West Side Story Review- Friday December 26th 2:00 **Possible Spoilers** — Page 3

That revival had many wonderful things in it, but proved a fairly sizeable disappointment, and that broke the hearts of many (speaking of those of us in the audience). I had never seen it on the stage, having been exposed to the film as a fairly young child, and couldn't wait to see the choreography recreated, to feel what had been described as a revolutionary use of dance. I remember feeling curiously unmoved, and just sad. Debbie Allen is actually the only principal I recall with specificity. I remember at the time thinking that Maria and Tony can be overshadowed by the showier roles(PJ: wasn't it Steven Bogardus who played Tony?)

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"Debbie Allen is actually the only principal I recall with specificity."

What is your memory of her performance?

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I remember Debbie Allen being fabulous, but Ken Marshall was so passive he was practically invisible.

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What's so ironic about all this West Side Story talk - I didn't have a chance to see the 1980 revival, but I remember commenting about the WSS segments in Jerome Robbins' Broadway was like seeing an entire production. I thought it was brilliantly staged and danced.

I saw a production last year at Wolftrap and the only people I remember were Natascia Diaz (Anita) and Michael Balderama (Bernardo). I don't remember who played Tony and Maria, but obviously they didn't leave an impression.

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Almost forgot how well the cutting worked in JEROME ROBBINS.

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But characters do speak in French in that show and no one cries gimmick. I bet most audiences don't understand Dites-Moi, but that hasn't stopped them from seeing the show. What's with the double standard?

When South Pacific was written in 1949, the lyrics to Dites-Moi were written in French and so were the few French lines in the show. This is different from Arthur Laurents suddenly deciding in 2008/09 to translate some of the WSS lines and lyrics translated into Spanish.

I saw a production last year at Wolftrap and the only people I remember were Natascia Diaz (Anita) and Michael Balderama (Bernardo

How was Michael as Bernardo?

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