West Side Story Revival?- Page 2

[Mandi Moo]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 4:39pm

Yeah, but she shouldn't be a waspy blonde with blue eyes,

[WalkOn]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 4:44pm

mejusthavingfun, I can't agree with you on the Broadway being an insult to ethic minorities - at least not relatively speaking. Broadway has been much more advanced in color-blind casting than any other performance medium. Again, this I'm speaking relatively.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 4:45pm

Sara Ramirez will play both Maria and Anita. Wait until you see how innovative "A Boy Like That/I Have Love" will be.

[WalkOn]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 4:49pm

lesmiz437, I respectfully disagree with you. WSS is so race-specific and the entire conflict and drama of the show comes from this racial tension, that to cast anyone outside of the specific race - especially when we have such a diverse talent pool- would be, I believe, borderline insulting.

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 4:50pm

Regarding the minority thing...let's not forget that, chronologically speaking, the majority of Broadway shows were created before 1965. The entire county wasn't exactly ethnically tolerant back then either.

Or are you referring more specifically to casting (rather than content)?

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 4:51pm

The revival is on hold, which likely means if it does happen, it won't make it on time for the 50th Anniversary.

[Ciaron McCarthy]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 4:52pm

First of all it is not an insult to anyone. Sondheim himself has said over and over again that his biggest regret with "West Side Story" was NOT making the songs ethnic enough. The score, including lyrics, is completely universal (besides America). You could do a Jewish girl falling in love with a Catholic boy or a number of other scenarios.

"West Side Story" is not that ethnic. The music was made for a bunch of rich white upper west siders. Who are you kidding?

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 4:54pm

I think he's referring to casting vs content. And yes, it would be a slap in the face to have a white female playing Maria nowadays. However, when discussing the color-blind casting, it goes both ways...if an Deidre Goodwyn can be Shelia, then why can't Emily Skinner play Glinda in "The Wiz?"

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 4:58pm

"then why can't Emily Skinner play Glinda in "The Wiz?"

Because Emily is too old and too "buxom".

[Ciaron McCarthy]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 4:59pm

So you would also agree that Jonathan Pryce was WRONG to come to NY as the Engineer? Audra McDonald should give back her Tony for "Carousel"? Dont remember to many black women hanging around with white folks in those fisherman communities. Lea Salonga is not Vietnamese. What the hell was she thinking playing Kim!!?? Is Frances Ruffelle French? We better check her out too.

[WalkOn]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 5:01pm

Ciaron McCarthy, to say that WSS is not an insult to anyone is simple not true.

I'm not one of them, but there were Puerto Rican-Americans who were insulted by the lyrics to AMERICA. They expressed their opinions at the time of the shows opening and made some, I think, valid points.

However, since the show entire message is about the tragic results of racial hatred, it became pretty clear that the authors never intended any offense.

Again, but say "it is not an insult to anyone," is patently untrue.

Updated On: 10/19/06 at 05:01 PM

Posted: 10/19/06 at 5:06pm

walk on, i do see your point about the characters' ethnicities driving forward the plot of the show, but i at the same time agree with other posters who have said that the show is about universal problems involving discrimination, not just those between whites and puerto ricans. i mean, bernstein and the rest of the show's creators initially intended for the show to be about jews and catholics, and they only changed it to the white/pr thing because a play from the 20s called Abie's Irish Rose was pretty much the exact same story as what they originally planned to do. as i said before, i think that casting a blond like kelli o'hara would be so different from what we expect to see that i think it would be distracting, but so long as they've got someone who doesn't look blatantly un-puerto rican, i think they'll be fine. as audra mcdonald and jonathan pryce have proved, the acting ability and emotional connection of the performer are more important than their appearance.

[WalkOn]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 5:09pm

Well, my views on color-blind casting have been stated and re-stated on this board before.

Essentially, I believe that every effort must be made to cast a role race-specific if the central conflict of the piece comes from conflicts in race-relations.

