Archive for Musicals.Net Musicals.Net
 


       Musicals.Net Forums -> West Side Story
RainbowJude

WEST SIDE STORY Revival: Tickets

Playbill announced that tickets for the West Side Story revival are on sale.

Who's going? Perhaps this is a place for posters to organise a simultaneous trip to go and see the show. It might be fun for a group of you that are in New York to meet up and go together.

Later days
David
jarrod001

Ima try ang go see the previews in DC cause I live close.
kozafluitmusique

Have tickets for preview in D.C. already :p
Salome

are they still sticking to that stupid bi-lingual approach?
SomeoneLikeYou

As far as I know, yes. It is rather silly I agree. If it were not for the bilingual approach, I could have actually auditioned. Rolling Eyes
IndigoMedusa

Quote:
It is rather silly I agree.


Why is it silly?
SomeoneLikeYou

It just seems unnecessary to the show. Plus, how is the audience going to know what is being said during the bilingual parts?
RainbowJude

SomeoneLikeYou wrote:
It just seems unnecessary to the show. Plus, how is the audience going to know what is being said during the bilingual parts?


Do you understand the reasons why it's being done? There will be surtitles that provide translations of the Spanish.

It's certainly an interesting approach to the material and the fact that both the librettist (Arthur Laurents) and lyricist (Stephen Sondheim) are around to be involved with the translations, which are being done by Lin-Manuel Miranda, is encouraging. Indeed, the fact that Laurents himself feels such an approach could illuminate the themes of the work is very telling. These are both good enough reasons not to dismiss the concept superficially and I'm keen to see how the production turns out.

Later days
David
IndigoMedusa

Also, the actors are supposed to be able to communicate the emotions of the characters, even without subtitles. Isn't an actor's job to be able to communicate even without words?


Quote:
“They will speak Spanish where they would naturally,” Mr. Laurents said in a telephone interview from his home in Quogue, N.Y., adding that supertitles would be used to aid the audience. “The scenes with the Spanish are wildly exciting because they are much less inhibited. I don’t think many eyes are going to stray to the translation.”


“I thought it would be terrific if we could equalize the two gangs somehow,” Mr. Laurents said.




It's not pointless. It adds an air of authenticity to the piece and equalizes the gangs a little more---it makes the Sharks seem more like actual people than just foreigners. You can see what it would be realistically like for the Sharks. I think it's an interesting idea.
Salome

I for one wouldnt want to see it. you miss half of the expressions and the staging because you are watching a translation screen.
JIJane

"Isn't an actor's job to be able to communicate even without words?"

Not necessarily. It's not mime. Sure, some parts don't require speaking as such to communicate what is necessary but in a musical the voice (singing and speaking) is definitely a very important instrument. In a different type of performance milieu your question above might be more applicable. Even Stop the world, which is full of mime...still requires speech and song as an important aspect of the show. This is why so many musicals are totally translated abroad - and not sung in the original English. Because it is important that the audience understands what is going on. Not that I am a fan of total translations but...I can see why they exist.

It might be an interesting and new approach but - not really for me either, wouldn't go and see it. Although it is commendable that they are trying it out.
kozafluitmusique

I'll let you all know how it is when I see it, though, if the subtitles are distracting, etc.
WSSfan

I've got mixed feelings about it:

West Side Story, imo, has been a dynamic success, both on screen and on stage. I admittedly never saw any of the original Broadway stage productions, but I've seen at least a half dozen good ones since, which is OK by me.

Regarding the upcoming Broadway revival of West Side Story, I'll have to see what kind of reviews it gets, first of all, and, secondly, with the present prices for a decent seat being what they are (anywhere from 200.00-400.00 a pop), I'm not sure I want to spend that sort of money for a seat in the theatre, so I'll wait for the prices to hopefully drop down to more reasonable rates.
       Musicals.Net Forums -> West Side Story
Page 1 of 1