Musical Theatre Mondays

1957 would prove to be a good year for Broadway. The Music Man , Carousel and Brigadoon  all opened that year, but I think the show that would come to change the face of musical theatre the most when it came to how music and dancing are used to tell a story is West Side Story . In the September 27, 1957 edition of the New Herald Tribune , journalist Walter Kerr wrote in his review of opening night:  "The radioactive fallout from West Side Story must still be descending on Broadway this morning." (Source:  Saturday Evening Post ) I think I understand a little of what Mr. Kerr must have meant by "radioactive fallout." I saw a production of West Side Story last year, almost 60 years since it's opening night, and still can't think about it without getting teary-eyed. What is it about this show that causes such an emotional response? One of the facets of musical theatre that continues to make it such a progressive art form is its ability to have those ha...

On the set of West Side Story For a change of pace this Musical Theatre Monday, I wanted to focus on dancing. Dancing is not really my personal strong point, but it's usually one of the things I enjoy most about any show. I used to find the ballet dream sequence in Oklahoma and Singing in the Rain endlessly boring because I was an annoying teenager, but as I've gotten older and I become less flexible and capable by the second - I marvel at the talent of these people who made their careers off of their ability to dance. I feel like aside from a few notables of this day and age - being a famous dancer isn't really a thing anymore. It's usually that you're a singer who can dance or a dancer who can sing - who becomes famous from singing. But since we're still focusing on the Golden Age, I thought it would be fun to highlight a choreographer who really defined dancing in musicals as we know it today - Jerome Robbins. If you've ever seen a local product...