millionth revival of Gypsy maybe, just maybe they can get a West Side Story revival going. LONG OVERDUE.

[Dark_Angel]

Posted: 4/8/07 at 1:03pm

:: POPS IN DVD ::

[Fenchurch]

Posted: 4/8/07 at 2:48pm

I can't believe no one has mentioned Bernstein in all this? It's his music that makes this piece what it is.

For the life of me I dont understand why Leonard Bernstein isn't this country's hero. There's nothing more American than he is, his music, his philiosophies, his love of freedom.

And his work is underappreciated, underperformed, misunderstood and ignored.

And I just don't know why.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/8/07 at 6:14pm

"I believe Showboat is the granddaddy and true ancestor of modern musical theatre. "

Irelevent :P I know it's the grandaddy of modern musical theatre--I'm talking about the first show where every element was seamless and where, if the original productionw ere revived today, in terms of stagecraft it wouldn't look dated. Ziegfeld's Show Boat certainly would.

ANd I thought I did mention Bernstein... I guess maybe I didn't so much cuz he doesn't have the links to the future of Broadway that Sondheim, et all had--WSS was his last important Broadway score (and from listening to the bizarre opera A QUiet Place maybe his last important stage score though I do like parts of 1600)

Fen could the fact he was basically bisexual play a part with Americans not accepting him as a national hero?

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 4/8/07 at 6:19pm

FWIW, a producer friend of mine was considering SHOWBOAT... until he read the script. We're not sure if the revival script is available for performance, but the original is strictly Racism City.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/8/07 at 6:22pm

Is there even one official script for Show Boat anymore? It's one show that seems to be changed every single time it's performed--even the 1920s London and 1932 Broadway revivals. I do love the 3 CD versionw itht eh gorgeous original orchestrations though--some of those big chorus numbers that are now routinely cut are mind blowing (and I have a soft spot for the jazzy Hey Feller which seems to be never done anymore)

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 4/8/07 at 6:34pm

I was in WSS in high school, and I was so excited to be part of such a fantastic show.

To me, WSS has never once lost its charm or sense of direction throughout the years. If anything, it's grown stronger. I remember last year when the school I went to had a movie discussion about the film, Crash. There were certain elements that stuck out to me as a direct parralell to WSS. Of course, these were the elements of hate and fear between two different ethnic groups.

I absolutely love Bernstein's score for the musical - it's one of the most gorgeous things created, as far as I'm concerned. While some of Sondheim's lyrics weren't their strongest, it's easy to see that he had a definite voice.

[GoSmileLaughCryClap]

Posted: 4/8/07 at 7:35pm

Love Life by Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner was certainly incredibly original and ahead of its time in 1948. It may have been rough around the edges, but it possessed more of the elements of future musical theater than most of the things before it.

This all becomes a question of a creative explosion from an entire creative team that makes a new case for the possibilities of the form.

West Side Story fills the bill. Sweeney Todd was an equally overwhelming, and unexpected game changer in 1979.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 4/8/07 at 11:50pm

Ha, and here I was trying to not go on and on about the genius of Bernstein in one thread...I did mention "the AMAZING score."

I couldn't agree with you more, fen (and I know the two of us tend to agree anytime either of us bring up the genius of Bernstein), but I think the ultimate problem is why he isn't considered the hero that I think he should be is because he extended himself to so many fields, that he was never the #1 anything, because he couldn't commit to anything. If he wrote as many scores for theatre as Sondheim has, I can't imagine theatre fans wouldn't worship him to the degree they do Sondheim, and he would be in the top 3 of most important people to theatre. He still may be seen as one of the best conductors, but I guess we don't tend to call conductors "heroes." Classical music, religious music, theatre, opera, conducting, etc. I think when you ask people who was one of the most amazing to extend to all genres they would say Bernstein, but people tend to think more in terms of people's importance to one field, and Bernstein doesn't fit that bill. Still, I think he left a remarkable effect on musical theatre for the several shows he did compose.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 1:07am

I guess one reason I didn't mention Bernstein's score is it's now taken for granted as a classic by nearly everyone--and there had been great (though probably IMHO not quite as great, it is one of my alltime top scores) scores before--my focus in this post was mor eon the production and how everything was so seamless.

It really is a shame Bernstein didn't do more musical theatre (I also love Trouble in Tahiti but as I said its sequel opera, a Quiet Place, the last theatre score he wrote is hard to love--I'd love to know more about the production though it sounds so self indulgent but interesting). I honestly think On the Town (partly cuz of the gorgeous ballet music--o a large partly) is my fave score of the 40s as well. And I agree he'd be spoken of in the same breath as Sondheim if he had done more (that said the mainstream knows West Side Story and parts of his other scores WAY more than they know Sondheim so...)

Tangent--I never knew that for the cast album they changed the line "like be a soda jerker/which means like be a shmo" as they were worried it was offensive (i do knwo it was one of those tiny minor line changes done for the movie that annoy me so)

E

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 9:02am

I guess part of my point about modern musical is if your evived the original staging of WSS--despite the fact that the action is now VERY dated and not "contemporary" the production would IMHO still feel fairly modern and compare to much on Broadway. If you restaged exactly the original productions of nearly any show pre WSS it would look more dated (R&H's with their "in-one" scenes done to hide scene changes and now usually cut completely are a good example)

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 4:53pm

I think it's interesting that for all his grand posturing after West Side Story came out, and his ideas about the direction of musical theater, Bernstein never wrote another significant show. After all, West Side Story was not his idea so I guess it could be argued that Bernstein just waited for people to come to him and the better the material, the better the result.

But it kind of makes you wonder how and why he burned out so early. He still wrote great music but who just stops after one great show?

