West Side Story concert at the Kennedy Center

[Babe_Williams]

Posted: 2/14/18 at 10:23am

Is anyone going? Would love to hear a review. Corey Cott posted a few bars of him practicing 'Maria' on his IG live a few days ago and it was amazing. 

 

 https://wtop.com/entertainment/2018/02/broadway-stars-snap-into-kennedy-center-with-west-side-story-concert/

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 2/14/18 at 10:46am

I'll be there Friday night. I have a great seat in the 1st tier.

[rfksansiro]

Posted: 2/14/18 at 10:59am

I'll be there Friday night

[newintown]

Posted: 2/14/18 at 11:46am

It's only sung, isn't it - no dancing? I know Joel Perez is singing Bernardo, for some strange reason, as Perez is a terrific singer (I don't think he dances) and Bernardo has no real singing to do (even if they do the movie version of "America," there's little vocal work for Bernardo).

[lovebwy]

Posted: 2/14/18 at 12:31pm

Saw a concert version of WSS at the Hollywood Bowl a couple years ago with Jeremy Jordan, Solea Pfeiffer, and Karen Olivo. The singing was fantastic, but MY GOD when America and Cool are playing you really miss the dancing!

Posted: 2/17/18 at 12:02am

Saw the performance tonight and this week of Chess plus West Side Story is making me love D.C.-- I really hope they continue this trajectory of getting more and more in concert / semi staged productions with such incredible talent. 

Already was a Corey fan so was looking forward to seeing him perform as Tony. I took an 11 year old with me, her first exposure to musical theater and she absolutely loved Corey (I did not bias her haha, I asked her at the end who her favorite was and she said she wished he was on stage the whole time). He had the longest applause of tonight (Friday night), America also seemed to be a favorite  (for good reason)

Joel, as people previously commented and suspected, was a pivotal character but no singing and limited dialogue. 

A couple things I'll note: 

1. Everyone was off book. Yes I realize this is an iconic musical and I know the words myself but was a contrast to Chess, which was touted as staged and given I saw that two days ago, kind of hard not to compare. And they incorporated dialogue to keep the flow. 

2. There was definitely dancing and movement for the entire show, and dancing for America and Cool, which was great and definitely those are songs that really need it. 

3. They did a great job utilizing the stage and the way the concert hall is set up at the Kennedy center. There was a small set for Chess, if I can call it that but there was not one for West side story  they use the aisles a couple times too  

4. Balance was a little off (orchestra seemed louder for Jet song (songs below) but seemed to be okay for the remainder of the show. I did feel like there were times it wasn't balanced well 

--

Order of show: 

• prologue
• Jet song 
• Something's coming 
• The dance at the gym (promenade, mambo, Cha-cha, meeting scene, jump)
• Maria 
• balcony scene
• America 
• Cool
• One hand, one heart 
• Tonight 
• The Rumble 
• I feel pretty 
• Ballet sequence (scherzo, somewhere)
• Gee, Officer Krupke 
• A boy like that and I have a love 
• Taunting scene 
• Finale 

 

 

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 2/17/18 at 12:17pm

I was there last night and thought the proceedings were kind of awkward.  Then I looked to see that Francesca Zambello was the one who directed this, so I was not surprised.  It only succeeded when the actors sang.  I wasn't a fan of a lot of the staging or the movement during the dance sequences.  Who dressed the women?! The costumes were horrendous and unflattering.

Cory Cott and Solea Pfeiffer made a nice couple.  Cory's Maria was thrilling (especially the sustained high note).  My favorite number of the evening was the Quintet.

It was nice to hear the score live, but one then realizes what an integral part Jerome Robbins' choreography is when it is performed without it.

I'm happy to be living in DC where we are getting a lot of programs such as these at the Kennedy Center.  It's great that I don't have to make the trip up to NYC to see something like this.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/17/18 at 1:46pm

Okay, that's all well and good, but the REAL question is...how was my friend on the xylophone?!?!?!

[MCfan2]

Posted: 2/17/18 at 4:45pm

I'm going tonight, assuming the weather doesn't completely deteriorate! I'll listen for the xylophone.

Posted: 2/17/18 at 10:09pm

Haha @mistermatt the orchestra was excellent and hearing Bernstein with a full orchestra is a win

[MCfan2]

Posted: 2/22/18 at 11:42am

Loved it. The production was great, the orchestra was great, and the cast was really strong across the board, but the highlight was Corey Cott's "Maria." Absolutely brought down the house.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/22/18 at 12:50pm

Actually, my friend played more percussion than just the xylophone, but I'm just thrilled he got the gig (and mostly excited about the xylophone because I've always wanted to play that part).  We were percussionists together in high school and he's a really great guy.  He was formerly with the Honolulu Symphony and now performs with the San Antonio Symphony.

[MCfan2]

Posted: 2/22/18 at 1:29pm

The percussion sounded fantastic!

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/22/18 at 2:12pm

YAY!  Of course, some of the credit has to go to Bernstein and his enthusiastic use of percussion in his compositions, but YAY!

[newintown]

Posted: 2/22/18 at 2:32pm

"Of course, some of the credit has to go to Bernstein and his enthusiastic use of percussion in his compositions..."

And let's not forget Hershey Kay.

[Melanie73]

Posted: 2/22/18 at 5:31pm

I was fortunate to be able to go on Saturday night, and wow, it was an all-around fabulous production!  I used to be a classical musician, so it's always a treat for me to see performances like this with a full orchestra.  But like @MCfan2 said, Corey Cott's "Maria" was, without exaggeration, the single most beautiful thing I've probably ever experienced.

[DramaTeach]

Posted: 2/22/18 at 7:49pm

I know he's not a "name," but I sincerely hope they consider casting him in the upcoming movie.  They need vocal powerhouses for that musical, so I want the two leads to be unknowns.  They can cast names as the secondary characters.

[Babe_Williams]

Posted: 2/23/18 at 9:02am

Melanie73 said: "I was fortunate to be able to go on Saturday night, and wow, it was an all-around fabulous production! I used to be a classical musician, so it's always a treat for me to see performances like this with a full orchestra. But like @MCfan2 said, Corey Cott's "Maria" was, without exaggeration, the single most beautiful thing I've probably ever experienced."

Oh man....everyone's reviews are making me so jealous. Like I said, the snippet he put on social media was really good. Thanks for reporting back, everyone! 

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 2/23/18 at 9:04pm

newintown said: ""Of course, some of the credit has to go to Bernstein and his enthusiastic use ofpercussion in his compositions..."

And let's not forget Hershey Kay."

Or Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal, who actually did the orchestrations with Lenny on West Side and not Kay...