West Side Story - Sequence of Events in Film vs. Stage Version

[Belle9]

Posted: 5/18/13 at 6:07pm

I've been a big fan of the West Side Story film since I was very young. When I saw it on stage for the first time a few years ago on Broadway, I was very confused by the positioning of "Cool" and "Gee, Officer Krupke." I know the stage version came first, but it just felt so out of place to have a comedic song at such a dramatic moment. Am I just more used to the film version, or does anyone feel the same way?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/18/13 at 6:21pm

Everyone does. Everyone always has.

Everyone except Arthur.

Updated On: 5/18/13 at 06:21 PM

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 5/18/13 at 6:22pm

^ This, PJ, is why I love you.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 5/18/13 at 6:29pm

Somehow I don't believe Aurthur cares anymore. I can see the reasoning of having a light funny moment in a rather intense dramatic moment to give a respite to the audience, but it seems to interupt the descent into the violence and hate. It really doesn't work.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 5/18/13 at 6:32pm

^ To explain PJ further, Arthur's point was that Shakespeare's clowns always had a part to play in the darkest tragedies--dropping a comedy song in the middle of Act II of West Side would give you the right Shakespearean balance of laughs in the face of great danger and tension.

I'll say this in defense of Arthur's take on the song placement. Putting "Krupke" in Act I after "America" piles on your comedy numbers when there's no surprise or payoff. Putting "Cool" in Act II only repeats what you've done in the "Somewhere" ballet. Using the original stage sequencing (if performed well) gives both numbers a jolt and frisson that makes you sit up and pay attention.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 5/18/13 at 7:51pm

Oh I understand that. I just found, that with West Side Story in particular, that never worked for me.

[binau]

Posted: 5/18/13 at 8:10pm

"Somehow I don't believe Aurthur cares anymore"

That's because he is dead right?

[snarkmachine]

Posted: 5/18/13 at 8:30pm

I've never understood why they haven't adapted the film version's changes to the stage version - the film version is far superior. The inclusion of Barnardo and the rest of the Sharks in America instead of random PR girls is also something they should consider - they don't get a song that humanizes them like the Jets do.

[darquegk]

Posted: 5/18/13 at 8:43pm

As far as I know, the "movie version" of "America" is available upon request, but is not sent out standard.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/19/13 at 12:56am

The Gateway Playhouse did an excellent production of WSS about two years ago. In "America", Bernardo and the Sharks joined the girls.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 5/19/13 at 1:13am

Many regional and community theatre groups go ahead and do the change even when MTI turns down their requests to do so.

In FINISHING THE HAT Sondheim explains that they were going to try reversing "Cool" and "Krupke" for one performance during the WSS try-out but could not make the change because of the scenic design - "Krupke" is performed on a shallow stage while "Cool"was deigned for a full stage. It was too late in the show's development to be able to change it around. In teh film where this was not an issue the two songs could be reversed (Although in the soundtrack album's liner notes Ernest Lehman more or less takes credit for this switch, as well as several other changes in the order of the songs.)

Also note the original version of "America" was written to be between the sharks and their girls, but Jerome Robbins wanted that number to be just for the Shark girls, so the character of Rosalia was created to take on Bernardo's anti-American view. In the film, he agreed to use the alternate version.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/19/13 at 8:38am

Robbins joked that he made "America" into a number for the girls so that there would be at least one number in a mostly serious show about gang violence for the much-talked-about "tired businessmen" who came with their wives to see musicals.

But once the movie came out, it was really clear that the storytelling was better with Cool and Krupke reversed and the boys vs. the girls in America.

It is rare that a screenplay is better written that its source material, and Ernest Lehman, whom Arthur referred to as "that hack," deserves much credit.

This was one of the two great frustrations of Arthur's life, the other being that the greatness of West Side was constantly seen as the collaboration of Bernstein and Robbins only.

[The Other One]

Posted: 5/19/13 at 10:14am

One of the things that struck me when I saw the most recent revival on Broadway is that in Laurents's book Tony agrees to stop the rumble and then inexplicably sings with Riff about fighting in the rumble (during the Quintet) before showing up at the scene to try and stop it. It makes no dramatic sense. Lehman cleaned that problem up by not having Tony join the Jets during the Quintet, which is revised so that Riff and Ice now sing about the upcoming battle. Tony sings only about meeting Maria. (Of course there is no character named Ice in the play, but the verse could certainly have been sung by Riff and Diesel with a few changed lyrics.)

Another change Lehman made, and one he felt passionately about, was having Maria sing I Feel Pretty during the day, so that the Rumble is not followed by the dead Bernardo's sister singing the jaunty song. The sequence in which Maria is interrupted while waiting for Tony on the roof in the film is far less jarring to the audience.

One Hand, One Heart and A Boy Like That/I Have a Love are a bit shorter in the film as well, although how much Lehman had to do with that I really don't know. The former song is sung straight through, without an instrumental break leading to a repetition of earlier lyrics, and the bridge between the latter two is eliminated so Maria and Anita are never heard singing together.

By the way, I think the placement of Cool and Gee, Officer Krupke! works either way, though I prefer the order used in the film.

