West Side Story Broadway Revival: It's ON!
How am I only now seeing this?
The years of rumors are finally coming true - West Side Story is ON. They're planning for a run in D.C. followed by Broadway in February 09. The musical's librettist, Arthur Laurents, will direct - just like the current production of Gypsy.
About the revival, Laurents had previously said it would be "radically different from any production ever done and contemporary to boot."
They are casting young (18!) for this, which is smart. First love just isn't as thrilling when it's happening to 28-year-olds. No doubt, cutie Krysta Rodriguez will be somewhere on that stage. But who else? Karen Olivo? Jonathan GROFF?[photo via broadwayworld.com]
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2 comments:
i hear the sharks will only speak spanish (unless speaking to the jets) and will be subtitled.
FASCINATING... Laurents has said that this would be a totally new concept that would change things up a LOT, so the Spanish changes sound very possible.
Funny, I was just posting on All That Chat last week about the Spanish element of West Side Story. Apparently Sondheim has expressed his embarassment at the sophistication of the lyrics of "I Feel Pretty". He says, "I had this uneducated Puerto Rican girl singing 'It's alarming how charming I feel.' You must know she would not be unwelcome in Noel Coward's living room. So there it is, to this day embarrassing me every time it's sung because it's full of mistakes like that."
Well, here's the thing - wouldn't they all be speaking in Spanish anyway? All the girls are together in the dress shop. No English speakers are present, so it seems that if the world were more naturalistic (and not musical theater fantasyland), they would all be speaking Spanish.
Sondheim's embarassment over the lyrics has always irked me for this reason. Not to mention NOBODY could be reasonably expected to come up with "I feel pretty and witty and gay, and I pity any girl who isn't me today."
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