Back to Vogue:
[T]he show will be trimmed to run without an intermission by cutting the “Somewhere” ballet and—gasp—“I Feel Pretty.” The changes have not only been approved by the creators’ estates but, in fact, reflect the original desires of Sondheim, still going strong at 89, who candidly confessed in his 2010 book Finishing the Hat that he had long been uncomfortable with some of the lyrics of the latter song. Van Hove isn’t streamlining to be perverse; the show’s action takes place over 48 hours, and he wants the production to capture that race against time. “I want to make a juggernaut,” he says. “You feel that these people are running toward their death and there’s no escape from it.”An intermission can serve some good purposes, giving people a chance to discuss the show and share interpretations and maybe compare notes and decide to get the hell out of there and maybe to help each other appreciate what's going on. You know, something like this:
But I like when a show has no intermission. Movies rarely have an intermission, and we are used to plunging straight through the story, keeping the momentum. Recently, I saw a play that had no intermission. It was the George Bernard Shaw play "Man of Destiny" (at the American Players Theater). Running time, an hour and a half. It was great.
But what about cutting "I Feel Pretty"?
Aside from the declaration that she feels "gay," this song and dance strikes me as very of the moment. Maria seems like she's got an Instagram account. Maybe the problem is that the audience isn't going to see Maria as delightfully hopeful and innocent, someone we don't want to see hurt, but a narcissistic fool who deserves a harsh dose of reality.
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"It seemed as if it were written yesterday," said Ivo van Hove
Why, it's almost Shakespearean.
Always accept the decisions coming from the estates of the creators. After all, they have no interest in re-monetizing their inheritance. Not at all.
No intermission=running time <2 hours.
Maybe they could throw in a villainous real-estate developer with a lot of blond hair.
Is Natalie Wood in brownface, by the Althouse standard?
I don’t see how you can judge this without actually seeing the show.
Or at least reading reviews and summaries by people you trust.
Maybe they feel that there is no realistic possibility of ever matching this version.
Who's a pretty boy now?
"Why, it's almost Shakespearean."
tcrosse, that made me laugh out loud.
So blatantly CISGENDER Maria no longer feels "gay"?
(I feel pretty an witty and gay)
John Henry
I do confess that when I first saw WSS on TV as a kid, I didn't get at all that Natalie Wood was supposed to be Puerto Rican. Rita Moreno, sure. But I found Wood totally unconvincing (though I didn't express it that way to myself at my tender age - I was just like, "I wonder why she's in that family.").
Is West Side Story really that relevant nowadays? Maybe if the gangs were immigration agents and illegal aliens. Or Trump voters and NeverTrumpers. Brexiters and Anti-Brexiters? But people seem to be surprisingly open to interracial relationships nowadays.
You could set a remake at a retirement home, where most of the people who complain about "race mixing" nowadays probably live. They would have trouble with the choreography, though. Or make Maria Vietnamese and find a young Mark Wahlberg somewhere out there.
Could the two gangs be Crips and Bloods? Or would that be too dangerous - likely to literally leave dead bodies in the theater? Could Mario/a and Tony/i be gay or trans and in in prison and in different gangs? The Latin Kings/Queens and the Aryan Brotherhood/Sisterhood?
Class, ideological and sectarian divisions seem to be deeper than racial divisions nowadays, and if you really want to put people to whom race does seem to matter immensely on stage, it would be really ugly. Not to mention that if you wanted to be really accurate, the "involuntarily celibate" thing would take the romantic spark out of the story.
I'm glad they cut the song. I'm still in love with Natalie Wood and I can't stand those two fuckers on the boat that let her drown
"... a divided world where people search for unity by exclusion of the other—the person who is not like you."