Updated On: 5/19/13 at 10:14 AM

[Kad]

Posted: 5/19/13 at 10:38am

The West Side Story film is really the only musical adaptation I can think of that improves the source material.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 5/19/13 at 11:09am

The West Side Story film is really the only musical adaptation I can think of that improves the source material.

Ernest Lehman and Robert Wise also worked wonders on a little something called, THE SOUND OF MUSIC...when they adapted it into a film.

And no one will ever convince me that WEST SIDE STORY isn't one of the most perfect musical adaptations ever committed to film. Worldwide recognition to this day as well as virtually sweeping the 1962 Academy Awards with a total of 11 nominations and walking away with 10 including BEST PICTURE.

Updated On: 5/19/13 at 11:09 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/19/13 at 11:23am

I think Ernest Lehman was a genius at taking established (and loved) musical source material and adapting it for the screen.

In addition to his Oscar nomination for the West Side Story screenplay, he was also nominated for adapting Hello, Dolly!, North By Northwest, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and Sabrina. And he was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar as a producer of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 5/19/13 at 1:06pm

I've always wanted to do a stage version that followed Lehman's construct. The only real problem I see is that there's now dramatic dead space at the top of Act Two without "I Feel Pretty," but I already have a solution for that.

As Broadway Abridged astutely pointed out in its parody of Arthur's revival... well, I'll quote them:

With everybody in the cast saying "TONIGHT" one last time, and Act 1 being so long, and Act 2 having four songs, this is the perfect place for an intermission to HAPPEN.

Of course, it DOESN'T.

Namely... the solution is an act break after the Quintet and before the Rumble. Boom. Goes from a clunk to a hum. Problem solved.

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 5/19/13 at 1:33pm

What I like the most about the act one placement of Cool, is that it establishes Riff as a gang leader. While it makes sense in the story to have it in act two, it was still a big character development number for Riff.

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 5/19/13 at 1:43pm

Lehman's finest adaptation, THE SOUND OF MUSIC garnered no Oscar nomination for him. Proving, once again, the "academy" really hasn't got a clue.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/19/13 at 4:08pm

Namely... the solution is an act break after the Quintet and before the Rumble. Boom. Goes from a clunk to a hum. Problem solved.

It would be interesting to hear Sondheim's opinion of that solution, but I can speak for three ghosts:


LENNY: Brilliant! Brilliant! YOU should be directing a revival on Broadway! Or at La Scala.


ARTHUR: No. It will never work. Never. If show doesn't have two dead bodies lying on that stage when the first-act curtain comes down, it's nothing. And you're an untalented hack for even proposing it.


JERRY: You'll be hearing from my lawyers.

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 5/19/13 at 4:46pm

"The West Side Story film is really the only musical adaptation I can think of that improves the source material."

I think that distinction belongs to the movies "Oliver" and "Sound of Music"

The book for the stage show "Oliver" is flawed. The movie not improved the book, but it took a two dimensional villain, Bill Sykes and made him sexy as hell. It really is a brilliant adaptation. I can't picture it being doe any better.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 5/19/13 at 5:04pm

It would be interesting to hear Sondheim's opinion of that solution, but I can speak for three ghosts:


LENNY: Brilliant! Brilliant! YOU should be directing a revival on Broadway! Or at La Scala.


ARTHUR: No. It will never work. Never. If show doesn't have two dead bodies lying on that stage when the first-act curtain comes down, it's nothing. And you're an untalented hack for even proposing it.


JERRY: You'll be hearing from my lawyers.

My responses, in the order you listed them:

STEVE: I'll put in your alternate lyric for "I Feel Pretty."

LENNY: Thanks, can I get that in writing?

ARTHUR: Ha ha, you're dead.

JERRY: We're keeping your choreography, and the Rumble will be shown in a better light.

What's the word, Thunderbird? Did I buy three-fourths of the team?

Updated On: 5/19/13 at 05:04 PM

[goldenboy]

Posted: 5/19/13 at 11:27pm

Cabaret was excellent on stage--- but was improved as a movie.
I don't think Oliver was improved.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 12:31pm

Personally, I think "Gee, Office Krupke" has more of an impact in the second act. In the film it's just a bunch of kids fooling around. But, in the show it goes a little deeper than that. Maybe I'm reading too much into it but this is what I came away with.

They've just witnessed the most horrific event that they're ever witnessed in their lives (one would assume). They think they're grown up but they just don't have the emotional maturity to deal with it. It reminds the audience that these are really children no matter how grown up they may try to appear. Goofing around and showing off are all the coping mechanisims they have.

Another thought is Action trying to establish that he's the leader. Borrowing from the comments that having "Cool" in the first act established Riff as the leader it makes a little more sense. These kids are used to looking to Riff as a leader. Without him they're aimless and not sure what to do. Action is attempting to show his superiority but acting is if nothing happened.

[thommg]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 2:15pm

Many non-union dinner theatres have put the intermission of the stage show after the Quintet. It has something to do with having two dead bodies on stage who will then show up to serve you drinks. For me, it works to keep the tension up if the second act starts with the rumble.

Updated On: 5/20/13 at 02:15 PM