Ten months ahead of Steven Spielberg's big-screen remake, this radical 21st century Broadway revival reimagines WestSideStoryUS for a new generation
It says something about the supreme power of flesh-and-blood people portraying raw human feeling on stage, without the filter of another medium, that the most emotionally devastating and visually stunning moment in the radical new Broadway revival ofcoup de théâtre
That same intense vitality informs De Keersmaeker's choreography, an exhilarating blend of modern ballet with brawling athleticism, graced with fluid collapsing rolls, slides, flips and tumbles, and inflected here and there with respectful echoes of Robbins. The moves of the Hispanic Sharks are accented with fiercely rhythmic Latino angularity, while the Jets, a gang now mixing black with white, are looser, with more swagger and occasional nods to hip-hop.
It can be arresting, as the Jets and Sharks line up downstage and face the audience during the abridged overture while an unseen camera pans across their scowling faces in towering close-up on the wall behind.
The blurring of the boundaries between theater and film yields a number of ingenious payoffs, particularly once you adjust to the technology's initially distancing effect. A transition from the bridal shop via an overhead wide shot to the "Dance at the Gym" sequence — one of many numbers in Leonard Bernstein's brilliant syncopated score that still brings jolts of excitement — is breathtaking.
The grittiness of van Hove's approach means the removal of Maria's light and airy "I Feel Pretty" makes sense . But the attempt to transform the shticky "Gee, Officer Krupke," via video elements, into an unflinching depiction of police brutality, racial profiling, the prison pipeline and Black Lives Matter unrest feels intrusive.
Pimentel is a major discovery as Maria, her crystalline operatic soprano used in gorgeous contrast to the more naturalistic singing styles of the other principals to suggest the purity of her love for Tony. Her "I Have a Love" is almost religious in its ecstatic declaration. She's also physically robust, with a feistiness that makes her no less tough than the brassy Anita.
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