West Side Story on Broadway

Because the movie actually has Jerome Robbins' choreography and always will?

One giant reason to skip it: Ivan Van Hove.

The man never met a pointless gimmick he didn’t like. And then overuse.

Broadway today is nothing but pointless gimmicks. Alfred Drake wouldn't even get his foot in the door today.

The last revival was so listless and boring that it soured me on the show overall.

I have no need to ever see a stage version of WSS again

The nudity is delicious.

A lot of people in the theatre community are waiting for it to crash and burn.

I'm not a Van Hove fan either, and hiring the serial harasser from NYCB was just stupid. So was cutting musical numbers. And the original choreography.

But don't let that stop you from enjoying it, OP. Just report back.

I saw a version of "America" during one of the concert versions of the show. The Puerto Rican girls were so over the top with the cartoonish accents and "Oooh mami" crap that it was almost as offensive as having white people playing the roles in the original)s). Almost.

I'm waiting for the Martians to invade so we can have an interplanetary Tony and Maria, showing the evil and pointlessness of hatred between Terrans and non-Terrans. It will be a challenge, because whilst the Martian cast who are playing the Otherised group can sing, they are hopeless at Latin dance because they have no knees (I have it on good authority that the real key to Latin dance isn't hip wiggling, but flows from the knees down).

So, out goes the Dance at the Gym and the Rooftop Dance. Suggestions for replacement numbers?

OP-"Any reason NOT to go?"

Sacrilege?

It's van Give, so I guarantee there's some "concept"staple-gunned to the script - Brexit, global fascism, #metoo, you name it.

And it will have fuck all to do with the original story.

So who went to the first preview?

I hear the Robbins stuff is back in. As are the cut songs

What’s the scoop?

So no?

Use your own damn judgement for a change instead of allowing yourself to be led around the nose by others.

So no

Is this a Gen Z woke interpretation? Will they expand a side story where Anybodys confides in Riff that she’s going to transition? Will Anita abandon Bernardo to become a climate change activist after being inspired by AOC’s New Green Deal? Will Doc get #metoo’ed at his own candy shop after complimenting the Jet girls on how nice they look?

R15 I would suggest an ICE raid on the sharks as well

I caught Ivo's "Elektra" last week at the Comedie Francaise. Whole thing layed in mud, which was thrown around a lot. The skinny androgyne playing Elektra took a big knife and cut the cock and balls off a tall cute guy, and flung them halfway across the stage. Even the jaded Parisians gasped, un peu.

West Side Story should have gang-related ritual castration, too.

"played in mud."

So silent

I saw it last night and loved most of it, the video that was added was distracting in some of the scenes and took away from what was happening on stage. When it worked it was amazing and a great addition. The music and lyrics have withstood the test of time (60 years?) and was wonderful. The missing ballet was incorporated into other numbers in an abbreviated form. The musical number I Feel Pretty was not missed. The preview was sold out I would recommend the show.

I like this show only in HS and college productions.

[quote]The musical number I Feel Pretty was not missed.

Then let's also get rid of "Gee Officer Krupke" and "Cool." Why bore an audience with an attention span of 90 minutes or less. And while you're at it, why not just throw out the orchestra and replace everything with a hip-hop beat since that's all the kids like these days! Musical theater is so gay, so let's put the "bro" back in "Broadway" with hip-hop, hip-hop, and more hip-hop!

There's no way this version can be any good at all. No way.

And why not move everything to the 2010s since the present is all that matters anyway?

The elimination of " I Feel Pretty" is more for the woke feminists than for time purposes

So the work of a gay man is bowdlerized to appease heterosexual women and we're supposed to applaud this as something other than censorship-by-proxy, R25. I'll be god-fucking-damned before I do that.

[quote]There's no way this version can be any good at all. No way.

Typical DLers who will never see the show have passed judgement on the shows viability.

Well?

///////////////////

gay.

Any updates on West Side Story? Should I buy tickets?

Well, I saw this on Instagram with the tacky caption, "is this what one hand, one heart means". So, you be the judge.

Also, his "performance" here. Trying his hardest to be straight. Haha.

R44, did you bother to peruse any of the previous postings?

^ R33.

^^^You don't even know what you're talking about. Come back when you're sober buddy.

