••• ■ •••••••••• ■ •••.P.I.M.P.I....- Entertainment MUSASHI r Your 15irtIN:69, What's ‘, Your Wish? JAPANESE CUISINE AND SUSHI BAR Since 1985 Frime Filet A PLACE FOR Us from page 76 Jerome Robbins rehearses with George Chakiris and two fellow Sharks for the 1961 movie version of "West Side Story" ignon Chicken or Salmon with choice of teriyaki, spicy teriyaki, prlic, chili mayo or mustarcl clipping sauce sumo Size ,Shrimp Tempura Alaskan King Crab 5alacl 20 Kinds of Noodl e , ouPs Bring four of your friends and one dinner is complimentary" Private Room/CateringiDeihery 2000 Town Center, Suite 98 10'h Mile on Evergreen Road (248) 358-1911 http://wvvw.musashi-intl.com . watch the movie. "I was completely enthralled by the music and dancing, and I know a lot of other people who feel the same way — it's just the best musical ever," he said. Geniuses Of The Theater Live Entertainment: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday Hours: Tuesday-'1'hursday 5:30 - 9:30 Friday & Saturday 5:30-10:30 Sunday 12:00 9:30 (Sunday brunch from J2-3) - 4deg Vtimante 17546 Woodward Ave. (2 blocks north of McNichols) Detroit (313) . 865-0331 Enter rear. Valet parking ,114 8/30 2002 78 www.detroitjewishnews.com Find out before your mother! The catalyst for the creation of West Side Story was born Jerome Robinowitz in 1918. Robbins, who had honed his chore- ographic skills in New York's Yiddish Theater and at the famous Catskills resorts, threatened to pull out of the languishing project unless his col- leagues took action. Bernstein, chiefly a writer and con- ductor of "long hair" pieces, put down his baton long enough to create the music. Laurents, who usually wrote serious dramas, got going on the book. Sondheim, who was taught to play the piano by his father, a suc- cessful dress manufacturer, sneaked into the project after a chance meet- ing with Laurents. In his choreography, Robbins creat- ed the forerunner of dancing that became familiar on the Broadway stage in later years — the finger-snap- ping, crouching, lurching and leaping steps used to build dramatic tension among the Jets and the Sharks. To maintain strong team spirit, Robbins kept the gang-member actors apart while rehearsing or any time they were in the theater. They never had lunch together or mixed socially in any way. An antagonistic wall was built up between them so they could commit to each other and the entire show. - When Jet gang actor Tony Mordente started to date Shark gang actress Chita Rivera (they later mar- ried), the Jet actors stopped talking to Mordente. The show marked the Broadway debut for Sondheim, whose music idol was Oscar Hammerstein. Twelve years younger than Bernstein, Sondheim, whose experience had been in writing for television, clashed with him right away. He preferred to work at night, but that interfered with Bernstein's conducting schedule, so they had to compromise. Both Laurents, now 84, and Sondheim, 72 — the surviving mem- bers of the original four — expressed embarrassment. in later years over some of the quaint words they had to use in their text and lyrics to comply with the somewhat puritanical theater jargon of the time. Laurents invented such street slang as "cracko jacko" and "frabbajabba." Sondheim relied on "buddy boy," "golly, Moses," "when the spit hits the fan," and "mother-lovin' street." The negative aspects of West Side Story — the brutality and venomous hatred of the gang warriors — had a chilling effect on prospective audi- ences and the show played only 732 performances in its initial run. In comparison, Oklahoma lasted for 2,248 performances and My Fair Lady for 2,717. But a cross-country tour and 1960 Broadway revival, with 249 more per- formances, created new interest. Also, audiences throughout the country fell in love with the excellent movie with Natalie Wood as Maria and Richard Beymer as Tony, plus one of the best supporting casts in film history. It won -10 Academy Awards in 1961, including best picture, best supporting actor and actress and best director. . On Stage In Detroit The directors of the upcoming Fox production of West Side Story came to the project determined to re-create the show as it was in 1957. To many, the show's most innova- tive quality is its dancing. Although based on ballet techniques, the dance sequences have the look of natural- style, modern dance. And almost the entire cast dances. Three of the young dancers in the Fox cast are Jewish and have prior West Side Story experience. D.J. Chase (formerly David J. .Chawsky of Cherry Hill, N.J.), 28, who plays Jet gang member A-rab, started taking dance lessons at age 9, defying his father, who wanted him to "When you're a Jew, you're a Jet all the way ...": Michael Raine is Jet gang member Baby John; Rachel Bress plays Jet girlfriend Clarice; and D.J. Chase portrays Jet gang member A-rab.