West Side Story - Broadway 2020

Ivo has cut the interval, I Feel Pretty and the Somewhere ballet

www.broadwayworld.com/article/WEST-SIDE-STORY-Revival-Will-Not-Include-I-Feel-Pretty-and-the-Somewhere-Ballet-20191109

Eek. Who is 'cool' with this?

Unfortunately, it does mean a female ethnic minority will miss out on her big number, I'm sensing an argument coming. I don't know WSS too well but it does appear to be very 'white male' already.

Amazing what the prospect of a percentage of the takings from a fresh version of a Broadway show, plus the inevitable tour and London production, will do to an estate!

Presumably with a shorter one-act show, they can go to three performances per day if it's successful, and it's also timed for a Vegas run.

this is just stupid! If you need to shorten it, cut that horrible Krupke song out! Its just a toilet chance during the show anyway! never know what to do while its running, its like Wickeds wizard song „wonderful“ - not needed and boring as hell

The estate gets royalty percentages regardless of what happens on the stage, so this cynicism seems a bit misplaced. And Vegas? Really? If Shakespeare can regularly be reinterpreted, set in new eras, and have sizeable portions of plays cut or moved around, I am pretty sure WSS can survive these rather modest changes. And if they don't work base don audience reaction or critical response, no doubt they won't be approved in the future.

I think it should applauded for reinventing the material. We've seen with Oklahoma! that you can breathe new life into a classic musical. 

I'd prefer this and it be a honourable failure than another museum production.

There is a significant difference between a radical cut of a play to that of a musical

The score is an integral part of a musical - the choice of keys and the progression from one number to the next can be musically and dramatically very important.

Yes, scores can be reorchestrated and things do get altered. But change is not always for the best.

With regards to WSS, I think it is wrong that people were forced to recreate the original choreography for so long - there should always have been freedom for directors and choreographers to restage the show. Recreating the original over and over is not the best way to handle it.

But the cuts, as being suggested here, do, to my mind, damage to the piece as a whole. As I said in an earlier comment, I Feel Pretty has an important dramatic role in the show. It is wrong to say it stops the show - it is the first number after the interval. It is the first music we hear after having had time reflect on what happened at the end of the first act. We know that Maria is not yet aware of the tragic incidents and she is revelling in her happiness. Allowing her that moment of happiness means that the impact of being told what happens hits home even harder.

As for the ballet, I have never been bored by it when I have seen WSS on stage. Musically it is gripping. It is nothing like the over-extended stuff we get from R&H in Carousel or Oklahoma. It works in context. Could it work better with a trim? Possibly. Does it contribute to the world of the piece? Absolutely. Dance is such a key part of the concept of WSS that a ballet sequence is not an indulgence and it gives Somewhere a natural place from which to emerge.

With regards to America, I prefer the original version - just with the female voices. It has more personality than the film version. But it is not something that really alters the feel of the piece for me.

Change can be good. Change can be necessary. I am not against change. However I am against change for the sake of change. I am against change that fundamentally undermines something I value about a piece of theatre. The score for WSS is not absolutely perfect - but it is one of the most perfect scores of any musical I know. Disrupting what Bernstein created is something that needs to be done very, very carefully. No doubt this production team believe they are doing just that. But I reserve the right to be highly sceptical of that belief.

The creators of WSS intended there to be a pause in the action after The Rumble. They intended to give audiences time to reflect on that violence. I Feel Pretty is there to restart the action at the start of the second act and to heighten the drama by showing Maria at her happiest.

That isn't stopping the action. The contrast in mood serves a vital dramatic function.

And yes, I do know that this is only one production. But we are still allowed to consider their choices and to comment on them.

Just because a director has been lauded and applauded for their work to date does not mean they are infallible or immune from criticism. And yes, you have to reach a final judgement only after having seen the finished production. But again, there is nothing wrong with expressing scepticism.

I really struggle with broadway world as many of the posters appear to be luddites. An American Sondheim forum is very similar

I doubt one of the the biggest theatre directors on earth atm would take on a production unless he has TOTAL control over it.

I do however think it is funny he is making these changes to create a sense of 'rushing towards death' when everything else he has ever done has limped along at almost torturously glacial pace.

IVH is very hit and miss for me, but I'm always intrigued. 

I think he is great and I've never disliked anything I've seen from him.

I hope we eventually get WSS here.