Turf wars go back to the common ancestors of humans and chimpanzees. Sharks have turf wars. Heck, I'll bet dinosaurs had turf wars. Shakespeare understood, Ivo van Ho not so much.
when I read it again, I discovered this very brutal world, a divided world where people search for unity by exclusion of the other—the person who is not like you."
didn't get that The FIRST time they read it? Sounds like they didn't read it the first time
when you're a jet you're a jet all the way
It's all marketing. Kick up a fuss, make people talk about it, then they'll want to see the show to see what everyone is talking about.
It doesn't seem to me that the Director's observations are particularly interesting. The whole play is Us v. Them -- Montague v. Capulet becoming Whites v. PRs. It always has been.
A remake of a remake; how unoriginal.
Damn you ARM, there is not enough mind bleach for that!
Jamie said... "Why, it's almost Shakespearean."
I like Shakespeare's version of 10 Things I Hate About You
But, not as much as i did the Original. Moving it from a high school was a mistake
Shakespeare always uses Way too many cliches
Glad to hear Sondheim is still alive. A lyricist without parallel.
Intermission was a good time to run to the bar.
Nobody's any fun anymore.
I'm surprised it hasn't occurred to them to transition Maria into Mario.
The original show (Shakespeares) is itself a rehash of an old, old story, and who knows what story that one was a rehash of. If anything "West Side Story" for all its own implausibilities of detail has fewer of them than Shakespeare had in his version.
The gist of the thing is purest humanity. There is love, and love is blind, often enough, and there are tribes and conflict between them. You could set this thing in the stone age and it would work just as well.
"I feel pretty" is also as true as anything can be. If you haven't ever been in this condition I feel sorry for you.
I really doubt that Bernstein's estate would agree to cutting Somewhere. After all, LB wrote a stand-alone symphonic version of it.
Spielberg's new film version next year won't have an intermission i assume.
Puerto Ricans certainly can look like Natalie Wood.
Genetics of PR are mixed up enough to make it plausible.
They are about 70% Spanish and other European, and the rest mostly African plus some ancient Caribbean Indian, but the distribution is of course uneven. There are plenty of Puerto Ricans you could drop down in Malaga or Jerez that could pass as natives.
Aside from the declaration that she feels "gay,"
You know, the word "gay" had a different meaning before it was co-opted by the homosexual community.
By the way, West Side story has the most unrealistic scene that has ever appeared in a movie.
At one point Tony runs into a Puerto Rican neighborhood in New York and starts yelling Maria at the top of his lungs....and only one woman comes to her window...….
I watched "Kiss Me, Kate" earlier this weekend. Just fantastic. The singing and dancing was excellent, and the movie itself was very funny. Some of the humor came from the original source material, which has made me want to see "Taming of the Shrew". I just ordered the Franco Zeffirelli version of that play, with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. I suspect it will be very funny as well. I've decided that any remake of "Kiss Me, Kate" would have to be altered extensively to reflect a more contemporary view of a woman's role in a marriage, which is too bad. I much prefer the humor generated from the 1590/1953 attitudes toward relationships.
Last night we watched "Sunset In The West", a Roy Rogers movie from 1950. Some good songs, with bad guys clearly delineated and roles for women defined as clearly as in "Taming of the Shrew". Oh, there was an excellent gunfight at the end, which wouldn't have worked in "Kiss Me, Kate". Our society plainly needs more heroes like Roy Rogers. He wasn't flawed in any way, but was humble about being perfect, and didn't rub it in your face like so many other heroes. He was also just plain likable.
Maybe the problem is that the audience isn't going to see Maria as delightfully hopeful and innocent, someone we don't want to see hurt, but a narcissistic fool who deserves a harsh dose of reality.
Well, that is sort of the problem. CRUSH her dreams. SMASH her face into the reality of her dismal future. Never allow her to hope or try to aspire to a better life. KNOW YOUR PLACE.
WE know what is best for you. Dreaming, feeling pretty (how non PC of her) and finding some joy in a deplorable lower class situation must NOT be allowed.
Trudge on and be a cog in the machine. They killed the dream you dreamed.
