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| re: Question re: the 1958 London production of WEST SIDE STORY | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 01:29 am EDT 06/26/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Question re: the 1958 London production of WEST SIDE STORY - AlanScott 08:06 pm EDT 06/25/19 | |
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| 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. And of course there are a number of things on that recording that don't exist in the show. The ending of the cha-cha, likewise the ending of "I Have A Love." And of course the final choral "reprise" of "Somewhere." There are also minor changes in orchestration (the omission of the brass lick after "but it is / gonna be great" for instance). I remember doing a production of the show where they still sent a manuscript copy of the conductor's score. It indeed shows the Overture to be a literal cut-and-paste job, using the corresponding pages from the numbers as played in the show. The mambo section even includes some of the choreography notes, like "Chita slides." So indeed, it was clearly cobbled together very fast. |
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| re: Question re: the 1958 London production of WEST SIDE STORY | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 02:03 am EDT 06/26/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Question re: the 1958 London production of WEST SIDE STORY - Chromolume 01:29 am EDT 06/26/19 | |
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| And some of those changes were decided upon by Sondheim, who was in charge with Lieberson (who also had a hand, of course, in some of the changes), as Bernstein left for Israel two days after the Broadway opening (and one day before the recording session) to conduct at the opening of the new concert hall for the Israel Philharmonic. Among other things (you may already know about these specific changes made during the session) were the cuts and adjustments that had to be made to "Tonight" because whoever was in charge of estimating the timings of each number had made a very wrong estimate of how long it was (2:40 as opposed to 5:10), and also Lieberson's insistence that the final chorus of "Krupke" be performed "very slow with a heavy vaudeville beat," which Sondheim liked and he thought that Bernstein would also like, although he also thought that "Jerry must have had conniptions." A rare case of something being slower rather than faster on a Lieberson cast recording. In case anyone is wondering, we know about these things from a letter Sondheim wrote to Bernstein a few weeks after the session (while Bernstein was still away). | |
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