West Side Story

B

I will confess that I groaned when I heard that hotshot European director Ivo van Hove was going to direct this much-beloved musical. Having disliked his videocentric versions of The Damned and Network, I shuddered to think what he would do when he got his hands on this Laurents-Bernstein-Sondheim classic. When I further learned that he would not be using the iconic Robbins choreography so critical to the show’s success, I grew even more fearful. Judging from today’s preview at the Broadway Theatre, most of my fears turned out to be unwarranted. True, this production depends even more on video than the two shows I mentioned, but the video projections are generally better integrated into the production. While Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker’s choreography is no match for Robbins’s work, it has lots of energy and suits the production well. The omissions (e.g. “I Feel Pretty”) and reinterpretations may offend those who are devoted to the original versions, but they serve the director’s darker and grittier vision of the show. The young, diverse cast are excellent dancers, good actors and at least adequate singers. The two female leads, Shereen Pimentel as Maria and Yesenia Ayala as Anita had strong voices. Two of the male leads, Isaac Powell as Tony and Dharon E. Jones as Riff were out for the performance I attended, but their understudies, Jordan Dobson and Ahmad Simmons respectively, were fine. Amar Ramasar was strong as Bernardo. The costumes by An D’Huys were eclectic and not much help in distinguishing the Jets from the Sharks. The excellent lighting by Jan Versweyveld, who also designed the set, was important in that regard. The tattoos by Andrew Sotomayor are excessive and mostly unattractive. The set consists mainly of a video screen that covered the entire back wall that opened partially to reveal the drugstore and the bridal shop. The video design by Luke Halls is at the heart of the production. At times, it is used to amplify what the actors are doing. It was initially difficult for me to know where to look but I soon adjusted. At other times, the projection shows street scenes that, for some reason, move slowly forward. Elsewhere, it illustrates the current song, e.g. Puerto Rican hurricanes for “America” and abuse by police for “Gee, Officer Krupke.” Occasionally, it provides commentary on the present, such as a view of the border wall with Mexico. Most usefully, it shows the action in the drugstore and bridal shop which are basically too small and too far away to see properly. There are a couple of pandering gestures to the audience: the gang members gratuitously strip to the waist for the rumble and one of the gangs includes a same-sex couple. The show has been streamlined to 105 minutes, which allows less time for character development. I suspect that the less devoted you are to earlier productions, the more likely you are to enjoy this one. I think a younger audience will find it very appealing. Running time: one hour 45 minutes; no intermission.

Maestro ** C-

Perhaps I am becoming jaded or maybe I just have been making bad choices lately. In any case, for the third time this week, I found myself surrounded by an audience having a far better time than I was. Onstage at 59E59 Theatre A was Hershey Felder performing as Leonard Bernstein. Apparently Felder has made a career out of using his pianistic and acting skills to create one-man theater pieces about such composers as Beethoven, Grieg and Gershwin. Bernstein does not fit neatly into this  group as he was more renowned as conductor than composer, a never-ending sore spot for him. Felder’s approach to his life is mainly chronological and gamely attempts to cover many aspects: conductor, educator, social activist, bisexual and flawed husband. The early scenes with his father, speaking with a heavy Yiddish accent, were embarrassingly stereotypical. Were it not for the lavish production featuring an impressive set by François-Pierre Couture and projections by Christopher Ash, I might have thought I was attending an enrichment program at a home for elderly Jews. The musical clips were frustratingly brief with more music by other composers and less by Bernstein than I would have expected. I was certainly surprised that the longest and most prominent excerpt was from Wagner’s Liebestod. There was a brief moment near the end, in which Bernstein lashes out at the world, that gave me a sense of how much more powerful the piece could have been. Joel Zwick (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) directed. Running time: one hour 45 minutes; no intermission.