West Side Story JETS Girls

[wicked1492]

Posted: 6/25/09 at 10:49am

I was watching "Cool" and "Dance at the Gym" the other day and my eyes kept going to the three Jets girls that are also in "Cool." I think these girls are SO awesome and don't get hardly enough recognition.
Pamela Otterson (Graziella) can dance her butt off and I wish she was featured more. But, the absolute stand out for me is the girl with the pigtails and bangs, I think it's Lindsay Dunn? She is AWESOME!
While Karen Olivo is the absolute best thing about the WSS Revival, the Jets girls are a close second for me.
Thoughts?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/25/09 at 11:24am

Pamela Otterson is the most distinctive Graziella in the history of West Side Story.

[alightinthedark23]

Posted: 6/25/09 at 11:50am

It's an interesting debate. The JETS girls can dance very well in cool. I wouldn't consider them a close second to Karen Olivo though. If anything, Josefina would be a close second. I do think however, the Shark girl who mocks everything Jennifer sings in America is the best as far as small roles are corcerned. I can't remember her name off hand, but she is the blonde with short hair who also wears a purple dress.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/25/09 at 11:53am

I think the fact that the Jet girls are NOTICED and REMEMBERED exemplifies how weak the men are in this show.

(But I agree: I loved the Jet Girls.)

[alightinthedark23]

Posted: 6/25/09 at 12:02pm

Dramamama, I also agree that it really shows how weak the men are in this production. One in particular, would be Matt. He was very forgetable. The second time I saw the show I saw his understudy,who is also named Matt, and I was very pleased I didn't have to sit through his performance a second time.

[NityaC]

Posted: 6/25/09 at 1:50pm

alightinthedark - the Shark Girl with blond hair would be Danielle Polanco, and I agree she was great. I also love Kat Nejat, the one who mocks Maria in Me Sineto Hermosa (and then storms out). And I love Jennifer Sanchez. so much. I used to hate I Feel Pretty in basically every recording previous to this, but I LOVED it in this revival just because of them + Josefina!

Pamela Otterson is just plain ridiculous. There was an understudy for the Jet Girls (I forget which now) when I went, but I was SO glad Otterson wasn't out.

These sort of "smaller characters" are actually so talented in this production. They are too underrated.


Oh, "underrated" "Jet" and "girl" reminded me: TRO SHAW.
Updated On: 6/25/09 at 01:50 PM

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 6/25/09 at 9:09pm

I never thought my eyes would focus on Graziella during "Dance at the Gym," but Pamela Otterson is wonderful, that girl is a fantastic dancer, she has such gusto, I really hope she goes on to play roles that will get her more notice. I swear she managed to make a character out of thin air, completely overshadowed Cody Greene and is just wonderful all around. She was great at the Tonys, by the way.

[circusliz]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 12:06am

This question might be a little off topic, but since this thread is about Graziella...

There's a moment during the Riff/Graziella feature in the current revival in "Dance at the Gym" that looks off to me. It's just after Bernardo and Anita finish their feature. Cody comes downstage and does a jump and then a side kick while facing upstage. Pamela comes downstage doing some chene turns, then does the same kick while facing out. While she's doing this, Cody is....just standing there with his hands out toward her. He does this for a good 3 seconds. I think it looks very awkward. He's obviously waiting for her to start the run and slide move (sorry, I'm not a dancer so I don't know the lingo), but it seems to me like he should be doing something during this time.

I watched other versions of the "Dance at the Gym" -- the Jerome Robbins Broadway Tony performance and the movie. In the movie Riff takes his coat off while Graziella does the turns. In the Tony performance Riff seems to take longer coming downstage, so that he's just finishing the kick as Graziella is entering into hers, and he doesn't really have to wait for her to start the run and slide.

I saw the show in DC, and noticed this awkward moment. I thought perhaps they had made a mistake. But then I saw it again on the Tonys.

I'm sorry for such a long post, but I am just curious to see if anyone else noticed!

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 12:12am

Probably just one of the many ways McNeely managed to F*CK up the choreography in this revival.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 12:55am

There are a million little touches like this that McNeely missed out on. Jerome Robbins was a legendary stickler for the kind of minute detail that illumined character and conveyed emotion.

I'm not a dancer either, but i remember distinctly the moment when James J. Mellon, who played Riff in the 1980 revival, removed his Jet jacket and prepared for that run-and-slide.

It was slow and self-assured, like a tiger preparing for the next kill. And it was sexy, incredibly sexy.

I forgot all about it until you brought it up, circusliz. And there are a million similar lost opportunities, moments of genius the audience for this revival will never know and never know they missed.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 1:06am

The second time I saw the show I saw his understudy,who is also named Matt, and I was very pleased I didn't have to sit through his performance a second time.

I want to see Matt Hydzik go on as Tony. I want to try and go back when Matt Cavenaugh is on his honeymoon. Does anyone know when that is? I heard August.

[NityaC]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 2:09pm

"And there are a million similar lost opportunities, moments of genius the audience for this revival will never know and never know they missed."

