West Side Story revival casting? — Page 2

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#26

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/4/07 at 7:15pm

perhaps, if they do it multi ethnicity like Les Miz, we could get Kelli Ohara or Laura Benanti as Maria. on *that* website, theres a clip of her singing from one of the outdoor concerts and she was wonderful! also, she WAS Franca before and while italians dont look like puerto ricans, there *are* light skinned caribbean people i.e Raul Esparza

"Beating AIDS and extreme, stupid poverty, this is our moon shot. This is our civil rights struggle, our anti-apartheid movement. This is what the history books will remember our generation for--or blame us for, if we fail."-Bono

#27

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/4/07 at 7:27pm

From Arthur Laurents' blog:

Rosie has ideas
West Side Spring Awakening
THere is no wizard
Brains can not be bought Scarecrow

Maybe best to see
Better not to be
So keep the bucks flowing
Never stop going

#28

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/4/07 at 7:48pm

Please, God, please! Nick Spangler as Tony. I think the role lies in his range.

"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)

#29

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/4/07 at 11:25pm

#30

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/4/07 at 11:25pm

#31

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/4/07 at 11:25pm

Krysta Rodriguez as Maria

#32

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/5/07 at 5:55pm

"If someone else suggests even TOUCHING that music, I'll stab them"

Amen!

Just keep in mind what a hard show this is to perform, in all aspects, 8 times a week. It features some of the hardest dancing of almost any show, essentially an operatic score, plus the acting, we really need to believe in the story. There's a reason people say West Side Story gave birth to a need for a true triple threat performer. We're not talking about someone who can get away with dancing, or singing.

"If there was a Mount Rushmore for Broadway scores, "West Side Story" would be front and center. It snaps, it crackles it pops! It surges with a roar, its energy and sheer life undiminished by the years" - NYPost reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli

#33

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/5/07 at 6:04pm

Kelli O'Hara as Maria? Are you serious?

I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.

#34

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/5/07 at 6:13pm

I hope they are all total unknowns under the age of 22. Although I think Johnathan Groff would sing and act wonderfully as Tony. He projects that naive, hopeful quality that would make a great Tony.

Akiva

#35

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/5/07 at 6:20pm

I think Anita will have to be over 22 and a seasoned performer. There is no way a young newcomer could handle the role with Robbin's original choreography, 8 x a week.

We serve their food, We carve their meat, We tend to their house, We polish their Silverware.

#36

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/5/07 at 6:24pm

I am sure that the "trick" that Laurents is referring to is one of casting. It is going to be done with unknowns who are age appropriate. There is probably going to be a huge search (but not like GREASE! PLEASE GOD NOT LIKE GREASE!!!!) with a lot of publicity, but in the end it is going to be kids.

Other than that, did you enjoy the play Mrs Lincoln?

#37

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/5/07 at 6:26pm

How is casting it with all unknowns making it "absolutely contemporary" like he said it will be?

We serve their food, We carve their meat, We tend to their house, We polish their Silverware.

#38

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/5/07 at 6:41pm

I think he thinks that it will make the younger the spring awakening fans embrace the show. Whether or not that will work is another story.

Other than that, did you enjoy the play Mrs Lincoln?

Updated On: 8/5/07 at 06:41 PM

#39

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/5/07 at 7:14pm

His trick: Half the jets will be black.

Count on it.

#40

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/5/07 at 8:42pm

why half? Make them ALL black.

#41

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/5/07 at 10:20pm

i do like the idea of krysta rodruiguez as maria... even if you were kidding stageagent13

Can, can I have it?

#42

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/6/07 at 10:41am

"Michael Arden as Tony. "

Really? I hate that idea. Tony is in a gang in New York City...I hate when they cast someone who looks like he is "the boy next door" from Ohio and has never been in a gang. Also, as Arden is getting older he no longer feeling like a juvenille, he's not growing into a leading man. He is too quirky, too TR Knight. He has a beautiful voice...but he doesn't work as Tony.

I have often noticed that when people cast the "jets" they try to cast them as "white" as possible to differentiate them from the "sharks". However, I think in doing that, they ofteend up with "jets" who are too soft and pretty. They are in a gang in NYC...not a playground in the midwest.

I also think it would be great to find a Tony who seems really tough, and then ends up softening up when he meets Maria....And I think that was the original intention.

#43

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/6/07 at 11:52am

I don't know, I think that Tony was softening up before he met María. He was sort of growing apart from the gang, wasn't he?

Jimmy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM!

#44

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/6/07 at 12:05pm

As far as making it "absolutely contemporary", I don't really see much about it that is dated in the first place, script-wise. Just because directors keep choosing to set it in the 50's and 60's, doesn't mean that it needs to be. There are very few lines that would cause a problem making it set in totally modern times. With just a slight visual overhaul, it could be contemporary.

Akiva

#45

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/6/07 at 12:32pm

I dunno ... I think the script would be difficult to set in modern times. Many of the lines are quintessential 50s vernacular.

And yes .. Tony had already left the Jets before he met Maria. He moved on from the whole "gang" scene .. but he was pulled back in by Riff. I don't really think he was "softening up," as much as just growing up and maturing. He understands the foolishness of the gang lifestyle and Riff just doesn't understand.

Just my opinion.

#46

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/6/07 at 12:42pm

If they don't go "age approprite" with the cast, I'd like to see Mandy Gonzalez play Maria with Hugh Panaro in the role of Tony.

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. Ralph Waldo Emerson

#47

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/6/07 at 12:42pm

I agree with the previous post - the script is absolutely 50s with its racial slurs and the way the guys simply express their need to "get cool". (i.e. "CRACKO JACKO!" "WHAMO BAMMO!")

I just don't see it working in a contemporary setting at all.

I think Laurents' "idea" has to do with casting alone - not with moving the setting or the time of the piece - but with perhaps the race issue or maybe (the idea that is most appealing to me) casting approximate age-appropriate unknowns.

Although, to me, it seems damn near impossible to find teens who will be developed enough triple-threats to perform this piece to the caliber expected of a full (non "white-bread", at that!) revival, i'm sure they're out there, which makes the "huge search" that a previous poster suggested pretty much a necessity.

...as long as its not "Something's Coming: The Search for the Next Tony and Maria!", sign me up for tickets to the show.

"The nice thing about the rain is that it always stops... eventually."

- Eeyore

#48

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/6/07 at 12:46pm

I'm telling you... the jets will be from all races... most of them black, but Tony will still have to be polish (it's in the book)

Making the jets different races will provide commentary on how America is divided by not the color of the skin, but by ethnic cultures. It will ask the question "what does it mean to be an American?"

#49

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/6/07 at 2:50pm

Stop "telling" us as if you know. Your idea is not that intelligent.

#50

re: West Side Story revival casting?

Posted: 8/6/07 at 2:54pm

Laurents has talked about this before, apparently he told it to Sondheim and Sondheim said "That's genius, why has no one thought of that before" or something along those lines.

I doubt it's simply that the Jets are from all different races.

Theatre is a safe place to do the unsafe things that need to be done. -John Patrick Shanley

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