West Side Story, Goteborg Opera, Sweden

Interesting revisionist West Side. This is from their website. There's a video preview at the link at the bottom:

===

In The Göteborg Opera’s new production, [director] Stina Ancker, [musical director] Nick Davies and [choreographer] Peter Svenzon have carefully selected the 39 artists who will be embodying their particular vision.

Stina Ancker has previously directed Mary Poppins (2008 ) at The Göteborg Opera, Nick Davies conducted Guys and Dolls (2009) and Peter Svenzon, head of the dance company Art of Spectra, choreographed Prolog (2009). Irena Kraus is responsible for the new translation into Swedish. In season 2010/2011 she wrote the libretto to Min mamma är en drake (My Mum is a Dragon).

===












Watch a video preview here for the Goteborg Opera West Side Story

---

Updated On: 9/17/12 at 09:52 AM

It looks better than the revival for sure.

---

There are some liner notes that discuss the setting and time period at the bottom of this link with rehearsal footage.
The Göteborg Opera’s new production

---

So nce with each other at the Dance at the Gym?

Anyway, I have to admit I like the looks of this way more than I ever expected to. Nothing can replace the original for me, and I'm glad I got to see the London production ten years back or so that recreated the original production, but this looks more interesting than a lot of the standard, watered down versions we do see.

It looks and sounds nifty. I dig Anita.

The choreography gels. So does the very tastefully done designs. I thought at first they were boringly naturalistic but watching the vid reveals they create a space that is surreal in its suggestive realism. The lighting appeared to be distressingly monotonous in the photos but it's lack of variety and gloominess make the colors pop, when they appear. It's similar to the effect the washed-out, purely gray Les Mis set achieves when David Hersey's 'paint by light' illuminates the earthy browns and industrial blues of Neofitou's costumes against that colorless canvas of Napier's.

I'd be surprised if the designs of this WSS weren't at least slightly inspired by the original Les Mis designs. The scene in the video @ 02:20 is so incredibly similar to the sewer scene in Les Mis, I did a triple take and thought for a split second that they had switched to scenes from some Swedish version of Les Mis! The way that lighted grid moves down and in the background that smoke oozing out of what appears to be a tunnel, or something. Ha!

That production looks very promising (and no, not just because it reminds me of my beloved Mis! lol).

---

It could be, though based on where it is in the video I got the feeling that it is the beginning of the nightmare sequence in the "Somewhere" ballet (which was unforgivably cut from that revival).

Even if it is the nightmare, I am fairly confident that it is a visual reference to the last Broadway revival, as every review I ever read of that production mentioned the ominous descent of the overpass. If I recall, even Sondheim may have mentioned it in "Finishing The Hat," though I don't have the book with me to check. Can anyone confirm/verify if he mentions this fact?

that looks thrilling. would love to see the whole thing. it's about time someone decided to take a new approach on this classic.

---

Are y'all that easily wooed by variety?

It looks nice and all but I would hardly call it a groundbreaking new approach. It follows the original in just about everything. Only the overall design style being more modern and the distinct character of the original choreography have had anything altered.

Conceptually it's the same thing. Even visually, it's a not too distant variation on the same settings and attire seen in the original.

It sounds as if they smartly kept the original orchs. Good. They better not touch 'em, or I'll slice off them hands!!!!

---

My Oh My, not sure if you're addressing me, but I tend to hate variety, lol. I've gotten into some trouble on here for tending to think that the original production is more often than not the best, and that choreography in many instances should be considered as essential a piece of the text of a musical as the music, lyrics and book--maybe design as well.

So I guess I like that it's not all that different. But, as I said, partly due to the control of the Robbins estate, productions tend to use his choreography, and the design rarely is really substantially different from the original (though in both cases, things often seem to be handled poorly, or at least watered down). So, I guess I was just surprised that it does seem an effective production. Of course kinda setting it in the present (I assume from the pics) maybe works better in Swedish translation than it would in English, still using Laurents' fake slang, but, etc...

Ha, sorry I got a bit defensive. I know that we more often than not agree on these things (and I find your semi regulr posts going into *full* detail about what you like so much about original productions, one show in particularly :P , always fascinating to read).

Yes, that is the music from the Nightmare at the end, but the video cuts away to the drugstore scene with Anita and Chino shooting Tony.

---