Ivo Van Hove, the radical "deconstructionist", who reduced "A Streetcar Named Desire," to a bathtub set, "The Crucible," to where a brief appearance by a wolf, Lutka, stole the entire show, reworked Arthur Miller's other play, "A View From The Bridge," yet managed to do an excellent rendering of Lillian Hellman's "The Little Foxes, aided and abetted by a brilliant Elizabeth Marvel as Regina, is at it again. Not only does he plan to do "All About Eve' for the stage, and a stage adaptation of Hanya Yanagihara's "A Little Life," he is planning to take on one of America's most iconic, and beloved, musicals, "West Side Story."
Hey, Ivo, just keep your filthy hands off "Carousel," "Follies," "Gypsy," and "A Chorus Line!"
I thought this was his first venture into musical theater, but he has also mounted "Rent" in 2000, in Amsterdam, and "Lazarus," Off-Broadway, back around 2015-16 (the show closed on Januray 20, 2016) but, like who cares???????????????
"West Side Story" is a show many care about and I dread to see what Hove will do to it. Even more disturbing, he is going to deviate from the Jerome Robbins. The dance numbers. some of the most brilliant of the last century, will be staged by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. Who dat?
I mean, who the hell is she? And how does she and Hove have the audacity to think one of the great choreographic pieces of all time, the "Somewhere Ballet," can be reinvented, or improved upon? Are they crazy? What about the Bernstein score? Will it be left intact? How about time, place and city? Will it still be late Fifties Manhatttan, or what? The Gowanus? What about the gangs? M13's?
The possibilities are dreadful. The results would be even worse. I pray this does not come to fruition. But, I am warning you, if it does--
"The Rumble" will not just be on the theater stage! The audience will have at the performers, for destroying a classic!
De Keersmaeker is the Belgian choreographer who accused Beyoncé of plagiarism a few years back.
ReplyDeleteShe's actually pretty well-known.
But I don't care who you are, you don't mess with West Side Story.
ReplyDeleteVictoria,
Thanks for the explanation.
I had never heard of her.
Let's hope she does not ruin
the piece. What I hear will
determine if I go, or not.
If this is true about "West Side Story" being re-imagined for the modern stage, I wonder where that leaves Steven Spielberg's "who asked for it, either" contemporary movie remake? He was all gung-ho to start filming this year. Perhaps he lost interest when the backlash kicked in? Or more cynically, he's one of the secret angels investing in this stage production to drum up interest in a movie version?
ReplyDeleteNot interested. Unless they're gonna get serious, and do the true story of how Jennifer Lopez used to hide stolen firearms in the cars of her black boyfriends like P Diddy just so she could drop a dime and bask in publicity when the cops came (triggering rapper wars and gang violence while she walked away with clean hands and a career).