Hello world,
One of the reasons I've been so busy is that I saw West Side Story, the National Broadway tour, here in the Twin Cities. In creating the blog arc/theme of defining moments, I realized that this musical has always been one of my favorites. I love Sondheim and his music/lyrics, and I love the story (although my brother says, like Romeo and Juliet, the characters are crazy and stupid--love makes us stupid, so there!!), and I love the themes. I could but I won't critique the actors' performances because that's not what I want to talk about. Briefly, overall, the acting was good, the chemistry was great, the dancing was spectacular, and the story was still the same: entrancing and important.
If you haven't seen the stage version of West Side Story, you should know that it's a bit different from the movie version. Yes, the story is still the same and they kept all of the songs in the movie; but the songs are in a different order, and the edited some of the lyrics. The stage version I saw contained more dialogue and singing in Spanish, and "Somewhere" is not sung initially by Tony and Maria, but rather by Anybodys (the tomboy-ish girl). I thought I would cry, since it's such a sad story, but instead I found myself being fascinated by performance choices. Now, I will commence.
First I will address the dialogue, namely the Spanish-speaking. It was really interesting because I would speculate that most if not all people in the audience had seen the movie. So, they came to see that on stage (perhaps). Instead, they get the "more accurate" stage version (I say "more accurate" because the current stage version allowed Arthur Laurent to stage it completely as he wished without influence or changes from other collaborators or directors), which incorporates more Spanish-speaking. There were some funny lines exchanged in Spanish, but no one was laughing because no one understood. I thought it was brilliant to have many of the interactions between the Puerto Ricans be in Spanish; it was more dramatically authentic to the characters to speak in their native tongue. However, then there became an unspoken conflict between the audience and the performance. I found that, in not knowing Spanish, the audience becomes complicit--or implicated, perhaps--with the American Jets, unwilling to bridge the language and cultural divide. So the question is then, would the audience, later, make an attempt to understand the Spanish that they didn't understand, or will they assume that what was spoken in Spanish was unimportant to the development and understanding of the story? Now, I understand that everyone makes a choice (sometimes there is no choice) about what language they choose to learn in grade school, high school, college, etc. I happened to take Spanish all the way from Kindergarten through my first year at Mac; that gave me the benefit and privilege to understand the dialogue. Other people who might've chosen to take French, Latin, German, or Mandarin--or maybe others didn't have to take a foreign language class--don't have the benefit that I had during those moments in the Orpheum performance. Nevertheless, they have the opportunity after the performance to go home and figure out what was said. Or even if they don't determine what the dialogue was in the show, I think the broader question is, "Are people willing to learn from a different culture, are they willing to ask questions to understand something they don't understand?" To paraphrase Amy Poehler from her Harvard 2011 graduation address (re: previous post from today), we have a lot to learn from other people.
Another fascinating aspect of West Side Story: Anybodys. I never realized it before, but she is probably one of the most fascinating characters (in a performative sense) in the musical (Sorry, Tony, Maria, and Anita--don't worry, you'll still be my favorite characters!). While Tony and Maria defy racial/cultural expectations, Anybodys defies gender expectations. It's mid-1950s, and Anybodys dresses like a guy and wants to be in a gang. The tries so hard "to become" one of the guys, and in the end, Action finally congratulates and accepts her as one of the gang, when she provides useful information. All this stuff appears in the movie and is not new. However, what was different for me was that it is Anybodys who sings "Somewhere." The song appears as a kind of dream sequence: the dance is incredibly balletic, the stage was completely white and empty, and all the characters were wearing white or off-white clothes. Anybodys sings the song, and to me, because Anybodys is singing it, the song increases in meaning. There will be a place somewhere, someday not only for "atypical" love (Tony and Maria) but also for "ways of living" (Anybodys). Someday, somewhere, there can be all kinds of "queer" existences: "queer" gender identities and/or transvestism (we don't really know enough about Anybodys to label (tough word) her as a particular sexuality, which is why I leave open the possibility that she's heterosexual and dressing in contemporary men's clothes.
In any event, I've always considered "Somewhere" as a kind of celebration of--or rather, wish for acceptance of--difference, all kinds. While the movie limited the song as an intimate moment between the two lovers, the staged musical allowed the song to include everyone regardless of identity and difference, tabula rasa style. And similar to what I mentioned above, if we don't understand the difference, are we willing to ask questions respectfully to break down barriers and bridge divides? When will we stop asking people to be our Riffs, Bernardos, and Tonys who have to die before the violence ends?
Now, on a happy note:
"I feel pretty, oh so pretty. I feel pretty and witty and bright. And I pity any girl who isn't me tonight."
-"I Feel Pretty," West Side Story
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