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| West Side Story Suite |
| Music: West Side Story Suite (Prologue, Something's Coming, Dance at the Gym, Cool, America Rumble & Somewhere ballet from West Side Story) Composer: Leonard Bernstein/ You Tube Choeography: Jerome Robbins/ w Peter Gennaro Staged by: Jean-Pierre Frohlich/ Jenifer Ringer Scenic Design: Oliver Smith Costume Design: Irene Sharaff Lighting Design: Les Dickert/ after Arthur Laurents |
| Jean-Pierre Frohlich, an assistant ballet master who has worked with Robbins often, says that to make the dancers think in terms of character, Robbins had them construct a biography for each one. The women reveled in the costumes. At rehearsal, they twirled around in the swing skirts popular in the '50s, getting the feel of cinched waists and ruffles-very different from the Ts and minis of today.
Wikipedia Source Riff: Jett's leader Tony: Friend of Riff, in love with Maria Bernardo: Shark's leader and Maria's brother Anita: Friend of Maria's & Bernardo girlfriend Maria: In love with Tony Rosalia: Wishes to return to Puerto Rico. Sings "America." Graziela: Who? Singing is essential, even in this suite of dances. Robbins chose to go two ways, and the result is surprisingly smooth. For some numbers he uses singers in the pit. But six of the female dancers also do a rousing version of America/ Source |
| Here is a New York City Ballet dance photo from Jerome Robbins West Side Story Suite danced last year.
a very recognizable moment. eh? Dance is music made visible. George Balanchine/CriticalDance Blog |
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| The All Robbins program will include the San Francisco Ballet premiere of the �West Side Story Suite.'�
�You know our dancers can dance,'� Tomasson said, ��but did you know they can also sing. Come to this program and see.'�/ SFB at 75 Announced |
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| I've seen "West Side Story Suite" several times and there's no real talking, except possibly a few lines before 'America', some yells and single word utterances. The dancers do sing quite a bit, including solos in "America" and "Cool", though there are generally 3 - 5 professional singers either in the pit, just off stage or as non-dancing corps to help fill out the chorus and two of them also sing "One Hand, One Heart" during Maria & Tony's pdd (Tony and Maria are purely dancing roles, except for the very end)...[Note: 2008 SFB did not have this PDD or this song] Robbins adapted the musical to the ballet/dance stage so whilst the main storyline is the same, the ballet doesn't exactly follow the musical. Most noticeably the ending is upbeat, with the entire cast singing "Somewhere" together. Having all the dancers/characters come together to sing at the end is very poignant and brings a sense of peace and reconciliation, which seems especially relevant in recent years./ Blog |
| 50 Years of 'West Side Story': Part One: Making a New Kind of Musical - NPR 50 Years of 'West Side Story': Part Two: Casting Calls and Out-of-Town Trials - NPR A Dream Team, a Dream Musical: 'West Side Story' - NPR |
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| Dores Andre as Maria and Garrett Anderson as Tony in Dances in the Gym section. |
| Rehersal of "America"Courtney Elizaveth, Nicole Grand,Dana Genshaft, Clara Blanco and Lorena Feijoo.as Anita/ Below with Shannon Roberts as Anita in opening performance. |
| Interview with Rita Moreno (Anita in the movie) and Principal Dancer Lorena Feijoo (The original Broadway Anita was Chita Rivera) |
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| Quinn Wharton as Toney and Davit Karapetyan as Riff (Maybe they were rehearsing for 2009 - 2008 castint). |
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| Isadora Duncan Dance Awards 2007-2008 Season
Outstanding Achievement in Restaging, Revival, or Reconstruction/ Jean-Pierre Frohlich & Jenifer Ringer Outstanding Achievement in Performance - Individual/ Shannon Roberts as Anita |
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