| re: Question re: the 1958 London production of WEST SIDE STORY | |
| Last Edit: AlanScott 08:09 pm EDT 06/25/19 | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 08:06 pm EDT 06/25/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Question re: the 1958 London production of WEST SIDE STORY - Dawson 07:26 pm EDT 06/25/19 | |
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| It's been said many times that it was not played during the original Broadway run. Even some of the folks involved (either Kostal, Ramin or both) remembered it as having been put together for the return engagement, when it was unquestionably played. But at least one review by a music critic for a major paper three months into the original run is very specific about the overture being played. It's clear that the critic was not talking about the prologue music. We also know from a letter that Bernstein wrote to Felicia a few days before the first D.C. performance that he'd been up all night putting together a temporary overture. This seems to have become (although it's hard to be certain) the overture that was used. Bernstein doesn't seem to have been very happy with the overture, even though he conducted it on opening night of the return engagement, and it wasn't included in the published score (although I think it was included in the appendix of a later edition). The fact that it wasn't in the published score has also led to the belief that it wasn't played, although I think (not quite 100-percent positive at the moment) it was always offered, at least as an option, in the licensed materials. The history is a bit uncertain (which is why I wrote "there is reason to believe" rather than stating it as definitive fact), but there is other circumstantial evidence pointing to the overture having been played during the original run (and unquestionably during the return). Too many books and articles on theatre rely too much on people's unreliable memories rather than going back to original sources. Re London: The overture was very specifically mentioned in at least two news articles about the pre-London run in Manchester. It's possible that it was then cut for London, but I very much doubt it. Forgive me for being a bit vague on a few things but this is something I may write about someday, and I don't want to post all my sources. The funny thing about the cast recording question is that cast recordings can be very misleading about what was or wasn't played in performance, perhaps especially when it comes to overtures. There are a number of cast recordings that include overtures that were not heard in the theatre. Sometimes they were heard as entr'actes (or entr'actes revised a bit), sometimes they were put together for the cast recording (sometimes from overtures that were dropped out of town), or sometimes they may have been created only for the recording. And conversely there were shows that had overtures that for one reason or another were not on the cast recordings. Do I Hear a Waltz? is another example. And, of course, the original LP issue of 110 in the Shade, although the history of that overture is a bit confusing and complicated as well. |
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