Example: A Japanese-American playing Eliza Doolittle would be fine as PYGMALION deals with issues of class

A European-American playing OTHELLO - in black face, no less- would be unacceptable to me because the conflicts in Othello have to do with race predudice. Of course that hasn't stopped MANY European and European-American actors playing the role, but It never quite works.

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=905866#2474224

I'll bump up the Goodwin thread and you can read what I and other have said on the subject.

Updated On: 10/19/06 at 05:09 PM

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 5:10pm

Oye, Maria is Puerto Rican, it is not that difficult to find a very talented out-of-work Boriuca for this part. There are plenty (TRUST ME). Puerto Rican’s are Americans ok? You have an entire island just south of here full of people. This show is about America and prejudice. It is important to get it right. It is not pastiche.

“Color-blind” casting is extremely offensive, and apparently, only white people think it works. It is a huge disservice to the theatre community. It is used as an excuse to pacify the growing need to hear and see difference voices on stage. New York is overwhelmingly a minority majority. Something has got to give.

You really think this new show “You’re the one that I want” is gonna allow a black or Asians to audition for the lead roles? Why did they pick a predominantly white show?

I guess as they say, “life is all right if you’re white in Ame-ri-ca.”

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 5:11pm

The revival has "almost" happened a number of times. There were also a meeting between the creative team (when Robbins was still alive) about a proposed modernized film version that never happened.

(Interesting footnote: I actually saw a reading in Los Angeles last spring of a new play based on the events of this meeting. Very interesting stuff.)

I think one of the main reasons a revival hasn't happened yet is simply because the Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins estates are incredibly strict, and Arthur Laurents is equally controlling. Trying to find a consensus about "what" is the best approach to the material has got to be incredibly difficult. And I don't think they want to do a recreation along the lines of the 1980 revival which was a box office and critical failure.

But all that said, I do hope that a revival of the show happens soon. Watching the film again a few weeks ago, it seemed incredibly timely - maybe because tension about illegal immigration (mostly hispanic) is suddenly a major issue.

[Ciaron McCarthy]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 7:07pm

Again......

"So you would also agree that Jonathan Pryce was WRONG to come to NY as the Engineer? Audra McDonald should give back her Tony for "Carousel"? Dont remember to many black women hanging around with white folks in those fisherman communities. Lea Salonga is not Vietnamese. What the hell was she thinking playing Kim!!?? Is Frances Ruffelle French? We better check her out too."

As far as "America" being racist? That is such crap! There are plenty of latins who love that song. It is about the conflict a lot of immagrants had making America their new home. Some wanted to stay and become "Americans" others wanted to either go home or set a small puerto rico of their own in the US. Which is what almost every single race has done since coming to this country. It is a conflict that is very REAL, even today. I think the lyrics are brilliant.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 7:21pm

>> For the last generation, most young musical performers undergo extensive training in acting and multiple styles of singing and dancing, so casting WSS in 2007 will be a breeze compared to 50 years ago.

I would question that, Margo, sorry. Compare the complexity of the score to WSS with CHORUS LINE or PHANTOM or anything else currently parading on the boards, and it's simply no contest. This is a tough, tough score to sing. And dance. And act. Face it: these days, we get dance-heavy shows like CONTACT or MOVIN ON or we get song-heavy shows like MAMMA MIA and HAIRSPRAY. But rarely do you see the intricate level of inter-involvement between song and dance and book that you do in WEST SIDE. And frankly, I dont really think, based on what I've seen on Broadway over the past five years, that performers these days would cut it.

But to hear they're making it possibly "relevant" to a new generation? Oy. That smacks of the rewrites of Shakespeare during Victorian times so that Romeo and Juliet dont die and Macbeth sees the errors of his ways.

[WalkOn]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 7:34pm

Again...

Essentially, I believe that every effort must be made to cast a role race-specific if the central conflict of the piece comes from conflicts in race-relations.

Example: A Japanese-American playing Eliza Doolittle would be fine as PYGMALION deals with issues of class

A European-American playing OTHELLO - in black face, no less- would be unacceptable to me because the conflicts in Othello have to do with race predudice. Of course that hasn't stopped MANY European and European-American actors playing the role, but It never quite works.

