WEST SIDE STORY MOVIE INTERMISSION ARCHIVE

What does a van Hove-led production of West Side Story show us about the director, his approach, and Broadway as an entertainment industry? To date, van Hove scholars have primarily focused on his formal and narrative choices as a reflection of his artistry, but less attention has been paid to the very production context in which he works and how it may shape his output. In addition to his own style, a revival of West Side Story prompts questions about how a problematic 1957 musical is staged in 2020-a production van Hove himself described as “a West Side Story for the 21st century” (qtd. It also draws critical attention to how the modifications made represent not only artistic choices, but also political and economic decisions as well. Polster has described as the director’s “muscular, minimalist avant-garde aesthetic” (124)-to align with the logics and trends shaping contemporary Broadway theatrical production. Studying his production of West Side Story via adaptation studies, therefore, reveals how van Hove adapted the musical-and what Joshua E. Over the past six years, van Hove has demonstrated that he can direct artistically accessible work that thrives on the Great White Way in an incredibly competitive market.

A costly revival of a legendary Broadway musical by a director known for minimalist, media-enhanced stagings presumably does not work within that economic model, yet when Broadway officially shut down in March 2020 in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Ivo van Hove’s West Side Story was the third highest grossing show on Broadway behind Hamilton and Moulin Rouge! One might go so far as to suggest Broadway has followed Las Vegas in its desire to appeal predominantly to an audience of tourists, and in the process, it has yielded its position as the symbolic epicenter of US theatre. Critics and scholars alike have long lamented the increasing commercialization of the Great White Way, where jukebox musicals, movicals, and megamusicals have largely pushed out more modest or daring productions. Kunze (Tulane University)Ī 60 Minutes Overtime feature shows Ivo van Hove (center) in rehearsal for West Side Story.Īt first glance, a revival of the musical West Side Story helmed by one of the leading figures of the European avant garde seems an unlikely candidate for contemporary Broadway. Ivo van Hove, West Side Story, and the Economics of Broadway Theatrical Production Peter C.

WEST SIDE STORY MOVIE INTERMISSION ARCHIVE

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West side story movie intermission