West Side Story at the Hollywood Bowl

[lovebwy]

Posted: 7/13/16 at 11:49am

Tomorrow and Tuesday of next week. I can't wait!

Amazing cast. Jeremy Jordan as Tony and Matthew James Thomas as Riff! Also the other LA Pippin is in it as Baby John.

Anyone know what the format will be? Will there be any dancing at all?

http://www.playbill.com/article/kevin-chamberlin-will-join-jeremy-jordan-karen-olivo-in-hollywood-bowl-west-side-story

 

 

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 7/13/16 at 11:50am

*never mind

Updated On: 7/13/16 at 11:50 AM

[lovebwy]

Posted: 7/13/16 at 11:53am

Lizzie, that thread seems to be about A Chorus Line.

West Side Story isn't their "official" musical this summer. But with that great cast I wondered how much dialogue and dancing there will be. 

[Zoot]

Posted: 7/13/16 at 11:54am

I'll be there tomorrow!

[Adair Haywind]

Posted: 7/13/16 at 12:14pm

I'll be there tomorrow as well! :)

[lovebwy]

Posted: 7/13/16 at 12:15pm

Zoot I'm going Tuesday. Let me know how it is.

With Jeremy Jordan and Matthew James Thomas there, I might be too distracted to enjoy the music!!!

 

[Adair Haywind]

Posted: 7/13/16 at 12:42pm

If anyone in the LA area is interested the Academy is screening the film version in 70 MM at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre on Monday. George Chakiris, Russ Tamblyn, Maria Jimenez Henley and producer Walter Mirisch will be in attendance!

https://www.oscars.org/events/west-side-story-1961

[Zoot]

Posted: 7/13/16 at 1:52pm

I'll let you know lovebwy.

 

Ohhhh, I am interested in that screening! And only $5?? And it's open to the public, yes?

[lovebwy]

Posted: 7/13/16 at 2:01pm

Yeah Zoot 5 bucks. I just got tickets.

[Zoot]

Posted: 7/13/16 at 2:14pm

just got mine!

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 7/14/16 at 2:31am

Going tomorrow. So excited!!

[belrowley]

Posted: 7/14/16 at 5:41am

I must have missed the Matthew James Thomas announcement. Excited to see it on Tuesday!

[lovebwy]

Posted: 7/15/16 at 3:44pm

How was this? Dying to know!

[Zoot]

Posted: 7/15/16 at 5:15pm

It was great! I'm no reviewer so I'll be short and sweet. Solea Pfeiffer, Jeremy jordan, and Karen Olivo were all fantastic. I really really enjoyed all 3. It's crazy to think that this was Solea's first gig right after graduating from college--she was a beautiful maria. It was a condensed concert version of the stage show, not the movie, which I pretty much expected. The book scenes were shortened (if not completely removed), pretty much there to set up the song and then they'd move right into the next piece of music. No dancing. The LA phil sounded great and it was fun watching Dudamel get into it. I went with a friend who saw the movie maybe once ages ago and she was confused at times but got the gist of it in the end. It was a fun night at the bowl!

[lovebwy]

Posted: 7/15/16 at 5:44pm

Wonderful! Thank for for taking the time to review.

Anything to say about Matthew James Thomas?

[PepperedShepherd]

Posted: 7/15/16 at 10:30pm

lovebwy said: "Wonderful! Thank for for taking the time to review.

Anything to say about Matthew James Thomas?"


Unfortunately, MJT was not at his best.  "The Jet Song" was fine, but he went downhill from there, and really seemed to struggle with "Cool".  Perhaps he wasn't in the best of health?
 
The concert followed the original book of the musical -- i.e. "Officer Krupke" in Act Two -- and was semi-staged.  (No dancing, but enough dialogue and interaction to set up the songs.)  They also used the original English lyrics.

Solea & Jeremy were, quite simply, amazing.  One can only guess at how awesome they'd be if they had the time to really work together and develop their characters.

I also want to call attention to Julia Bullock, whose incredible rendition of "Somewhere" pretty much stopped the show.

Not my videos, but enjoy nevertheless:

Something's Coming https://youtu.be/aB49HIh2RJQ

Maria https://youtu.be/uTtEJiTrlTQ

Tonight https://youtu.be/w-WwtFyM8i4

Updated On: 7/15/16 at 10:30 PM

[Whateverjsays]

Posted: 7/16/16 at 1:24am

Hopefully MJT recovers for the next performance. I've been waiting for him to get back in the musical scene. 

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 7/16/16 at 2:05am

Matthew James Thomas is British so you can hear him struggle with his American accent. 

[WickedOne2]

Posted: 7/16/16 at 2:05am

I went last night and thought the show was very well done, particularly since they put it together in 3 days. Solea Pfeiffer, Jeremy Jordan and Karen Olivo were fantastic as was Julia Bullock with her solo of Somewhere. It was definitely a shortened version of the show that followed the stage version as opposed to the film version.  I kind of missed the dance numbers but the show was very enjoyable.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 7/16/16 at 2:10am

JoseLee_ said: "Matthew James Thomas is British so you can hear him struggle with his American accent. "

I was ready to not believe you, and then I did. I saw him in Spider-Man and didn't realize until intermission that he wasn't American. And he fooled me again in Pippin, too. I guess maybe it's been a while, plus he's not doing a standard American accent this go-around?

[lovebwy]

Posted: 7/20/16 at 3:27am

Saw this tonight. What a sheer joy with all that's going on in the world to be able to enjoy this American classic on a warm summer night. Conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, with the LA Philharmonic, and amazing talent like Jeremy Jordan.

I feel in love with Jordan tonight. Swoonsville.

Solea Pfeiffer was just lovely as Maria. She is going to be a star. Karen Olivo damn near stole the show as Antia.

I'm honestly worried about Matthew James Thomas. Seriously. He was sweaty, gruff voiced, and not all there. His line readings were strange. I will leave it at that.

Of course, you miss the dancing, but I believe the ENTIRE score was performed, including the "When the Jets fall in at the cornball dance, we'll be the sweetest dressin' gang in pants..." part of the Jets Song, which you never ever hear.

BTW that "gang" was one hot looking group of twinks.

 

 

 

 

 

Updated On: 7/20/16 at 03:27 AM

[lovebwy]

Posted: 7/20/16 at 11:06am

Interesting to note that the fired first national tour Pippin (Kyle Selig) appeared alongside the guy who replaced him in Los Angeles (Matthew James Thomas)!!

[belrowley]

Posted: 7/20/16 at 10:58pm

The performers were all lovely, but the staging did remind me how dance-based the show is. There were several awkward moments when the actors stood around/turned their backs on the audience while the orchestra played the dance interludes.

Jeremy was pretty much a perfect Tony, Solea had a stunning presence, and Karen was on FIRE. I would love to see a full production with this cast.

[lovebwy]

Posted: 7/21/16 at 12:00am

Right. The music stands alone on its own. But when there are performers on stage NOT dancing to America, all you can think is DANCE!!