West Side Story, Part Uno

Posted by mwblogger

June 11, 2009

In a graceful Third Act move, librettist and director Arthur Laurents decided to stage his massive hit West Side Story in a less candied-up version for a post-9/11 New York. Grit returns, and the new Masterworks Broadway recording certainly captures that—commencing with an open throttle reading of the prologue replete with racial epithets in two languages! The opening track had me, mostly because even though I know this score inside and out (not only from the film but also the Original Broadway Cast) I heard a few new things in this extra-sharp and seriously caffeinated version. (Whoever orchestrated the opening, Bernstein or Sid Ramin or Irwin Kostal, was wise to have the low string chug, and this is something I’ve never heard before.) Bernstein took a lot from Stravinsky, no secret, and this recording makes no attempt to mask that but rather embraces it.

Much flap is being made about the fact that many of these songs are in Spanish—“I Feel Pretty” becomes “Me Siento Hermosa” and “A Boy Like That” is rendered as “Un Hombre Asi.” While fascinating—and appropriate—this is not the interest of this recording. More fascinating is conductor Patrick Vaccariello’s choices of tempo in both of these songs, which are much slower than my addled memory recalls, certainly a choice. The former becomes grander, the latter more weighted and ponderous, both excellent notions. But what it proves more than anything is the flexibility of this score—Bernstein’s music (like that of any great composer) can weather multiple interpretations and still shine. Like any piece of great music, a new recording—especially one this careful, this sonically gorgeous, and this elegantly sung—serves only to make us love the piece more.

I do have to mention one performance specifically (for now; I will write more, and hopefully have a chance to see it!) and that is I really loved Matt Cavenaugh’s Tony. He sounds like I’ve always imagined Tony (neè Romeo) to be: young, a hapless preener, lost but earnest. Yes he can sing, but even on record he pulls off the character. Not easy to do.

Purchase The New Broadway Cast Recording of WEST SIDE STORY

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