Over Thanksgiving break, for my friend’s birthday, I took him to see West Side Story in New York. I was fairly excited to see such a big show, and such a well known show, done on Broadway. When we got there, we discovered that we were in the very last row of the balcony. What can you expect for 45 dollar tickets? As far as the acting goes, everyone seemed to do a fairly decent job. I really enjoyed the girl who played Anita’s performance. She had stage presence and when she walked onto the stage, she owned the stage. Even if the scene she was in and she only had one line, she made the most of it. The girl who played Maria also did a great job. She had the character down. It was really exciting to watch her change in her character from the beginning to the end. Maria has a definite character 180 and the girl playing her pulled it off fantastically. The man playing Tony however, was not so great. He didn’t seem to have any chemistry with Maria at all, or with any of the other characters for that matter. His voice also didn’t fit the role at all. He sounded much too “poppy” like he should be in a music video. He didn’t have a bad voice, but all of the other characters had character voices, so it made his really stand out. The chorus for the most part, was very talented. They were all very skilled in their choreography and vocal ability. The woman who plays Riff’s girlfriend definitely stood out over everyone in the chorus. She has the dance solo with Riff in the Gymnasium and she blew me away. Her legs were all over the place. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. She had the perfect “dumb blonde” thing down. She was one of the characters that stood out the most. Overall, the ensemble did an amazing job. They were really into their character and they all had great interaction on stage with each other. The perfect example would be the scene in the gymnasium. Having the two clashing groups doing the same dances, but showing the different styles was absolutely breathtaking. The choreography in that scene was stunning and having the different ways of dancing the same dance really helped convey the author’s main points.
Everyone knows the story of West Side Story. It is pretty much a semi-updated version of Romeo and Juliet. The revival, which is currently running, has been tweaked a little. A lot of the dialogue of the Puerto Ricans has been changed to Spanish. I found this to be a little annoying. I had no clue what they were saying. I did not take Spanish in high school. What are the people who come to see the show, who don’t know Spanish supposed to do? I thought it did make the story more realistic, but from and audiences point of view, it was not the best choice on the writer’s part. The genre of West Side Story is drama. A lot of the characters in West Side Story have turning points. Almost everyone in the show, at one point or another, changes their entire outlook on the situation and some even on life. I love the characters of West Side Story. I feel like they all personify the traits that they have. I also enjoy the parallel it has to Romeo and Juliet.
All in all, the direction of the revival was just ok. I have gone to High School productions of West Side Story and in all honesty, I have had more fun. Of course the talent ability was much better on Broadway, but there were some directorial choices that I just didn’t agree with. I think that since West Side Story is so well known that the director felt that his actors would just automatically assume what they were supposed to do. The blocking just seemed to be very stagnant. It did seem to move unusually slowly. I understand that it is a long show, but the second act seemed to drag on more that it should have, and it is significantly shorter. I feel that the director decided to let his show rest on the fact that the choreography would be amazing, which it was. However, I think that the direction could have been much stronger.
On the technical side of the show, I thought that the set was amazing. It was very simple. There were three buildings on both sides of the stage with fire escapes coming down both sides. This was the main set. Then they had minimum set for the rest. For example, Doc’s shop was simply a bar, a door, and a booth. The bar and the booth came on from the side and the door rose from the floor. The lighting that was used wasn’t all the exciting. It was mostly darker set except for the big dance song, America and the dream sequence, Somewhere. I think that the light plot worked well for the story however. I really enjoyed the costumes. The costumes for Anita worked really well for her character. The different styles used for the Sharks and the Jets contrasted wonderfully. The costumes look amazing in the gymnasium scene. The sound wasn’t that great either. That could have been because I was in the very last row, but the sound should have reached where we were sitting. I couldn’t really tell how well the make up was done because I couldn’t see the faces. Our tickets were in the last row, but we only paid 45 dollars for them, so what can you expect. The inside of the theater was very unique; however, getting to our seats was quite a hike. They only had one elevator and it was rather small. You could also take the stairs. We decided to take the stairs and we ended up going up 4 flights. The ushers weren’t exactly friendly either. The show had a great audience. It was packed and they all seemed to really enjoy it. The man sitting next to me did feel the need to sing along at some points, but I got over it.
Everyone knows the story of West Side Story. It is pretty much a semi-updated version of Romeo and Juliet. The revival, which is currently running, has been tweaked a little. A lot of the dialogue of the Puerto Ricans has been changed to Spanish. I found this to be a little annoying. I had no clue what they were saying. I did not take Spanish in high school. What are the people who come to see the show, who don’t know Spanish supposed to do? I thought it did make the story more realistic, but from and audiences point of view, it was not the best choice on the writer’s part. The genre of West Side Story is drama. A lot of the characters in West Side Story have turning points. Almost everyone in the show, at one point or another, changes their entire outlook on the situation and some even on life. I love the characters of West Side Story. I feel like they all personify the traits that they have. I also enjoy the parallel it has to Romeo and Juliet.
All in all, the direction of the revival was just ok. I have gone to High School productions of West Side Story and in all honesty, I have had more fun. Of course the talent ability was much better on Broadway, but there were some directorial choices that I just didn’t agree with. I think that since West Side Story is so well known that the director felt that his actors would just automatically assume what they were supposed to do. The blocking just seemed to be very stagnant. It did seem to move unusually slowly. I understand that it is a long show, but the second act seemed to drag on more that it should have, and it is significantly shorter. I feel that the director decided to let his show rest on the fact that the choreography would be amazing, which it was. However, I think that the direction could have been much stronger.
On the technical side of the show, I thought that the set was amazing. It was very simple. There were three buildings on both sides of the stage with fire escapes coming down both sides. This was the main set. Then they had minimum set for the rest. For example, Doc’s shop was simply a bar, a door, and a booth. The bar and the booth came on from the side and the door rose from the floor. The lighting that was used wasn’t all the exciting. It was mostly darker set except for the big dance song, America and the dream sequence, Somewhere. I think that the light plot worked well for the story however. I really enjoyed the costumes. The costumes for Anita worked really well for her character. The different styles used for the Sharks and the Jets contrasted wonderfully. The costumes look amazing in the gymnasium scene. The sound wasn’t that great either. That could have been because I was in the very last row, but the sound should have reached where we were sitting. I couldn’t really tell how well the make up was done because I couldn’t see the faces. Our tickets were in the last row, but we only paid 45 dollars for them, so what can you expect. The inside of the theater was very unique; however, getting to our seats was quite a hike. They only had one elevator and it was rather small. You could also take the stairs. We decided to take the stairs and we ended up going up 4 flights. The ushers weren’t exactly friendly either. The show had a great audience. It was packed and they all seemed to really enjoy it. The man sitting next to me did feel the need to sing along at some points, but I got over it.
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