West Side Story: Act II: “Somewhere” (Ballet) Leonard Bernstein’s Urban Pastoral—You Can’t Even See or Hear This on the Broadway Stage (or the Movie), for $450! It’s been Killed Off! (Original, 1957 Broadway Cast)

 

 

Re-posted by Nicholas Stix

In the 1961 movie version, producer-director Robert Wise
completely cut this scene, which had to be Bernstein’s favorite, thereby gutting his dream of an urban pastoral, not in the sense of some sort of Garden of Eden, but of an idyllic garden among the broken bricks and cement.

After Tony and Maria make love, they fall asleep in each other’s arms and share a dream. In a vacant lot, a sprite begins dancing around to lyrical violins. They’ve found their magical place. However, suddenly the two gangs appear, each hoisting its champion on a member’s shoulders. The killing from earlier that evening is re-enacted, and the lovers awaken. (This is a memory from January, 1982, when last I saw the Paris company perform the show.)

The scenes at this point in the movie are all out of order. Since most moviegoers (like me, prior to July 1980) never saw the stage production and thus wouldn’t know the difference, anyone who loved the original version would be crestfallen. Thus, although I saw the movie version during the early 1970s, and will have to watch it again for a movie project, I am not looking forward to it.

Not only did Robert Wise cut the most beautiful scene from the picture, but the Belgian director of the current Broadway revival, Ivo van Hove, has even cut it from the stage production, along with all of Jerome Robbins’ choreography! (Robbins was both director and choreographer of the show, and shared producer-director roles with Wise for the movie.) In spite of my criticisms of Wise, both men won deserved Oscars for producing and directing the 1961 movie version, which I consider—with 1939’s The Wizard of Oz—one of the two greatest movie musicals ever made.



West Side Story Ensemble ·
Max Goberman ·
Larry Kert ·
Carol Lawrence ·
Reri Grist ·