Desk Clearing: West Side Spanish, Birdie Dance, Nine Movie, and Ragtime Logo

A number of things have been making me cranky lately. Not sure if it's just my mood, or if these items are genuinely annoying. So, rather than addressing each item separately, I figured I'd just get them all out of the way in one peevish post.

Bye Bye Birdie - The New York Daily News reports that the star of the upcoming Broadway revival of Bye Bye Birdie, Gina Gershon, won't be performing the show's iconic Shriner's Ballet. The article quotes Gershon as saying the dance was cut because it was too "gang rape-y." As other commentators have pointed out, that's never seemed to be a problem before, despite being Tams-Witmark's number-one show for decades. The more likely explanation: Gershon can't handle the dance. If they're so concerned about modern sensibilities, will Gershon be performing the regressive and sexist "An English Teacher"? Will the chorus girls still be fawning and fainting to the salacious sight of Conrad Birdie's gyrating hips? The show is a period piece. If you don't like the period, don't do the piece.
Peeve Factor: 7 out of 10. If you want to see a real pro in action, click here to watch Chita Rivera perform the Shriner's Ballet.

West Side Story - According to the New York Times, the current smash-hit Broadway revival of West Side Story has changed back much of the show's much-touted Spanish to the original English lyrics and text. As you may know, director Arthur Laurents brought in Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights) to translate huge chunks of the show into Spanish. The article quotes Laurents as saying the Spanish was "an experiment." Yeah, a failed experiment. As I've written about in my reviews of the show itself and of the CD, I wasn't a fan of the Spanish text. I found it alienating and thought it robbed two terrific songs ("I Feel Pretty" and "A Boy Like That/I Have a Love") of their humor, pathos, and drama. But I also thought that Miranda's lyrics didn't match the quality of Sondheim's original work.
Peeve Factor: 5 out of 10, mitigated by the fact that they've, for the most part, reverted to the infinitely preferable original words.

"Nine" - The more I hear about Rob Marshall's forthcoming film version of Nine, the less excited I become. First, the delectable Javier Bardem dropped out, replaced by the talented but IMHO considerably less sexy Daniel Day Lewis. Now, according to Playbill, Maury Yeston has provided three new songs for the movie: "Guarda la Luna," "Cinema Italiano," and "Take it All." Which is fine, but to make room, they're cutting at least five of the original songs: "Simple," "Be On Your Own," "Grand Canal," "Nine," "The Bells of St. Sebastian's." Boo and grrr. (For a detailed discussion of the cut and added songs, check out a post by my friend Kevin at Theatre Aficionado at Large.)
Peeve Factor: 9 out of 10. Pun intended. I'm not a knee-jerk purist, but the movie is going to need to be pretty spectacular to make up for the butchering of the score. Of course, the "Sweeney Todd" film involved a tremendous amount of cutting as well, and I raved about that movie in my review. So, the jury's still out, despite my current annoyance.

Ragtime - The press folk for the upcoming Broadway revival of Ragtime have recently been touting the new visual identity for the production. (See left) Apparently, it's the work of some famous Italian illustrator. Whatever, it's washed-out, flat, and unmemorable. Plus, the physical arrangement seems borrowed from the logo to The Secret Garden. Of course, I was also nonplussed by the logos for Hair and A Catered Affair, and impressed by that of Cry-Baby. So there's no necessary connection between the quality of an individual show and that of its marketing materials.
Peeve Factor: 2 out of 10. Like many of you, I'm simply thrilled that Ragtime is getting another chance on Broadway. During its original run, it was overshadowed by The Lion King and hampered by irresponsible -- and now felonious -- producing.

Comments

[Kevin]

I was talking to Roxie about all the songs that were cut from "Nine" and I came to the realization that the second act has been pretty much eviscerated. Plus, after watching the trailer I can't help but think how much the musical numbers remind me of "Chicago." Still, I hope to be highly entertained this fall.

Not sold on the "Ragtime" logo either, but with me that's neither here nor there - I simply cannot wait to see the show. Don't buy Gershon's weak excuse either - she can't dance it, she may as well admit it. And as for Arthur Laurents tinkering with his shows - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

So either I'm cranky too, or you're just spot on, my friend.

[Scot Colford]

Simple?! They cut SIMPLE?! Well, crap. Just go ahead and cut Unusual Way and Getting Tall too! Harumph.

[Encore Entertainment]

Oh Dear, C...I still am looking forward to Nine I'm a film buff and it's my most aniticpated film this year...but I really wanted to hear Simple and ...

I don't know...I'd like your opinion but for me the songs sung by Guido in Nine are the worst of the songs....I mean they're all good...but if I had to pick I prefer the women's songs.

PS. You liked Sweeney Todd? That makes me strangely happy. Did you like Helena Bonham Carter...? Or no?

[Esther]

I agree with you about Ragtime - I'm really looking forward to the musical, not thrilled with the poster. It reminds me a bit of the opening credits of Monty Python's Flying Circus - and not in a good way.

[Sweeney]

I'm all for cutting/adding songs to a movie if it will make it better on the silver screen, but I'm still trying to understand how you can cut the title song of a musical???

[Theatre Geek from the Philippines]

I was shocked when I heard that they cut those songs. "The Bells of Saint Sebastian's" was the first song I heard from the musical and it actually made me like the show.

"Be On Your Own" was one of my favorite songs from the show and they're cutting it?! Now one of the very few things that could make me like the movie is if Nicole Kidman does a good job with "An Unusual Way".

[Greg]

Is it or me, but looking at those production stills of Nine released this week, doesn't the set look mysteriously like Boris Aronson's set for Follies?