Angel-of-Music*
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America..is there two different versions of the song america knocking about? because the one i got from limewire is more all the girls backing up america and all the boys putting it down, but when i searched lyrics it seems more of an argument between anita and rosalia and the lyrics are totally different.
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Mara
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In the stage show, it's the Shark girls talking about it - so that's the Anita/Rosalia version.
In the 1961 movie, they changed it so Bernardo and the boys take over Rosalia's part.
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Angel-of-Music*
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thanks =]
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Mara
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you are very welcome. anytime 
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Salome
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It works much better as an argument between Bernarda and Anita than it does as one between Anita as Rosalia.
Most revivals use the 'Nardo/Anita version.
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MaryMag
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| Salome wrote: | It works much better as an argument between Bernarda and Anita than it does as one between Anita as Rosalia.
Most revivals use the 'Nardo/Anita version. |
I agree entirely. We stuck the boys in America. They danced with Rosalia, but she still sang.
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Salome
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get them to change it to nardo..i mean nardo and anita's lyrics are much stronger.the whole rosalita thing is crap. it says nothing about anything except making an arbitary statement.
I hate the OBC lyrics to the song.
so did Sondheim.
plyuus having the boys in without nardo singing doesnt make sense.
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Don't Tell Mama
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I always prefered the Nardo/Anita version. Not only did it make more sense, it actually added a lot more humor to the song.
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Dvarg
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| Salome wrote: | | plyuus having the boys in without nardo singing doesnt make sense. |
That's what we did the one year I did anything theatre related. The choreographer had learned the original stage choreography directly from Robbins, and seemed not to be aware there even exists a double gender version. So she just created some random choreography for us boys. It sucked.
I much prefer the movie version of the lyrics. Plus I think it's the version one of the Assassins quote, so it ties Sondheim's themes so well together. Obviously that's nothing everybody in the audience necessarily will be aware of.
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Angel-of-Music*
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The one i've heard isn't really two speciafic characters, its just boys vs girls in general.
I think they may be doing this one in next years production because they said there was a lot of parts with very short singing solos.
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Salome
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where did you heare a boy/girl version without Nardo and Anita?
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Angel-of-Music*
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Limewire.
It starts off with a short solo by anita. but from then on the lines are just at random between the two groups.
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Salome
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i think thats the bernardo / anita version. once in a while a shark or shark girl take a line but its mostly nardo and anita.
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Angel-of-Music*
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it probably is to be honest, i don't really know enough about west side story to say.
it just sounds like every line is sang by someone different.
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RainbowJude
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America... | Salome wrote: | | It works much better as an argument between Bernardo and Anita than it does as one between Anita as Rosalia. Most revivals use the 'Nardo/Anita version. |
I don't particularly like the incorporation of the film version (at least in it's boys vs girls staging) into the stage show; I think it throws out the balance in the show a little. Going with the the original stage version, Tony and the Jet boys are developed as are Maria and the Shark girls. Using the film version of "America" ruptures that balance.
However, while the presentation of the number on stage as it is in the film does not work for me, I think that the lyrics of the film version are better in terms of the show's trajectory. The refocusing of the lyrics from being merely a disparaging criticism of Puerto Rico to a satire on the racial treatment of Puerto Ricans by Americans is a smart move, and if there were a way to use that focus for the song with girls-only staging, I think that would be ideal. I really think that the battle of the sexes distracts from the social commentary of the song, even when the commentary is slighter (as it is in the original version).
Later days
David
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