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 5:04pm

Well, in this instance, he stopped because of two great...scores if nothing else. He was composing Candide and West Side Story at the exact same time, it burned him out. As WSS's premiere drew closer, he wrote in a letter to his wife that is just burned out and will not compose another musical anymore (which he didn't for years).

Also during rehearsals for WSS, he accepted the post as conductor for the NY Philharmonic. It was a steady job, he could support his family, he loved conducting and anyone who's seen him conduct will speak of what an experience it was.

Obviously, conducting the NY Philharmonic took up a lot of his time, though he still composed two important classical pieces including the Chester Psalms (am I forgetting a word besides chester?) His music for Peter Pan and 1600 I still think were good, but just had books that did not match their level.

He also went on to conduct the Austrian Philharmonic, where in the rise of anti-semitism still existing after the 2nd World War, he introduced the work of a Jewish composer, Mahler to them, and Bernstein was the reason Mahler's music was played in his home country of Austria.

During the cold war, he also conducted a "peace" concert on both sides of the Berlin Wall. One night they played on one side of the wall, the next night on the other side.

A couple of months before his death, he expressed his wishes to compose more serious works, classical or theatrical, that would live on after his death. He died before he got the chance to finish one, unfortunately. And America lost one of its premier musical...people in the 20th century.

"He still wrote great music but who just stops after one great show?"

Someone who had a lot more to offer the world than just shows

(Don't get me wrong, I wish with all my heart that Bernstein wrote more musical theatre pieces, but like I said, he was just too talented to stick with one field)

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 5:11pm

Much has been written about what happened to Bernstein as a composer. The consensus pretty much is that he was so powerful as a conductor--and in such demand all over the world, including New York, Vienna, Israel, Milan and Tanglewood--that he stopped having the time and the burning desire to compose.

But don't forget--just because he never wrote another "hit musical," he never stopped composing: Chichester Psalms (1965), Mass (1971), 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (1976), Songfest (1977), Missa Brevis (1988 ), Thirteen Anniversaries (1988 ), Jubilee Games (1989 ) and and Arias and Barcarolles (1988 ).

So he didn't exactly "burn out." His life was waaaaaay too complicated to be reduced to that.

Updated On: 4/9/07 at 05:11 PM

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 5:26pm

Good point. All his life Bernstein was everywhere doing everything. He still left us with plenty of music. I just wish there was even more!

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 5:49pm

Chichester, that's it! I knew there was more to it than "chester." Thanks PJ!

Also, keep in mind he wasn't a composer that could do a little whenever he had a chance anyway, he needed to be shut away in a room all by himself and in a mental state of nothing but composition. Over the years, that became more and more difficult for him.

I think earlier in the thread, as well as in my last post, I neglected something else he became very involved with near the end of his life: education. He had those TV programs for young children about music, wrote books, had Harvard lectures, etc. Teaching became very important to him.

He also had rough years that certainly would make it difficult for him to compose--he finally began the process of divorcing (or actually did divorce?) his wife to live with his partner...his wife died soon after and guilt plagued him for the rest of his life. He nearly, or did, have a breakdown in one part of his life, though I can't remember if it was at this point.

I realized reading back that the end of my last post sounds like one of those endings to those powerful, dramatic TV biographies, like when I say America lost..., I could just picture the final orchestral chords of WSS (Somewhere) accompanying that final thought. Ha.

And also, don't underestimate Candide. It is not the greatest show due to the book, but its score is brilliant.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 7:31pm

Have any of you thoughts on his opera QUiet Place? like I said I find it fascinating (especially after reading Seacrest's bio on Bernstein where he seemed to identify with the saintly bisexual character in Quiet Place and would cry at every rehearsal and proclaim it brilliant while everyone else involved was lost.

As for Bernstein "burning out" of course he did try again with 1600--and for that matter why not implement Robbins who I think is brilliant but liked to "grand posture" even more than Lenny. After Fiddler he basically declared he could do nothing more with the musical theatre and retired to doign only dance--when I would have loved ot have seen more from him thru the 70s (then again there is something to be said for going out at your peak)

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 9:26pm

i personally think it was the first important modern musical. it was groundbraking in a lot of ways. it was very period, and yet very beyond its time. it was a contradiction in a lot of ways but it flowed and worked so beautifully and the show could stand on its own. like, it didnt need too much glitz to make it amazing.

[bwaygal1]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 9:34pm

You would be correct in saying Showboat was the first modern musical. It is, in fact, the first book musical with a story. Before this, musicals were more like variety shows. (vaudeville)
Showboat was revolutionary-it changed all of that.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/10/07 at 12:38am

It was? What about the Princess Theater infamous shows? Or for that matter operetta which is the tradition Showboat lrgely came from?

it's a BRILLIANT important groundbreaking work but to call it the first book musical with songs based on a story?

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 4/10/07 at 12:39am

I was just reading about Jerry Robbins and musical theatre, actually. One of the reasons Carol Lawrence cites for Jerry getting fed up and stopped making musicals pretty much had to do with union restrictions. For WSS, they had...one, 2 months? some alotted time of pre-rehearsal or unpaid rehearsal or something. Now this could never happen due to union restrictions, and Jerry couldn't put up with restrictions such as those.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/10/07 at 9:03pm

Well that is indeed too bad. In the Youtube itnerview with Charlotte Damboise she talks about being so upset as she stared in a dance from Jerry's Billion Dollar Baby (a comic dance with a fold up bed) and they rehearsed it for over *6* months only to cut it from Jerome Robbins' Broadway--so I guess for that show he found a way to get around the rehearsal time?

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[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 7:01am

Random question but I thought it fitted in this thread--does anyone know if the late 90s (?) US tour was equity? I saw it but can't find my program