They've rewritten "Baby, It's Cold Outside" for a modern audience too. I'm not their audience for these rewrites. It's ok, I'm not offended by their changes so long as they're not bothered that I've continued to listen to the original, offensive version. I do get the sense that the people that are changing these old plays and songs are doing so without a complete understanding of the original work's meaning.
The "I Want to Be in America" segment in the movie is one of cinema's greatest productions. It benefits from adding the guys to the song and dance -- in the original version it was strictly done by women.
What about cutting "Somewhere"?
"... this very brutal world, a divided world where people search for unity by exclusion of the other—the person who is not like you."
Egad, didn't "Somewhere" epitomize the hope of finding a "new way of living" together? Sounds like a brutal, divided rendition of the play.
There’s a place for us
Somewhere a place for us
Peace and quiet and open air
Wait for us
Somewhere
There’s a time for us
Someday a time for us
Time together with time to spare
Time to look, time to care
Someday!
Somewhere
We’ll find a new way of living
We’ll find a way of forgiving
Somewhere
There’s a place for us
A time a place for us
Hold my hand and we’re halfway there
Hold my hand and I’ll take you there
Somehow
Someday
Somewhere!
The internet has done something amazing, made me tired of seeing pictures of pretty young women. Or maybe just a certain kind of cloying pretty.
"Is Natalie Wood in brownface, by the Althouse standard?”
Did she ever admit to have, the way Joy Bahar did? But yeah. Same as Bond in that movie where they made him up to look like a white guy pretending to be Japanese.
The way you guys carry water for those people is amazing to me. Why you just can’t say “Yeah, Don Jr won that one,” and move on.
“ You know, the word "gay" had a different meaning before it was co-opted by the homosexual community.”
Oh, really? I thought Maria felt some sexual twinges for Anita. We’ll, live and learn.
“ You know, the word "gay" had a different meaning before it was co-opted by the homosexual community.”
Oh, really? I thought Maria felt some sexual twinges for Anita. We’ll, live and learn.
@wince
They didn’t cut the song, only the ballet.
, really? I thought Maria felt some sexual twinges for Anita. We’ll, live and learn.
Stick to your own kind.
The Simpsons even did their version of "I Feel Pretty" as done by Homer.
"I like to be in America" is brilliant.
It captures a great truth, or several of them, in one piece.
It even has a paraphrase of Trumps "shithole" statement.
It is however no longer acceptable to your elite controllers of the propaganda system.
If I recall correctly it has been removed or censored in school productions several times, once at least in San Francisco. It does not suit the ideology being forced on these poor children.
The song needs to be rewritten to another message, that of "I want to take your stuff because you suck", more or less.
gilbar, I can't take credit for the "almost Shakespearean) comment. That was, I think, from the very first comment on the thread! But your your "Shakespeare always used too many cliches" comment also made me laugh out loud
I watch old movies on TCM.
Some such movies have not only a long intermission, but also a long overture.
Is Maria is narcissistic fool, or is she modest and pure, polite and refined, well-bred and mature, but out of her mind?
So I popped in the CD. I notice that the upbeat and hopeful I Feel Pretty is juxtaposed against the Rumble, where her love kills her brother.
Seems a bad choice to cut it.
But that's the thing -- today's people not only do not understand the reasons for things from the past, they think they know better than those who went before.
“ You know, the word "gay" had a different meaning before it was co-opted by the homosexual community.”
Oh, really? I thought Maria felt some sexual twinges for Anita. We’ll, live and learn.
So what was the point of this comment? Aside from the declaration that she feels "gay," this song and dance strikes me as very of the moment.
And the ballet is meant to convey the sense of "there's a place for us" as being a dream.
Again, bad choice to cut it.
He only just discovered the divided world? How does one listen to West Side Story without realizing that it's about a gang war? What a shockingly ignorant admission.
If they cut Officer Krupke or When You're a Jet, it won't be worth watching.
