Spanish “West Side” Opens In D.C.
The Broadway-bound revival of “West Side Story,” directed by its original book writer, the irrepressible Arthur Laurents, has opened out-of-town: at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Variety is impressed. Money quote: ‘The classic tune “I Feel Pretty” is now “Siento Hermosa,” and large chunks of dialogue are in Spanish… Lin-Manuel Miranda (“In the Heights”) penned the new lyrics under the watchful eye of Stephen Sondheim.’ (or, as I suppose we must now call him, Esteban Sondheim.) Variety continues: ‘Laurents supervised the book revisions. The concept works beautifully from every perspective, as in the ensemble’s most chilling reprise of a bilingual “Tonight.”‘
