| 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 08:39 pm EST 12/24/21 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 08:23 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? - TheOtherOne 08:00 pm EST 12/24/21 | |
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| It's funny he tried to make Krupke more an expression of anger, given that he has said (at least in the 1985 symposium another poster posted, which partly inspired me to write this thread) that he was the 1 of the 4 creators who thought and argued that "Krupke" had to go there because it would work dramatically for the audience even if it wasn't logical for the characters reality. And everyone relented and then he was right, it worked to let out steam from such an intense section of the play (like in Shakespeare). And Sondheim also said in this symposium that he thought switching it for the 1961 film didn't work as well as it does in the stage musical. Unless I'm misremembering which is entirely possible, the video is too long to go back looking for confirmation. I think Laurents was desperate for his show to have more relevance in a modern time... ironically, perhaps he should have not directed it himself as a 90 year old white director who'd written it and had his own notions of it for 50 years, and let someone else bring a new vision to it (like god forbid a hispanic director). (And I'm not saying this show needs to be directed by a non-white person, obviously it's at least 50% if not 65% "about" white characters -- though perhaps that's exactly why it would benefit from a non-white director, but anyway, the point is that Laurents was not the fresh take for it that was needed) and Ironic that he had the new Spanish lyrics phased out (which I agree ultimately are not the solution, unless there are subtitles, which is a whole other complicated thing). He also, ironically, made a rightfully big deal about a global casting search for a hispanic actress to play Maria ... and ended up casting a very very talented but extremely light-skinned Argentinian actress. Given the enormous backlash/criticism about In the Heights movie putting dark-skinned latinx people of that neighborhood in the background and erasing that reality/representation... I assume this Maria casting would have gotten a much bigger critical backlash today, and with twitter, than it did in 2009. I'm sorry but in the marketing photos you wouldn't even know she was meant to be a different race than Tony, let alone how that was the primary conflict of the story, if you didn't know what the show was about already. Not to take away from her authentic latinxness, but it seems a bit shortsighted given the intention. I'm probably not supposed to or allowed to say that but, look at the marketing photos. And my point was that it seems part of the lacking in perspective-ness that allowed Laurents to direct the revival himself. |
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| Next: | re: question re: WSS - have the authors ever addressed why there's SO much more Jets than Sharks in the score/play? - Singapore/Fling 08:29 pm EST 12/24/21 |
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