Diversity breeds adversity.
(I feel pretty an witty and gay)
Tis the season to be jolly Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la Don we now our gay apparel Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la.
Maria, I just met a cis-gendered, biologically female named Maria.
Getting rid of intermission is not a good thing. There is a certain percentage of people with bladders the size of a peanut. Without a defined time to get up and take care of the issue each one of us will choose our own time. This necessitates the, “Excuse me. Pardon me. I’m sorry.” dance.
Not a big deal during a movie (where I always sit on the aisle) but possibly disruptive during a live performance.
““ You know, the word "gay" had a different meaning before it was co-opted by the homosexual community.”
Oh, really? I thought Maria felt some sexual twinges for Anita. We’ll, live and learn.”
Ooooh, the sarcastic Althouse.
"gilbar said...
Shakespeare always uses Way too many cliches"
We got a live one here.
It is interesting to me that West Side Story is built on the interval known as the "Devil's Tritone."
I liked some of West Side story but a lot put my teeth on edge. If you're going to cut songs, get rid of:
- Gee officer krupke
- America
"America" is its song by "immigrants" except Puerto Ricans are NOT Immigrants. They have American Citizenship and been part of the USA since 1898. That aside, its still annoying as fuck. The fake "Hispanic" rhythm. And those awful lyrics:
B:Skyscrapers bloom in America
G: Cadillacs zoom in America
G: Industrial boom in America
B: Twelve in a room in America
It makes me want to rip my ears off.
rocean, you left off the most salient line in that song:
Everything's free in America!
reader said...
Getting rid of intermission is not a good thing. There is a certain percentage of people with bladders the size of a peanut.
_____&&&&
NYC allows peeing in public. Take advantage.
"Officer Krupke" captures, in a few lines, most of the fundamental questions and arguments of modern sociology and psychology. These have fed your cultural conflicts and therefore your politics. And of course these are no further along towards official scientific resolution now than they were then. Perhaps because of their place in the conflict.
But this sort of plain setting forth of the fundamental questions is no longer done, no longer tolerated. The 1950s was a much more honest and less fearful time in your country.
I think buwaya's 70 percent Spanish is a bit high for Puerto Rico. It would be way, way, high for South and Central America in general. In Argentina for example 60%of the population is Italian descent. Another 10-20%German. Peru has lots of Japanese blood. (even had a Japanese prime Minister for 8 years or so)
Not a lot of Spanish blood in Argentina.
Lots and lots of Irish went to South America 1600-1800.some in very high positions like viceroy and field marshals.
I suspect that given a photo of a photo of 100 random Madisonian's and 100 random Puerto Ricans, nobody here could score more than 10% trying to identify which is which.
I know I couldn't and I I've lived here almost 50 years.
Point is, to say Natalie wood doesn't look Puerto Rican is incredibly racist based on stereotyped ideas of what a Puerto Rican is supposed to look like.
Not saying that the person who could not believe her as a pr is bad or evil. Just ignorant.
John Henry
Put Natalie wood and Rita moreno's pictures side by side and ask people to guess which is pr and which is not.
John Henry
I thought it was Dear Officer Krupke that gave Sondheim post-stardom regrets:
My sister has a mustache/ My brother wears a dress/ Golly Moses/ that’s why I’m a mess.
Amen an amen rc ocean.
Most Puerto Ricans that know about wss detest it for its racist stereotyping.
That number is exhibit A.
John Henry
Rcocean misses the significance of the Officer Krupke lyrics: A bunch of hoodlums using their socio/economic 'oppression' to excuse their behavior. Just as they always have and always will. "I'm depraved on accounta I'm deprived".
Buwaya plays the Debbie Downer sad trombone ... Bwah-Bwaaaaaaaah!
But he feels better for it. Thanks, Buwaya!
Natalie Wood was actually Russian. Her ancestors seem mainly to have been from Siberia/ the Russian Far East. Her eyes and general aspect point, I think, to a good bit of Central Asian in her. You see that more clearly in Yul Brynner, who was also from there.