Audra McDonald was brilliant in CAROUSEL. The central conflicts in CAROUSEL is not race related.

Jonathan Pyrce in Miss Saigon is a very interesteding question. That Character is eurasian. So Pryce with make-up could easily have been cast. Or an asian actor. Either way.

Lea Solonga may not be Vietnamese, but she is of asian decent and would be a much better candidate for the role of Kim than say and equally talented European-American actress.

Must they get an actual Vietnamese actress to play the role? If they are inclined to do so. It depends on far you need racial authenticity to tell your story convincingly. MISS SAIGON probably doesn't require it at that level.

Ciaron McCarthy, I must make it clear that I NEVER said AMRERICA, the song is racist. I said that there were people in the Puerto Rican-American community who found it offensive. You may not agree with them, but it is fact that such protests happened. Unlike your false claim that WSS offends no one.

read the Criticism in Puerto Rico section of this article:

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:G6T3ajMqR14J:www.answers.com/topic/west-side-story+west+side+story+lyrics+offended&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=3

Also, I'd like to find were you read that Sondheim said over and over that he regrets not making the lyrics more "ethnic" - whatever that means. I've often read that he regretted not making the lyrics truer to the education level of characters. I suppose you could infer that he also wanted to make his lyrics closer to the syntax of those just learning an new language.. but that would be an inference. No were have I read Sondheim wanting to make the lyrics more "ethnic."

Please read more clearfully.

Updated On: 10/19/06 at 07:34 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 7:36pm

Well - just as a hypothetical...

WEST SIDE STORY is a modernized version of ROMEO and JULIET, so why shouldn't it in turn be modernized? The creative team is at least partly in favor of it.

[WalkOn]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 7:39pm

I would like to see that faux street-language replaced with some good old fashioned curse words - any of the four-letter variety will do.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 7:45pm

I think they should do the show using elderly actors

The Dance At The Gym would be a riot

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 7:45pm

And a general question for anybody who's done the show. Does the script actually give a time period for when the action takes place? When it was written, it was of course supposed to be current - but did they ever go back and assign a "date" as they did in later years with CHORUS LINE?

[Fiction Writer]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 7:52pm

Walk On and Me...Fun: All I have to say to you is STFU! I hate when people come in here and preach about race in theatre. I think we have more serious things to talk about instead of arguing about latinos cast in WSS.

I'll say it again, "Shut the **** up!"

[Ciaron McCarthy]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 7:58pm

Sondheim said (and I will find it I promise) that he regrets not making the music suited for the people he was writing it for. Can you please tell me what is "ethnic" about WSS? It is not a score based on RACE! The show and book might be but not the score (again minus America).

It is based on Romeo and Juliet and the essense of the story is not of the conflict of ethnicity. It is of ignorance of any kind. The montagues and the capulets were the same race, just different families.

I get what you are saying about colorblind casting. For example, I know a white boy could never play colehouse walker and I know why. What I am saying that a white girl could play Maria. Many many many white girls have done it. It would be a lot easier for Kelli O'Hara to look like Maria than for an Irish whiteboy like me to look like Colehouse.

As far as Pryce and Salonga go? People were outraged that Lea Salonga was playing Kim cause there were plenty of AMERICAN ASIANS that could play the role. Same with Pryce, although the fact that Pryce was an eglishman playing a Eurasian was not popular either. So is it an ethnic thing or a national thing? Where is the line?

If Cosette and Eponine don't have to be played by French women then I don't see why the same rules can't apply to Maria.

[WalkOn]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 8:09pm

Well, I would recommend finding another message board on another topic... Broadway and musical theatre could hardly be put in the category of "serious" things to talk about.

I find issues of race to be a worthwhile topic of discussion. I've noticed that people who don't are usually part of the race of people who have the previlege of ignoring such matters. Like the male who doesn't give a crap about breast cancer cause he knows he will never get it.

I am not part of the race of people previleged to ignore the issue. So I talk about it.

... so poop on you.