West Side Story
Pantages Theatre
January 1, 2011
A while ago, when I saw that "West Side Story" would be performed at the Pantages, I couldn't think of a better way to ring in the New Year than to see one of my favorite musicals on a live stage. Linda agreed with me, and we ended up with a couple of good seats in the balcony, center stage. I told Linda that I wished that the Jets and Sharks would dance down the aisles like we were watching "The Lion King", but since we were in the balcony, it might be difficult for them to get to the stage.
A friend warned me that the show would be heavily laden with Spanish, but I figured that since I pretty much had the (movie) script memorized, I'd be fine. It turns out that I was right. Even though I didn't understand every word of the Spanish translation, it didn't matter because I still understood the emotion, and they seemed like they were using the words from the original script anyway. It also felt more realistic, since, in real life, the Puerto Rican people would not only be speaking English when speaking to each other.
What interested me about the production was that a few of the songs were not in the same place of the story as they were in the movie. "Cool" was sung at Doc's in the first act, prior to the War Council. "I Feel Pretty" was sung in the second act, in Maria's room, instead of at the dress shop. "Gee, Officer Krupke" was sung after the rumble. Linda told me later that Krupke was here in the original script, but they changed it for the movie because it played better that way. But in the theatre, we've had an intermission and we need some levity after the violence under the highway. Even with the songs all switched around, it all made perfect sense to me. I was surprised when they started "Cool", but enjoyed where it was in the show. I'm not always crazy about that song anyway (I prefer hearing it as an instrumental due to the jazziness of it). I had even forgotten about "I Feel Pretty" when I didn't hear it in the first act. When they sang it later on, I thought, "Oh, yeah!"
Most of the time, the Spanish was sung/spoken during the all-Sharks/Puerto Rican scenes, but there was a little bit of it during the dance as well, especially when everyone sees Tony and Maria kissing. There was so much yelling that I didn't even hear 'Nardo say Maria's name, and actually wondered when Tony had heard it so that he could sing his ballad.
I really loved the dancing, especially by the guys. I love seeing gang members dance! :) I was happy to see the original Jerome Robbins choreography, because, as Linda and I agreed, it's just not WSS without it. I need to see some Jet jetes! I also enjoyed seeing the women-only version of "America", although I did miss the men a little bit, because I felt that the Sharks got slighted in the dancing area. They never got their own dance number.
My favorite set was that of the highway. The backdrop was what you would see if you were standing under a highway, and the front of the set was a huge chain link fence that stretched all the way across and existed from the top curtain to the floor.
The costumes, like in the movie, were particularly vibrant for the Puerto Rican side and pretty drab for the Caucasians. I totally loved that Bernardo and Anita were in those beautifully matching purple outfits.
I heard Tony singing "Something's Coming" and "Maria" and both times thought, "Damn, those songs are difficult!" Tony was played by Kyle Harris and I liked the way that he floated the last notes on "Maria". I did not enjoy the little scoops on "Something's Coming" because they sounded like elongated grace notes wherein he was trying to find the pitch. But that's what a lot of scooping sounds like to me because I was taught not to do that.
When Ali Ewoldt started singing, I didn't hear Maria. I heard Cosette from my very favorite musical, "Les Miserables". The quality of her voice just didn't match for me. I later saw in the program that Ms. Ewoldt actually played Cosette in the revival and the national tour, so that's my Les Miz fan ear at work! So, unfortunately, I couldn't get out of my head that Cosette was singing with Tony. It didn't help that she was also going in and out of her accent, which bothered me.
Anita, Anita, Anita. Wow. I was very impressed by portrayer Michelle Aravena. Anita's melodies are my favorite to sing in this show anyway because a) she's an alto, and b) she's more worldly than Maria, and therefore gets to be a little bit more guttural in her emotions. I kept wanting her to sing more in "Un Hombre Asi (A Boy Like That)/I Have A Love", then I remembered that she doesn't sing as much as I wanted.
Since Riff had died before "Officer Krupke", he was no longer the lead for the song, and it was sung instead by Action, played by Drew Foster. I thought that he was very entertaining.
My favorite minor character portrayal was that of Kristen Paulicelli's "Graziella". I loved her very, very long high note during "I Feel Pretty", as did I love Maria's comeback at the end of the song.
I also enjoyed Stephen De Rosa's portrayal of Glad Hand, the chaperone at the dance. His attempts at getting the Puerto Ricans to understand his instructions by speaking terrible Spanish were quite funny.
The ultimate test: Did I Cry? No. I felt tears start to well up when Maria picked up Chino's gun and asked him how to use it. I was angry along with her. But no, no actual crying. I don't know what it was about this production that didn't pull me in like the movie. Maybe it's because I couldn't see their faces. Maybe it's because I was still disturbed about the attempted gang rape on Anita (it wasn't that graphic, but A-rab's pants were down). I don't know. So, yes, I have to downgrade it a little bit in my head for not getting me to weep inconsolably.
The Los Angeles run of this production is over, but I recommend seeing it if it comes to a theatre near you. It's quite entertaining, and you get to learn a little bit of Spanish if you already know the script by heart. :)
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