| re: question re: WSS - have the authors ever addressed why there's SO much more Jets than Sharks in the score/play? | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 07:35 pm EST 12/24/21 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 07:20 pm EST 12/24/21 | |
| In reply to: re: question re: WSS - have the authors ever addressed why there's SO much more Jets than Sharks in the score/play? - theatreguy40 06:45 pm EST 12/24/21 | |
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| I'd be into going with you on your explanation of Tony and Maria's reasons for singing, but in that I'd think it's an even stronger argument for why Maria should have a song where Tony sings "Maria", or that they should have separate songs and come together to sing an actual duet in "Tonight". I know "Maria" pays off for Tony what he thinks he meant in "Something's Coming", but if the shift is what makes either of them sing, then why wouldn't SHE be the one singing there instead of or along with Tony? This is as much or more a major change for Maria and her life than it is for Tony. Or why isn't "Tonight" first a solo for her before Tony arrives and it turns into a duet? She could very easily be on the balcony or in her room singing "Tonight, tonight... I met my love tonight. I saw him and the world went away." I'm sure that might spoil the magic of hearing the chorus of "Tonight" come out of the intro they sing for it together. But still, another writing team, or even Bernstein/Sondheim/Laurents writing the show in the 90s very possibly would have thought this was necessary. And you have a valid take on the Sharks singing less making them the underdog, but I think the show works to make sure the Jets are a group of underdogs too. I think the revised "America" helps balance out what we get from the Jets in "Krupke", and clearly they think Anita is a better spokesperson for the Sharks than Bernardo. But I think a lot of poc audiences would think they have been underwritten in an attempt (or a passive ignorance of the need for a dramatic balance between the gangs) to make the Sharks more of a default villain group. Which I never felt they came off as, but I'm watching it through the eyes of a white kid/adult. I think the new movie thinks they've helped balance that out by not involving the Sharks in the Prologue and only having them appear at the end to defend the Puerto Rican flag mural that the Jets throw paint on... the new movie doubles down on the Sharks only acting out of reaction, rather than as two rival gangs going at each other. But I still think taking away the power of introducing them equally in the story-telling danced-prologue, and taking away the introduction of dance as the musical language of both groups just hurts the presence and weight of the Sharks (not to mention how odd it is to me that the new movie establishes that when Puerto Ricans do songs, it is actually happening in observable reality and when the Jets do songs it is the construct of a musical... which seems to twist how this musical works in a fetishization of Puerto Rican culture being one where people break into song and dance in reality -- I think these are two reasons why "opening" up America as they did in the new movie was a mistake... A) it changes the power and emphasis of it being a private dialogue/conflict between two viewpoints as immigrants, expressed by Anita and the girls vs Bernardo and the Sharks, which also had the effect of strengthening our understanding of that relationship, and B) it brings in the idea that the song and dance is being done actually, by showing other community members watching and cheering and joining... a very odd choice for a musical where all the singing and dancing was used traditionally, rather than diegetic, separating the musical langue of the Puerto Rican characters in a way that is more confusing than helpful., at least from where I sit. I don't want to downplay that it did bring in the community and make it an expression of the wider Puerto Rican immigrant community and gave that a voice, but I think in gaining that you lose something else that achieved more for the actual musical and actual story being told). |
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