The Russian Empire was multi-racial from its beginnings, much of its traditional aristocracy being of part-Tatar descent. The Russian Eastern expansion into their wild east created more mixtures.
These people became refugees, "White Russians", some of which passed through China and remained for a while in Shanghai, and quite a few of which fetched up in the Philippines.
Howard said...
I'm glad they cut the song. I'm still in love with Natalie Wood and I can't stand those two fuckers on the boat that let her drown
11/10/19, 8:28 AM
Funny, my dad said Natalie Wood was the sexiest woman you'd ever seen...until she opened her mouth. In this clip at least I don't see it. Someone asked if she was in blackface. Looks to me like she got slathered with a coat of butterface.
gilbar
Meanwhile what is "problematic" with these lyrics?
But when I read the comments on "gay", I became aware of this very brutal world, a divided world where only one side has a sense of humor and the other side thinks those with an artistic bent are lying when they say they aren't on any one political "side."
She feels pretty, she looks pretty, and witty, and gay.
#NoEnvy
No children were harmed to indulge her gay abandon.
I wonder if Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko would have been able to play a Russian convincingly?
Someone would probably object that she didn't look Russian.
John Henry
The Russian Empire was multi-racial from its beginnings, much of its traditional aristocracy being of part-Tatar descent. The Russian Eastern expansion into their wild east created more mixtures.
Pushkin had some black heritage.
In the movie version, Maria was voiced by Marni Nixon.
I saw Carol Lawrence play Maria on Broadway in 1958. As a cool 14 year old I didn't know what to make of West Side Story.
it's intriguing as Julie Christie, from dr. Zhivago, I guess portrayed a Russian well, then there's olga kurylenko, who has played south americans and Russians, elena satine, from Georgia, who has played everything from norse goddesses to southern belles,
Netflix is currently offering Gigi ... wondering how the woke set would try to reboot that one.
Wood was made a morena for the film, but Moreno was also darkened. ALL the Sharks, most, if not all, played by non-latinxs, were darkened, even the Greek. You may also have noticed that many of the Jets were bleached blond. This color coding wasn't strictly racial. It was also done for their clothing, and for the same reason; so we could tell the players apart immediately and unmistakably.
"America" is a great song, and it's not disrespectful to anyone.
First, PR is not part THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA -- It's a TERRITORY of the USA, but not a STATE, nor is it part of the MAINLAND of AMERICA.
Second, PR was and is a shithole. It may not be as shitty as most of Africa, much of the Caribbean and latin America, or Russia, but it's shitty enough for boatloads of 'Ricans to migrate here, back when WSS was written, before then, and now.
The lyrics demonstrate the split in opinion over PR, and "America", between PR people, and the ambivalence within individual 'Ricans. I'm sure they love it, and their people, but they're also enticed by AMERICA and it's modern comfort and general lesser shittiness, then and now. And there's no 'fake "Hispanic" rhythm' to the song. Bernstein, the "egrigio maestro" (and he was a musical genius, no irony) wrote it in “Tempo di Huapango”, which is not PR, but is definitely "hispanic".
“I Feel Pretty” has a “Deck the Halls” problem.
Netflix is currently offering Gigi ... wondering how the woke set would try to reboot that one.
Thank Heaven for Little Girls might raise a few eyebrows.
The theater intermission has a biological element to it. Once we did a 3 hours+ version of Antigone with no intermission. After about two hours people began to leave the house because nature called.
BTW, I Feel Pretty is written in the classic Broadway song form : AABA, a form which does not have a chorus, but a bridge (B) that rises out of the song after the 1st two verses (A's). The title is usually the first line of song. This form is ideal for expressing a sudden realization, epiphany, and/or burst of emotion. Think Memory from Cats.
“I Feel Pretty” has a “Deck the Halls” problem.
