W00T!

Everyone head over to Erica Ridley’s blog and congratulate her on her first sale! TOUCHED (title subject to change) is a regency gothic paranormal romance about a psychic orphan and a wealthy gentleman whose mansion is hiding lots of secrets. She sold it to Kensington as part of a two-book deal. Yay!

And about damn time, too! Erica is so smart and so talented and so hard working — we all knew it was just a matter of holding up that lightning rod ont eh right stormy day.

CONGRATULATIONS, ERICA!

In other news, SB and I went to see West Side Story last night. It was a beautiful production with a very talented cast (especially Action, Riff, and Maria). I actually bought the love story, which is new for me. Usually I just watch the show for Anita and Riff. Okay, I admit it — for Anita’s costumes. As for the much-ballyhooed “changes” — I’m undecided. (For those who don’t know, Arthur Laurents, who wrote the book, re-envisioned it as a bilingual play, with most of the Puerto Rican characters speaking and singing in Spanish throughout.) On one hand, I can see how it adds more “authenticity” to the show. On the other, if the stated purpose was to play more “evenly” between the Jets and the Sharks, I don’t know if that purpose is accomplished to audience members who are not bilingual. Adding an extra song for the Sharks to sing would have accomplished far more, IMO. If anything, it’s going to alienate non-bilingual audience members, who don’t get ANY indication of what the Sharks are feeling. (The argument goes: “this shows how impossible it is for the Jets and Sharks to bridge the gap, with the language barrier adding to it.” But while that may work well, internally, I don’t know how it’s going to play to the audience.) I was able to catch most of the lyrics/dialogue given my familiarity with the show and my slim, slim, SLIM grasp of Spanish. But in any of the fugues (“Tonight,” or the end of “A Boy Like That”) forget it. I have a hard enough time understanding fugues in English. I think if you are bilingual, you’re going to love it. If you’re not, you’re going to feel a bit confused. I left the show definitely wishing I knew more Spanish.

I was also sadly disappointed by the “America” number. It was, in fact, in English, but the enunciation was sorely lacking. (Dancing and dresses were great, though!

The other big change is the ending. MINOR SPOILER WARNING. They don’t carry Tony’s body off the stage anymore. Laurents apparently thought that was “unrealistic.” (Sailor Boy: “And the ballet dancing gang members aren’t?”) It made when the curtain actually came down feel a little arbitrary. I also didn’t understand why they would go to all the trouble of creating a massive Pieta tableaux with Maria in a distractingly bright Madonna-blue dress and headscarf (that, ahem, a Jet carefully drapes over her head) but that carrying the body off stage is unrealistic?

I still really enjoyed it and I’m curious to see how it goes over on Broadway. The actress who played Anita was fabulous  — she got more applause than anyone. Maria and Bernardo were both a little white -looking (the actress who plays Maria is Argentinian/Italian, I believe, and very talented), and Action was fantastic. Looked like a skin head, played like he was about to leap out of his skin. Riff was great too, especially at communicating his bond with Tony (though I must compare every performance to Russ Tamblyn’s). The dancing was terrific throughout, and aside from the weirdness with “America” — the singing was top-notch.