WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
#1WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
Posted: 3/19/09 at 2:17am
Ladies and gents, boys and girls, let us welcome 'an All-American classic' back to Broadway. More than 50 years after the Arthur Laurents-Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim musical West Side Story debuted on Broadway, a revival of the classic officially opens on The Great White Way March 19 at the Palace Theatre. The piece originally made it's world premiere at D.C.'s National Theatre in 1957. This new production played an out-of-town tryout at that same venue from Dececember 15, 2008 to January 17, 2009. Broadway previews began February 23.
Directed by the show's librettist Arthur Laurents, this staging of West Side Story introduces "the unprecedented element of selectively weaving Spanish throughout both the book and songs," the producers previously announced. In fact, both "I Feel Pretty" and "A Boy Like That" are delivered entirely in Spanish (with translations by Lin-Manuel Miranda).
The cast is led by Matt Cavenaugh as Tony, Karen Olivo as Anita, Cody Green as Riff and George Akram as Bernardo. Twenty-one-year-old Argentinean actress Josefina Scaglione co-stars as the young, lovestruck Maria.
This incarnation of West Side Story boasts a cast totaling 46 and 30 musicians in the orchestra.
Welcome home, WEST SIDE, we love ya!
My best to all involved.
Break legs!
Best,
- Mike 
Updated On: 3/19/09 at 02:17 AM
#2re: WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
Posted: 3/19/09 at 4:51amDude calm down it doesn't open for like a day.
-Benjamin
--http://www.benjaminadgate.com/
--http://www.benjaminadgate.com/
#2re: WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
Posted: 3/19/09 at 7:00amWell, the reviews will come in...tonight.
I'm a professional. Whenever something goes wrong on stage, I know how to handle it so no one ever remembers. I flash my %#$&.
"Jayne just sat there while Gina flailed around the stage like an idiot."
PiraguaGuy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/10/08
#3re: WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
Posted: 3/19/09 at 7:22am
The show's Playbill provides a translation of both songs.
Uh...no it doesn't...
Formerly SirNotAppearing - Joined 3/08
#4re: WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
Posted: 3/19/09 at 8:05am
"Ladies and gents, boys and girls,..."
Who ARE you?
#5re: WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
Posted: 3/19/09 at 8:31amPG2- It does. At least it did when I saw it last Monday.
#6re: WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
Posted: 3/19/09 at 10:08amIt doesn't provide a direct translation of the spanish, it provides the original lyrics, and has been doing so since the second or so week of previews.
PiraguaGuy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/10/08
#7re: WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
Posted: 3/19/09 at 11:23amOh. I guess I just missed them when I got my Playbill.
Formerly SirNotAppearing - Joined 3/08
#9re: WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
Posted: 3/19/09 at 6:48pm
I searched through my playbill to find the translations or original lyrics, and both were not to be found. I also couldn't find the 'At This Theatre' page either. This was a couple weeks ago on the 3rd.
I'm really interested in how the reviews will go for this revival, even though they won't really matter much in terms of sales, from what others here have said.
#10re: WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
Posted: 3/19/09 at 6:50pm
The Hollywood Reporter is Mixed-to-Positive:
"The idea that a musical as brilliant as "West Side Story" would require reinventing seems a bit dubious, and the doubts are confirmed by the new Broadway revival. Reconceived and staged by its original book writer Arthur Laurents to achieve a new level of grittiness, this production features a lot of tweaks -- most notably the use of Spanish for two of the songs and some of the dialogue -- that don't add appreciably to its impact.
And unlike the 91-year-old Laurents' recent smash revival of "Gypsy," this production is further undercut by some significant deficiencies in the staging and performances.
Despite the production's problems, this 1957 musical updating of "Romeo and Juliet" set on the then-tough streets of Manhattan's Upper West Side still packs plenty of punch thanks to the brilliant score by Leonard Bernstein (music) and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics) and the legendary choreography of Jerome Robbins."