The Gay Apparel thing is Don's problem.
Hey Harvey. I've missed you. Hope you are as cantankerous as ever
Char-char
Fuck you and your racist "latinx"
John Henry
But, ya gotta love a time when gang warfare involved breaking into song and dance (or at least taking the fight to someplace where collateral damage is unlikely). And if a fight did turn deadly, it was a knife fight.
If it were brought up to date the rumble would be a drive-by, and Maria would be felled by a stray bullet.
Everything's free in America!
For a small fee in America.
"Rcocean misses the significance of the Officer Krupke lyrics: A bunch of hoodlums using their socio/economic 'oppression' to excuse their behavior."
Exactly what I DON'T watch a musical for. Excuse, me while i go put "Singing in the Rain" on.
"I feel pretty" sounds like Sondheim stole it from a Rogers and Hammerstein show.
We went to see La Boheme in Kansas City last night. It was wonderful but it only had two fifteen minute intermissions. In May we were in Italy and saw Idomoneo at Teatro alla Scalla. One thirty minute intermission baby! Those Italians know how to do it up right. We had Prosecco and some really nice snacks and it was wonderful. Intermissions are totally under rated.
One consideration in the NY theater is that after a certain time you have to pay the stagehands overtime. they have a very strong union.
The problem with intermissions at the Seattle Opera was the lines that formed at the ladies' restrooms. Good luck getting in and out before the next act.
Exactly what I DON'T watch a musical for. Excuse, me while i go put "Singing in the Rain" on.
Sondheim's lyrics were very clever and, while I don't like Singing in the Rain, I do enjoy Oklahoma!, South Pacific and The Music Man, all of which have clever lyrics by other lyricists. You probably think Shakespearean plays are all about the plot.
I tried to watch West Side Story again a few months ago. Ten minutes was my limit.
"cutting the “Somewhere” ballet and—gasp—“I Feel Pretty.”"
If they had a tranny sing it, I'm sure no one would complain. It's only the cisheteros that can't possibly be allowed to feel pretty.
"Not saying that the person who could not believe her as a pr is bad or evil. Just ignorant."
You've got that right, John Henry - I was six years old! I do plead the ignorance of extreme youth. But I still think she looks as if she's wearing a heavy coat of poorly matched base, and I assume that the makeup people did that in an attempt to make her look like what they thought audiences would identify as Latina, at least. But one of my two best friends at age six was Mexican (and yes, I do think Indian heritage of some kind in her family mix, based on her features - but it's not as if it ever came up), and I was unconvinced by Natalie Wood on that account.
West Side Story has lots of songs that are too good to cut, but three songs are essential:
I Feel Pretty is Maria's anthem. It puts her at center stage, establishes her point of view, and makes the audience root for her.
I Just Met a Girl Named Maria is Tony's anthem. Same deal.
There's a Place For Us is the play's point of view on the relationship.
Girl loves Boy. Boy loves Girl. Boy and Girl can't be together, but they should be.
The other songs are fun, but those three are the backbone.
I mean, seriously: you're staging a version of Romeo and Juliet and cutting the part where Juliet says she's in love with Romeo.
They're cutting out Somewhere, too?
Why not make it really edgy, and cut the character of Maria entirely? Tony can fall in love with someone we never see, who never expresses her love for him in return. An Incel Opera!
Isn't unity always achieved by the exclusion of some "other"? Even the people who are most open to influences coming from a wide range of faraway places feel united against those who aren't open to such influences. To judge by reading the New Yorker and the New York Review of Books they feel as insecure, as hostile to those outside their own circle, and as threatened by "the Other" as those they criticize. They just have a different excluded "Other."
Were the post-structuralists or post-modernists who got people talking about "The Other" really so naive as to think that there wouldn't always be "Others," inside and outside, borders, group conflicts? Or is there some more serious consideration of such issues buried so deep in their writings that nobody has been able to reach in reading their works?
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