West Side Story in North Carolina

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 8:40pm

At the NC Theatre in Raleigh.



These are not full numbers, just snippets:


Dance at the Gym

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx38ZzWG5Ac


America

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoU4O-0Q94o


Cool

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaS7ExGHbh8


Tonight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPs-Puue5eo


Somewhere

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXatIgiUAJM


I Feel Pretty

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBsvUpCXJYY

[Marquise]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 9:18pm

~ very nice clips.
thanx for sharing.

[seaweedjstubbs]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 9:29pm

I saw this last Friday. It was my first experience with the live show, so I can't make any comparisons to the current Broadway production. I thought the show overall was great! One of the only things that bothered me was the accents. Most of the actors portraying the Jets frequently slipped in and out of their accents. ESPECIALLY Asmeret Ghebremichael, who played Anita. Her singing voice was great, but lacked anger during "A Boy Like That". Catherine Cheng Jones & Josh Young were fantastic as Maria and Tony. I loved both of their voices, and you really believed that they loved each other. The dancing was very clean and sharp. If a dancer messed up, I never caught it. There was this really cool part near the end of Act 1 where all of the Sharks flipped over a fence one by one. I'm guessing that it's in the Broadway show as well. I know it's not a major part of the show, but it was SO FREAKIN COOL! Sorry, back on topic. I would definately recommend this show to anyone that gets the chance to see it! (If you want to know anything else, I'll do my best to answer.)

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 9:30pm

I wish the clips were longer

Josh Young as Tony
Catherine Jones as Maria
Leo Ash Evens as Riff
Asmeret Ghebremichael as Anita
Freddy Ramirez as Bernardo

Directed and choreographed by Joshua Bergasse, who learned the Jerome Robbins choreography from Alan Johnson and Sergio Trujillo

[legally_popular]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 10:54pm

I wish the clips were longer too.

Asmeret has an amazing voice, wow. The only thing I've seen her in was Legally Blonde, so I had no idea she could sing like that. I'm very curious about what her Anita is like.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 10:55pm

Even in just those short clips, Josh Young sounds 20 times better than Matt Cavenaugh. Updated On: 10/20/09 at 10:55 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 11:11pm

Josh has the "Tony voice." I've also heard clips of Max Von Essen in the Houston TUTS production. He also has the "Tony voice."

The dancing in this North Carolina production, from what I've heard, is electrifying.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 11:54pm

North Carolina Theatre is a machine that manages to produce high-quality productions with high talent...in only THREE WEEKS. It's remarkable.

Their sets and costumes are rented from previous Broadway/Touring productions of the shows, and then they bring in a certain percentage of Equity actors from New York/LA/local. The rest of the cast are local non-Eq. It's truly amazing.

I've seen about a dozen of their shows. The worst one I would label as "mediocre/OK" which is a pretty good track record, if you ask me. The latest one of theirs I saw was MISS SAIGON back in March. That was the best I've seen them do. Look at THOSE clips on their youtube acct!

Updated On: 10/20/09 at 11:54 PM

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 10/21/09 at 12:02am

Joshua Bergasse also choreographed the production a Wolftrap in 2007. I happened to be sitting next to hin in-laws.

Josh Young sounds great. I'm not surprised. He made an excellent Link Larkin in Walnut Street Theatre's production of Hairspray last year.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 10/21/09 at 12:36am

Holy Crap, Anita has an AMAZING voice. Wow!

[adamgreer]

Posted: 10/21/09 at 12:46am

I wonder if Laurents is paying attention to this production for when he has to cast the Broadway replacements. I would definitely go see Josh Young as Tony.

[BroadwayBound115]

Posted: 10/21/09 at 3:14am

I wonder if Asmeret will be coming back to the Palace. I'd love to see her take over when Karen leaves!!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/21/09 at 7:57am

I wonder if Laurents is paying attention to this production

I'm sure Arthur's warm-hearted answer to that question would be "NO!"

[Kalimba]

Posted: 10/21/09 at 8:30am

The Broadway production needs a complete overhaul. Let's start with replacing the ridiculously Joey McNeeley watered-down choreography. Actually, both Arthur Laurents and Joey McNeeley should be prevented from ever working on Broadway again.

From those clips, it sounds like Josh Young is too good to be Tony on Broadway. Why would Arthur ever want to hire someone better than the person he cast originally??

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/21/09 at 10:21pm

Now that's some dancin'...

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/21/09 at 10:31pm

The dancing looks amazing, but they look a little crowded during The Dance at the Gym. Or is that just me?

and Asmeret can SING.