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film-reviews/theater-review-west-side-story-1003953472.story
(Mr. Scheck also thought Scaglione "came up short in the acting department," and that Cody Green was "terrific")
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
Updated On: 3/19/09 at 06:50 PM
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
#11re: WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
Posted: 3/19/09 at 6:57pmIt sounds in that review as if the near rape scene is something newly added... It is not.
Those Blocked: SueStorm. N2N Nate. Good riddence to stupid! Rad-Z, shill begone!
DAME
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/15/04
#12re: WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
Posted: 3/19/09 at 6:58pm
"it's hard not to wish that it wasn't a whole lot better."
You think that describes the consensus?
HUSSY POWER!
------ HUSSY POWER!
#13re: WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
Posted: 3/19/09 at 6:59pm
Variety is a Rave:
"The show's book has always been secondary to its score, but Laurents efficiently underlines the paradox that the Jets, so threatened by the encroachment of the Hispanic Sharks on their white neighborhood, are only a generation or two evolved from being the kind of immigrant trash they despise. And having their racism amplified through the voice of authority of a sleazy cop (Steve Bassett) further darkens the Shakespearean canvas of warring factions.
From the opening notes of Bernstein's antsy "Prologue" and the first images of original director-choreographer Jerome Robbins' iconic moves, with finger-snapping, low-hunching gang members darting in and out of tenement windows and off fire escapes, "West Side Story" comes at you with a familiar rush. But any sense of kitschiness that might arise from watching a dance style that's been imitated and parodied everywhere from Gap commercials to Michael Jackson videos to "Flight of the Conchords" is soon erased by the bristling confidence and economy of the storytelling. Characters, mood and conflict are established in minutes with barely a word spoken."
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117939902.html?categoryid=33&cs=1
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
DAME
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/15/04
#14re: WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
Posted: 3/19/09 at 7:00pmBitch you beat me to it.
HUSSY POWER!
------ HUSSY POWER!
#15re: WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
Posted: 3/19/09 at 7:07pm
Backstage is a Rave:
"It happened for me during "America." I forgot I was sitting in a Broadway theatre watching professional actors in a revival of West Side Story. I was spying on a group of high-spirited girls kidding each other about living in New York after enduring the poverty of their native Puerto Rico. They weren't executing Jerome Robbins' classic choreography, as re-created by Joey McKneely, on James Youmans' darkly evocative ghetto set; they were flouncing their skirts, jumping on stoops, and inhabiting a specific place and time. This authenticity is only partially due to the Spanish translation of many of the Latino scenes and two of the songs ("I Feel Pretty" and "A Boy Like That"), by Lin-Manuel Miranda of In the Heights fame. The scenes are so real that no English supertitles are required to convey their meaning."
http://www.backstage.com/bso/news_reviews/nyc/review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003953503
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
#16re: WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
Posted: 3/19/09 at 7:11pm
The Associated Press is Mixed:
"The evening's major sizzle belongs to a whirlwind named Karen Olivo, whose Anita jolts the action whenever she appears. Olivo, also an alum of "In the Heights," has an indelible personality, a forcefulness that galvanizes the Latin women on stage.
But personality is what is missing from much of the ensemble. The two rival gang leaders are played by Cody Green for the Jets and George Akram for the Sharks. They seem weirdly interchangeable, once they step off the dance floor and into Laurents' story.
Designer James Youmans' vaguely impressionistic settings are dark, all-purpose urban. Much of the action is played out under an ominous backdrop of a bridge. And, of course, there's the inevitable balcony, where Tony and Maria warble "Tonight."
Bernstein's music still makes us shiver. But we wanted to cry, too."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090319/ap_en_re/theater_review_west_side_story;_ylt=AgtpaNvUBg53iaKKYY_VcYc9FRkF
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
#17re: WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
Posted: 3/19/09 at 7:16pm
The Bergen Record is Mixed-to-Negative:
"Laurents’ main gambit in trying to create a sense of true street life in ‘“West Side Story” is having the Sharks, the Puerto Rican gang, along with their girlfriends, speak Spanish to one other. That’s intended to emphasize their identity, and their “otherness” to the white-ethnic Jets gang, which is trying to protect its turf from the newcomers.
