West Side Story to Cut Orchestra? Violinist Speaks Out

In a recent Op-Ed piece in the New York Times, "West Side Story" violinist Paul Woodiel spoke out about cuts to the Broadway show's string section in order to lower costs.

Woodiel formed a friendship with Leonard Bernstein, who wrote the music for the classic Broadway show, in 1983. As a young violinist Woodiel had the honor to work on the recording of the show in RCA Studio A. After working as a theater musician for numerous shows including "Fiddler On the Roof," "The Music Man," and "Sunset Boulevard," he returned to perform "West Side Story" at the Palace Theater.

But now, after 500 performances, producers have decided to release five string musicians and replace them with a synthesizer.

Woodiel writes, "The sweeping grandeur of Broadway's classic scores would be impossible without master orchestrations. I would argue that the orchestrator's crafty magic is perhaps best appreciated from the pit below the stage - by musicians who thrill (or despair, as the case may well be) to a given score night after night. To my ear, the orchestration of "West Side Story" towers above all others, a masterwork of complexity and beauty that still reveals marvels to my colleagues and me."

Woodiel describes the soon to be orchestra as having a "skeletal string section accompanied by an inert, artificial, electronic device, which an engineer will try to manipulate, hoping to deceive audiences into thinking it's the real thing." But, he argues, if you listen- you'll notice.

While Woodiel realizes that while some shows need violins, others don't. He insists that "West Side Story" is one of the shows that does.

"The show is inseparable from its lush, sophisticated orchestration. So here's my proposition: if the show is no longer profitable, the producers should simply close it with its dignity intact. Doing so might put me out of work, but it would honor (rather than demean) the legacy of Bernstein's crown jewel," says Woodiel.

For the full article, click here.