How is the boyishly handsome Amar Ramasar?

Isaac hurt his knee. They’re postponing opening night.

The Tony understudy is black. Ugh. This production is just STUPID.

now it will be a total of three months of previews.

R39, this is the new " Woke" Broadway which pays no attention to the original intent of characters. Just don;t try to cast a white Purlie.

He's the New, Woke Larry Kert!

All the leads from the movie are still alive except Natalie.

Anyone else see it?

Save your money. You're going to need it for the multiple theatrical viewings of FOLLIES that are on the horizon. Also, start purchasing adult diapers now, you'll need them for all the soiling that's going to be happening.

[quote][R39], this is the new " Woke" Broadway which pays no attention to the original intent of characters. Just don;t try to cast a white Purlie.

Can we make him Chinese instead?

Well, he could be black, but identify as Chinese. Hey, it's "Woke" Broadway.

[quote] Well, he could be black, but identify as Chinese.

Lak me!

R39 It's SO obvious they don't want to hire a white actor for the lead!

As a Latino myself (Guatemalan) whose sister married into a Puerto Rican family (they have a soft spot for the film), I think it's absurd the way they're going about with this production. Then again, the entertainment industry has swung so far left this decade, especially after 2015, that there's an anti-male, anti-white, anti-America bias in Hollywood and Broadway. Hence, all the non-whites being hired for traditional white roles and foreigners being cast as Americans and the vitriol against the US from SJWs et al. As someone who emigrated here and is a naturalized US citizen (and proud of it) the latter perplexes me. No doubt the US has its share of problems and one should feel free to criticize their government, but they make it sound like living here is like hell on earth! Women, in particular, have it much better here than many places around the world. Yet all they do is bitch about (straight and/or white) men and the patriarchy. I don't like this type of man-hating feminism.

R49 Completely agree with you.

" foreigners being cast as Americans "

You mean like Anthony La Paglia, Poppy Montgomery, and Toni Collette? Maybe we just need to shut the borders to Aussies. They have been taking our parts for decades.

R51 Other countries, including Australia, protect their homegrown talent. SAG-AFTRA has been doing a lousy job stateside because there's an anti-America bias in Hollywood going on this decade. It's one thing to see a foreigner or two play Americans, but when it is constantly it becomes a problem.

R52 EXACTLY. These days they are either British, Canadian, Australian or Indian. Look at the Bernardo in this production. A fucking Indian. I used to be a performer. I can sing my ass off, great actor, and dance and I'm Puerto Rican. I can't tell you how many times I auditioned for WWS productions in the past 15 years and was never cast. Passed over for a white guy or even a black guy. Just makes NO sense. I just found out that movie "QUEEN & SLIM" both black leads are British. haha. Like WTF.

R53 And in BOMBSHELL and LITTLE WOMEN all the leads are foreigners.

R54 Oh my gosh. YUP.

I think if they want this to run they better add Evan Hansen as a character.

(Mostly white) women in power have ruined Hollywood/Broadway with their preachy virtue signaling and woke agendas and policing freedom of expression in the arts. They really are the nanny state.

In regard to Bombshell, Nicole Kidman WAS born in Hawaii, but I agree with your point R54.

[quote] (Mostly white) women in power have ruined Hollywood/Broadway with their preachy virtue signaling and woke agendas and policing freedom of expression in the arts. They really are the nanny state.

Except for Pete, Fran Drescher is sounding better than the other challengers to Trump.

In regard to Little Women, Saoirse Ronan was born in the Bronx r54, but I see your point.

To most Manhattanites, the Bronx might as well be a foreign country.

What the fuck does the “Groundwater of the modern musical” mean and why would you put it into and advertisement? “ Honey, do you want to go see West Side Story?”, “ No, I would rather wait for the “Gulf stream of the modern musical!”

If the recent Oklahoma didn't send the queens to their fainting couches, this one certainly will....pearls will be clutched, vapors will envelop, salts will be smelled

Why?!!! Do tell! There seems to be NO talk about this show anywhere!

I saw it in previews and liked it, the staging is creative and a treat to see the show has been updated and edited for todays audience who have a shorter attention span by eliminating the ballet and one song.

The kids in the audience ate it up. The adults looked shellshocked.

