A Wonderful Play

Yesterday our friends Meryl and Norman (seen here with me and my wife) treated us to the new production of West Side Story at the National Theater in Washington.

The play was fantastic, a musical of course, very well acted and directed, with a live orchestra.

The director is by Arthur Laurents, who also wrote West Side Story in 1957. H wasn't crazy about the movie version and wanted to bring the new musical back to his original vision. There were a few differences. Most interestingly, much of the dialog and the song lyrics between the Puerto Rican characters were in Spanish, which made it more authentic. For example, I Feel Pretty was sung Me Siento Hermosa. Maria was wonderfully played and sung by an Argentian actress named Josefina Scaglione. Mario was also well-played by Matt Cavenaugh though I found it hard to hear him sometimes when he sang.

The play, when it was first staged in 1957, started at National Theater before it went to Broadway. Once again during this revival, it has started at National Theater and soon will go to Broadway.

Winter in Casina

My sister outside her house in Casina, Italy, making a very bottom-heavy snowman!