The idea is pretty much a complete failure...
Of the other cast members, a fiery Karen Olivo – who made a notable impression in “In the Heights” — makes a first-rate Anita, while George Akram cuts a handsome figure as Maria’s brother, Bernardo.
The rest of the company falls into the category of Broadway-capable, meaning efficient but not memorable. Which, come to think of it, is a fair description of the entire production."
http://www.northjersey.com/entertainment/stage/westside0319.html?c=y&page=2
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
#18re: WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
Posted: 3/19/09 at 7:21pm
This from the Backstage review is a love letter to Karen Olivo, even singing her Tony praises. Wow, no review has failed to mention her. While I was disappointed with her dancing, she really solidified herself as a terrific actress:
But the performer who covers the broadest emotional spectrum is the blazing Karen Olivo as Anita. She goes from the satiric exuberance of "America" to scorching bitterness when her lover Bernardo is murdered. Then she ricochets to compassion for Maria during "I Have a Love," only to be driven to weeping fury during a brutally staged sexual assault by the Jets. It's a performance for which Tony Awards were made.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
Updated On: 3/19/09 at 07:21 PM
#19re: WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
Posted: 3/19/09 at 7:23pm
From Kuchwara's AP review:
Realism has never been necessary for the success of "West Side Story." In fact, it's that suspension of belief that draws us into the story.
Doesn't he mean suspension of disbelief?
"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
#20re: WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
Posted: 3/19/09 at 7:28pmNow that the show is frozen, are A-Rab's pants up or down for the rape scene?
#21re: WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
Posted: 3/19/09 at 7:35pm
Chicago Tribune is positive (I don't know if this qualifies as a rave).
The breakout performance here, without question, is Karen Olivo’s Anita. Olivo captures the necessary swirl of conflicted theatrical emotions—sympathy, anger, resignation, defiance. And yet she does so in a human package entirely of her own creation—to no small extent, she reinserts Anita as a principal victim of the show’s violence and puts that character at the center of the show’s emotional crisis.
It is a dazzling performance. And given what this production is attempting, it is wholly appropriate that this “West Side” should belong to Anita and the women who swirl and survive around her.
http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/the_theater_loop/2009/03/west-side-story-with-a-modern-voice-and-a-timeless-heart-.html
Updated On: 3/19/09 at 07:35 PM
bethnor
Broadway Star Joined: 10/15/08
#22re: WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
Posted: 3/19/09 at 7:49pm
It's gone now, but Newsday accidentally published it early this morning, and it was Mixed-to-Positive. You can google it to see fragments, and what was there was disjointed and not properly edited. I don't believe it will appear formally until tomorrow.
Essentially said that the production was neither revelatory nor vandalism. "Bottom line: there's a place for it."
Trish2
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/20/06
#24re: WEST SIDE STORY Reviews
Posted: 3/19/09 at 8:07pm
I think Murray is more Mixed-to-Negative. He likes some things
But if Laurents hasn’t resisted these modern fillips, he’s retained the grand Golden Age sensibility in a few key places: James Youmans’s grittily detailed (and plentiful) sets, a 29-member orchestra (which, under Patrick Vaccariello’s musical direction, sounds terrific playing the original Bernstein-Sid Ramin-Irwin Kostal orchestrations), and a 37-person cast.
But among those actors, the old-time virtue of charisma is in short supply. Of the leads, only Karen Olivo evinces any: As Anita, she sings and dances with a pointed, on-the-edge fervor that justifies each of her mood swings and shreds of open-mindedness
The most dynamic performer barely has any lines. Pamela Otterson is impossibly sensual as Riff’s girlfriend Graziella, using her minimally assigned struts and kicks to own numbers no one else even wants to rent. Clad in a tight red dress, and always intensely focused on some carnal pleasure or other, she’s the reigning queen the Cold War-waging “Dance at the Gym” and melts the Jets’s “Cool” into a puddle of sweat.
Updated On: 3/19/09 at 08:07 PM