So obviously the best thing to do is to educate this new audience of what the old versions were like, and then CONSTANTLY keep bringing up how much you disagree with the production and how TERRIBLE the changes were, so that they will finally break and feel MISERABLE that they missed out on the GOLDEN days of theater, and for bonus: pity themselves that they cannot see the world like Pal Joey does. Right?

FYI: for every "million similar lost opportunities" there were millions more of little details in this revival that made it absolutely magical.

I know you love your comparisons, but just a heads up that I, as one of the 'new audience', couldn't give a damn that it isn't the exact same as before. And yes, I did go and look up Robbins' original choreography and everything.

Watching WSS live on stage for the first time was an unforgettable experience. I MISS it, and I want to go back to see it again more than ever. I love this cast and the entire production.

And yet when they revive it again without Spanish one day when I'm an old prune, I promise I won't hang around a message board waiting tirelessly to take every opportunity to ruin the excitement for the starry-eyed new generation.

Pal Joey, for eff's sake man, let it go.

[wicked1492]

Posted: 6/27/09 at 12:04am

This is the girl I was talking about, with the bangs:


She just automatically catches my eye.

[Jenna Maroney]

Posted: 6/27/09 at 8:51am

She caught mine too, probably because she seemed to be the only person on stage with a remotely era-appropriate hairstyle.

Maybe the show's guys would have stood out more if they worked the Fonz look ... or at least slicked their modern floppy hair back.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/27/09 at 9:15am

Pal Joey, for eff's sake man, let it go.

Sorry, no. This is a theater board. We're allowed to have opinions and we're allowed to have passions.

And we're allowed to disagree.

What Arthur Laurents did to West Side Story was willful and malicious artistic vandalism.

Don't tell me to "let it go" and I won't tell you to.

Updated On: 6/27/09 at 09:15 AM

[NityaC]

Posted: 6/27/09 at 11:51am

"We're allowed tgo have opinions and we're allowed to have passions. "

Well, I hope you know how childish you sound with that same opinion of yours posted in every thread you can. gets extremely boring and a little silly because everyone knows and no one cares.

Still...you post hate, there's gotta be some WSS fan posting a "YEAH, we already KNOW what you think, THANKS." reply. Just keeping the balance.

"or at least slicked their modern floppy hair back."

George Akram does I think, but the rest of them seem to go with lesser hair in general. Actually, I can't exactly say I would have loved a stage full of greasy slicked hair, era-appropriate or otherwise.

The one with the bangs is Lindsay Dunn.

[Byron Abens]

Posted: 6/27/09 at 12:23pm

Luckily there are other choreographers out there who do still re-create the original work much more faithfully, and with more spark, than what is currently seen in the Palace.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 6/27/09 at 1:10pm

Gets extremely boring and a little silly because everyone knows and no one cares.

Not true, I care. I find PJ's opinion to be rather insightful and interesting. Have you read his post in which he got a dancer friend to explain in detail the way McNeely massacred the "America" choreography? Or the post in which he posted an actual letter that Jerome Robbins wrote to Arthur and Leonard Bernstein re Anita? So, keep on posting, PJ, at least one person cares.

I love Dunn's look in that photo, but I still think Pamela is the most noticeable dancer, probably because she's so heavily featured (and simply kills) during the Mambo section in "Dance at the Gym." I love that her dancing was featured at the Tonys because now we can go back to see her Graziella over and over.

[NityaC]

Posted: 6/27/09 at 10:27pm

I cared too...the first time. But he definitely posted the choreography differences his friend wrote at least twice. Have I read it? Um....yeah. Trust me, there is no escaping the PJ hate. Every WSS thread definitely has a bit of it, and it's the same thing over and over. I wish PJ knew Laurents so we are spared the whining. or maybe it's some reputation thing around here that I don't understand.

I mean, trying to reason with someone on a public forum? I am most definitely new around here.

Anyway - I'm obsessed with the Tony Performance. Dance at the Gym is my favourite number and there were things in there I didn't even notice the first few times. Otterson definitely stands out a lot.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/27/09 at 11:26pm

I wish PJ knew Laurents so we are spared the whining.

Really? How so?

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/27/09 at 11:31pm

*for once, I'm not involved*

Updated On: 6/27/09 at 11:31 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/27/09 at 11:46pm

Ssssshhh...don't tell her. I want to see what she says. ;-}

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 6/28/09 at 12:25am

Still...you post hate, there's gotta be some WSS fan posting a "YEAH, we already KNOW what you think, THANKS." reply.

THIS.


I have no problem with PJ's opinion, definitely don't agree with it (again I am part of the "new audience" so I'm told I'm missing something), but... we know. We've got it.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/28/09 at 12:33am

Enough? You think you're heard ENOUGH! Why, I've barely begun!

What I got inside of me, what I keep HOLLLLLLLLLLDING down inside of me...

Why, if I ever LET IT OUT...

There wouldn't be signs BIG enough! There wouldn't be lights BRIGHT enough...

Here he is, boys! Here he is, world! Here's PALJOEY!...

Updated On: 6/28/09 at 12:33 AM

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 6/28/09 at 2:06am

I heart PalJoey. Someone tell him when is it his turn? Doesn't he get a dream for himself?