West Side Story Revival will cut I Feel Pretty and Somewhere Ballet — Page 3

This may indeed turn out to be awful, but the movie cut the Somewhere Ballet and it's one of the best movie musicals ever made, so a cut number here and there does not necessarily doom this production.

Updated On: 11/9/19 at 05:21 PM

If y’all are upset now, just wait until you see the 40’ video wall.

Updated On: 11/9/19 at 05:51 PM

Why doesn't any of this surprise me? Next, they'll announce that the dancing will be done barefoot on a carpeted stage.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson used to do dramatic readings of posts from this board on Instagram. Maybe he'll do this thread. :)

This musical has been presented in essentially carbon-copy form for the last 60 years. Most everyone has had an opportunity to see a traditional production of this by now (and, if not, they have the original film and the new Spielberg film, which probably won't deviate from the original as much as this revival despite revisions). The last revival was recent enough that another revival would not really be warranted unless it were doing something REALLY different. And it is. So I'm okay with it.

“Do people think for themselves anymore? Or even think...in general? Or do they just wait for something to get enraged about so they can pick up their phones and add another empty cluck to the latest trending chicken coop?”
- Isaac Cole Powell, aka Tony.


This whole thing is a dumpster fire.

Updated On: 11/9/19 at 07:58 PM

GiantsInTheSky2 said: "“Do people think for themselves anymore? Or even think...in general? Or do they just wait for something to get enraged about so they can pick up their phones and add another empty cluck to the latest trending chicken coop?”
- Isaac Cole Powell, aka Tony.


This whole thing is a dumpster fire."



weird. That linked tweet I can open... but I can’t see any other tweets on his twitter...

"But West Side Story is a known commodity. If you say you are doing it, do it.

If you want to create a new different show, do so, and give it a new different name."

Kind of like To Kill A Mockingbird? Very different take from both the movie and the original play script, but it's still called To Kill A Mockingbird and still selling tickets.

Van Hove is a polarizing direction. Some people love him, some people hate him. Did anyone think he was going to do a very traditional retelling? I'm with OlBlueEyes. If you don't want to see it, for whatever reason, don't go. If you didn't like any of his prior work, don't go. But the fact is, no one on this board has seen his work on this yet. It may be terrible. It may be innovative and striking. It may be boring. It will likely have people who hate it and those who enjoy it. Kind of like the recent Oklahoma. Or To Kill A Mockingbird. Or any number of revivals that succeed or fail because someone tried something new with it.

I love West Side Story. I thought Van Hove's direction of A View From the Bridge was mostly terrific. I felt sort of "meh" about the Crucible. Had no desire to see his Network. I am interested to see what he does with WSS. Though the thought of video screens is not terribly appealing to me, I'll withhold judgment until I see it and hope that he will bring something new and invigorating to it. I adore Jerome Robbins choreography, but am interested to see what someone else can bring to it.

GiantsInTheSky2 said: "“Do people think for themselves anymore? Or even think...in general? Or do they just wait for something to get enraged about so they can pick up their phones and add another empty cluck to the latest trending chicken coop?”
- Isaac Cole Powell, aka Tony.



This whole thing is a dumpster fire."

I mean.. he ain’t lying. If the show was the same with no innovation, people would bitch. If they change they show to put another creative take on it.. people bitch. Make it make sense.

I think people should give it a chance before making early harsh judgements. We’ve seen literally one production photo, and everything else has come from this interview. I think it’s too early to label the show as trash.

Updated On: 11/9/19 at 09:33 PM

I mean, this post on "Broadway Beat: Fake Broadway News for Real Broadway Newsies" is probably not-that-very-fake:

“West Side Story” Revival Cuts 'I Feel Pretty', All Other Songs, Tony's Death, Tony, Stage, Lights

As long as the blood rain shower is still in at the end, I'm all for it!

To everyone saying, "Well just don't buy tickets"? Well guess what, tickets and groups have been buying tickets for months now, and even with the whole "new look at the classic musical" hype, I don't any layperson would ever expect two of the biggest hits of the show to be cut, along with the intermission. I'm interested still in seeing the show, but there are a lot of folks that will feel a bait and switch situation.