Word: sondheims
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Despite flaws in concept and execution, West Side Story is enjoyable to watch. A capable, energetic cast; Bernstein and Sondheim's classic songs; and excellent production values make this show worth seeing. In the end, audience members will have to decide for themselves whether Eggar should have retold West Side Story with such a modern accent...
AMERICAN PLAYHOUSE (PBS, March 20, 22). The anthology series opens its 10th season with a double dose of Broadway: Into the Woods, Stephen Sondheim's musical twist on Grimms' fairy tales, and The Grapes of Wrath, the Steppenwolf Theater's adaptation of Steinbeck's Depression novel...
...year when two Sondheim musicals, Merrily and West Side Story, are being staged at Harvard, even the most devoted fan cannot complain. Sondheim fans can draw comfort from the knowledge that in both lean years and fat, the AIDS Coalition will be putting on polished performances of some of the cleverest music ever...
Director Jennifer Giering has pleasingly combined disparate elements of Sondheim's works. Solos are balanced by ensembles, slow pieces by quick ones. Some songs are utterly disheartening; in "The Miller's Son," Doctoroff earthily proclaims her intent to sample as many men as possible before she's "stuck with just one." But the gloom is immediately lifted by the hilarious "Buddy's Blues," in which Greg Schaffer complains, "you say I'm terrific, but your taste was always rotten...
Giering's interpretations of individual songs are also skillful, with a few exceptions. One feels particularly gratified to see "I Remember" done in an appropriately mournful manner, in contrast to a previous year's downright cheerful version. And Giering demonstrates her ability to distinguish between Sondheim's sensibilities and his characters'--the word "fag" is restored to its place in "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" after a previous year's cabaret had censored that song...