West Side Story Comes to Washington, DC
West Side Story is the classic American love story musical, about forbidden love between the member of one rival New York street gangs and the sister of another. The two rival gangs, the Sharks and the Jets, each coming from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, fight for their turf during the 1950s, in the rough streets of Hells Kitchen.
With the familiar musical score by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim and songs such as "America," "Maria," and "I Feel Pretty", adds to the story on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
The production coming to the National Theater in Washington, DC starting December 15th should be a wonderful production of song and dance.
“America”, From the film West Side Story.
West Side Story
National Theatre
1321 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC (map it)
202-783-3372
Dates and Times – December 15, 2008 – January 17, 2009.
Tickets – $46.00- $96.00 and are available online or by phone at 800-432-7250.
Nearest Metro Subway Station – Metro Center – Blue, Orange or Red lines, or Federal Triangle – Blue and Orange lines, then a 3-block walk.
Parking – Paid garage and limited metered street parking is available. ___________________________________________________
4 Comments
This was one of the worst productions of this great story I have ever seen. The actor playing Tony had little to no stage presence, no chemistry with the actress playing Maria (she was good) and his singing voice was devoid of passion and sounded girlish. The dancing was great, and the actress playing Anita was wonderful. The producer changed the order of the songs around, so that Gee Officer Krupke was sung right after Riff was killed…..didn’t make ANY sense that a song like that would be sung after your leader is killed. The spanish songs with the translations posted was very distracting and took alot away from the performance. I don’t think this play is anywhere ready for Broadway, and I know the people around me agree that this was just awful.
DA: It soulnds like the production wasn’t all that great. Too bad, becasue it’s a great story.
DA, you are incorrect about the order of the songs. Riff is killed along with Bernardo at the end of Act 1. Act 2 begins with “I Feel Pretty” which it always has. “Gee Officer Krupke” happens after the ballet (dream sequence) and the singing of Somewhere.
This revival has been getting a lot of flack lately for all the changes, but I personally think that although the Spanish can sometimes be frustrating for those not fluent, it is easy to enjoy the song and the music without knowing what is being said. (especially if you know the lyrics already)
The actor who played Tony grew on me as the musical continued, but his strong vibrato was not what I would have wanted to sing those beautiful songs.
Anita and Maria were phenomenal, as were Action. I didn’t quite get Bernardo’s performance; he didn’t do much besides some good dancing.
The boy who sings Somewhere has had some controversy too, but the boy happened to have a nice voice and symbolized hope and longing and I found it quite moving. It did not bother me that it was sung by an “anonymous member.” That’s how it was in the original production anyways. The rape scene is intense and a little disturbing, yes, but it’s realistic.
It’s an enjoyable production!