I had NO idea Poppy Montgomery was born in Australia, r51. Nor did I know she was born Poppy Petal Emma Elizabeth Deveraux Donaghue.

I've yet to see a "Dream Ballet" I couldn't sleep through.

Cutting the dream ballet is fine. Not I FEEL PRETTY.

Jerome Robbins brilliance...

saw it tonight and totally agree with R20

some of it is brilliant, some visually beautiful and very moving, and most is interesting. It's still all about the beautiful score.

The legions of DL racists and bigots will hate it because the cast looks like the young NYers we see every day.

The theatre queens here who think every classic American musical should have been freeze dried on opening night and taken out and reconstituted every 20 years or so will kvetch to no end. It's a WSS for today, not for 60 years ago.

Seemed every seat, at least in the orchestra, was filled and I only saw one guy leave, and since he was pushing 90 and we were an hour and half into it, i suspect he needed to piss.

for the dumbfuck above who hates van hove, it's "Ivo" not "Ivan", dickhead

Can anyone who saw it explain the “groundwater” quote? Does a river run through it?

R71 when I saw it in previews it was sold out and there were people in front of the theater looking for tickets. No one left before the show ended and the cast and orchestra received a long standing applause from the audience.

Most of the poor dumb fucks on this thread will probably never see the show but have passed judgement on the show (typical DLers).

I don't give a shit about the changes but this depresses me. Creativity has been squeezed out of theatre. Now the only shows that make it to Broadway are musicals based on 80's movies, jukebox musicals, and revivals of shows that have already been done to death. There are no new shows with original plots and scores anymore. Every property that makes it to the stage is recycled.

I saw it. It's a sort of interesting mess, but hardly worth the money. The cast is really amateurish which hurts a lot. It's like watching a multi million dollar BAM/NYU production.

THE CHER SHOW...sorta

Broadway musicals are a waste of money.

Poor Amar. Who is Christina Bargelt anyway? Professional ballerina and sexual assault awareness advocate--that's who!

My partner is into bway. See everything. West side has a lot going for it. If you see anything go see american utopia. Freshest thing on bway.

I may have missed this above. The original film used a revised choreography for America, which is evidently used here (all girls as opposed to girls and boys}). But it also reversed the positions of Cool and Officer Krupke. Many people but not everybody think the reversal was an improvement. Where are the two songs' positions in this version?

R80 here. So has De Keersmaeker been dismissed as choreographer? If so, does any of her work remain? Who is the new choreographer? Will his work be all his own or at least partially based on Robbins?

Sorry I have not been able to keep up.

I saw it and agree with r20 and r71. Worth the trip.

Wait, I Feel Pretty is no longer in this production? I kid you not growing up in the 1970s we would put the record on and dance around in drag singing along.

It's not even progressive. My high school did a modern version of WSS with mixed cast and tattoos in 1999. Seriously.

then why didn't you bring to broadway then?

R85 haha. Because I don't have the resources.

genius thwarted....alas

R87 HA!

A good friend of mine just saw it. She was very disappointed in it. Debbie really was great in the 1980 revival....

This is the first West Side Story I’ve seen where Anita didn’t steal the show. This actress is a dud. And the video stuff is tiresome, especially each time the actors are offstage for five minutes or so and we’re watching a video of what they are doing away from the audience’s view.

It opens tonight. Seems like a “woke,” reimagined mess. They cut “I Feel Pretty“? 🙄

When you see the same shows over and over whether in high school, community theater, touring productions or on Broadway, you begin to see which shows DO NOT need revising. I saw "WSS" in high school, community theater and the 2009 Broadway production, and don't need to revisit it just 11 years later irregardless of what was wrong in the last revival. Cut it down to 90 minutes with Broadway prices and motivations that just upset me by reading about them? Deal with the "woke" crowd going crazy over it when you find it vapid and cheap? Certainly not. I skipped "Oklahoma!" for the same reason. I've seen the SJW's in theater become upset because the stranger next to them was obviously not enjoying it and act all "offended". Too many things to choose from now whether On or Off Broadway, and I'm still of the belief that if it isn't broke, don't fix it. WSS without the ballet is like The Wizard of Oz without the yellow brick road.

[quote]irregardless

Oh, DEAR!

always assaults the ear regardless of how many times one hears it