As a long-time WSS fan, I had to follow this link when I saw it in raincitygirl's LJ. Alas, I only have the video, so thanks for posting all these great tidbits from the DVD!
Seems that Bernstein at first wrote "Once Hand, One Heart" for this scene. Then Sondheim said the music was too pristine. Bernstein asked, doubtfully: "Well, aren't they?" Quoth Sondheim: "No, Lenny, they're kids. They're passionate, they need to be sexual here." Which resulted in Bernstein taking the Tony and Maria section from the Quintet he had already written and developing Tonight, probably his most famous love duet, from there.
How interesting! I've never been particularly fond of "One Hand, One Heart"--whereas the Tony-and-Maria bit from the Quintet version of "Tonight" is such a lovely reworking of Juliet's intensely erotic "Gallop apace" speech: I'm so glad they chose to go with that instead.
You can see Wise's contribution as a director in scenes like the opening prologue, with it's birds-eye view of New York's various sections ("I didn't want to do just another version of the Manhattan skyline," he says in the documentary), and then the dive into the playground, the cut to Riff and the Jets snapping their fingers. Which is where Robbins comes in. I'm no expert, but I can't think of a musical predating this one where the way of dancing, the body language, is so much a part of the characters. The finger snapping, the way the boys walk which seamlessly moves between dance and aggressive strut, tells you all about them, together with that fabulous, fabulous music.
Mmm, yes. Just brilliant.
Speaking of the surviving interviewed actors, Richard Beymer (Tony) frankly confesses he thought his part was the most boring of the entire play/film, because until Riff dies, all it demands is a pretty much one-note "oh bliss, I'm in love" attitude.
You know, I find it disappointing that Tony is so often cast/directed/acted this way, because this is another of the significant departures the creative team took from R&J. Tony isn't of gentle birth, and he doesn't enter the play already lovesick. He's a restless young tough who started the Jets with Riff; he's smart enough to know he has to try to get away from that life, but the old instincts are still there. I'd love to see him cast as a broken-nosed young hood, as astonished as anyone else that he's fallen so completely for this Puerto Rican girl and she for him.
Sondheim says he was so happy about the switch between "Officer Kruppke" and "Cool" and that he had pushed for it early on.
Absolutely. The order of the numbers in the film makes so much more sense--and it bodes well for the future of the Jets, since they then pass from Riff's impulsive high-spiritedness into Ice's more thoughtful and cautious control. (Mmm...Ice. *g*)
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branchandroot
West Side Story
Date: 2004-02-17 12:52 pm (UTC)Seems that Bernstein at first wrote "Once Hand, One Heart" for this scene. Then Sondheim said the music was too pristine. Bernstein asked, doubtfully: "Well, aren't they?" Quoth Sondheim: "No, Lenny, they're kids. They're passionate, they need to be sexual here." Which resulted in Bernstein taking the Tony and Maria section from the Quintet he had already written and developing Tonight, probably his most famous love duet, from there.
How interesting! I've never been particularly fond of "One Hand, One Heart"--whereas the Tony-and-Maria bit from the Quintet version of "Tonight" is such a lovely reworking of Juliet's intensely erotic "Gallop apace" speech: I'm so glad they chose to go with that instead.
You can see Wise's contribution as a director in scenes like the opening prologue, with it's birds-eye view of New York's various sections ("I didn't want to do just another version of the Manhattan skyline," he says in the documentary), and then the dive into the playground, the cut to Riff and the Jets snapping their fingers. Which is where Robbins comes in. I'm no expert, but I can't think of a musical predating this one where the way of dancing, the body language, is so much a part of the characters. The finger snapping, the way the boys walk which seamlessly moves between dance and aggressive strut, tells you all about them, together with that fabulous, fabulous music.
Mmm, yes. Just brilliant.
Speaking of the surviving interviewed actors, Richard Beymer (Tony) frankly confesses he thought his part was the most boring of the entire play/film, because until Riff dies, all it demands is a pretty much one-note "oh bliss, I'm in love" attitude.
You know, I find it disappointing that Tony is so often cast/directed/acted this way, because this is another of the significant departures the creative team took from R&J. Tony isn't of gentle birth, and he doesn't enter the play already lovesick. He's a restless young tough who started the Jets with Riff; he's smart enough to know he has to try to get away from that life, but the old instincts are still there. I'd love to see him cast as a broken-nosed young hood, as astonished as anyone else that he's fallen so completely for this Puerto Rican girl and she for him.
Sondheim says he was so happy about the switch between "Officer Kruppke" and "Cool" and that he had pushed for it early on.
Absolutely. The order of the numbers in the film makes so much more sense--and it bodes well for the future of the Jets, since they then pass from Riff's impulsive high-spiritedness into Ice's more thoughtful and cautious control. (Mmm...Ice. *g*)
Thanks for posting!
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