Ambivalence of Spanish in ‘West Side Story’ Continues

The revival of the Broadway classic West Side Story has drawn in spectators both young and old over the last few months, but the production is making headlines this week for its vacillating use of Spanish. Before its opening, the West Side Story revival announced that it would be partly bilingual, with a handful of songs and dialogue in the show performed in Spanish. This received rave reviews from some critics, but the production announced earlier this week that it’s changing well-known songs “A Boy Like That” and “I Feel Pretty” back into English - a disappointment, to some.

Director Arthur Laurents commented on the change of language to select songs in the current revival, saying, “From the outset, the Spanish in West Side Story was an experiment. It’s been an ongoing process of finding what worked and what didn’t, and it still continues.” The songs “A Boy Like That” (”Un Hombre Asi”), sung in the musical by Karen Olivo, and “I Feel Pretty” (”Siento Hermosa”), sung by Josefina Scaglione, will now be reverted back to their original tunes in English, while the song “Tonight” remains delivered in Spanish. The changes to the bilingual West Side Story were implemented again last Thursday, August 20, and will remain the new norm for the musical - for now, at least.

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Posted in General on August 26, 2009

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