By Steven Suskin
30 Sep 2007

West Side Story [Decca Universal B0009818]
West Side Story turned 50 this week, on Sept. 26 to be exact, and Decca has turned out a new recording for the occasion. "The Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, Jerome Robbins and Stephen Sondheim Musical" they call it — I wonder what agent worked out that billing? — and they deck it with what they term "classical crossover stars."

Vittorio Grigolo — also known as simply Vittorio — is a 30-year-old tenor from Arezzo, who apparently has quite a pop career moonlighting from the opera. He just appeared a couple of weeks ago at the Kennedy Center in the Washington National Opera production of La Boheme, and earlier this year sang La Traviata in Rome; he has also starred in the PBS special "Vittorio: Dreams of Rome" and guested on "Dancing with the Stars" and the Miss Universe Pageant. Back in 2003, he played Tony in a production of West Side Story that played La Scala prior to a tour of Japan. Which, I suppose, was the genesis of this new recording.

Hayley Westenra is a 20-year-old singer from New Zealand whose CDs have sold over a gazillion copies. Her website boasts that she has sung for the Queen "three times in one week" — imagine singing for the Queen three times in one week! — plus President Bush, Tony Blair and Condi Rice as well. I suppose that the team of Vittorio and Hayley will sell countless West Side Story discs, and that's okay by me; one expects that some people will buy it who have never heard of Leonard Bernstein before, let alone Arthur Laurents, Jerome Robbins and that other guy. I can't help but think that some of these listeners might even like the songs.

The CD, in actuality, is pretty good. There is a caveat; Mr. Grigolo has never been to Hell's Kitchen, and it sounds like he doesn't speak no English at all. This normally wouldn't matter too much, but here we have a Tony who sounds far more Latin than Maria, Anita or anybody on the recording. ("It's un-lee jus' outta reeech, downa block, onna beeech.") He sings the role like an opera singer, but hey — he is an opera singer. I suppose that Italian listeners feel much the same when some Yankee tackles Tosca.

Ms. Westenra does all right, mostly, although she seems to be lost in "A Boy Like That." There's a strong Anita, in the person of Melanie Marshall, but Westenra can't keep up with Bernstein. Will Martin, as Riff, is probably the most likely of the group to turn up on stage playing a non-crossover West Side Story. When they all get together to sing the Quintet, he's the only one who sounds like he's ever been west of Tenth Avenue, or in the western hemisphere.

The music is extremely well played. If you use a magnifying glass, you will find hidden away — not on the cover, or the tray, or the disc itself, but in the middle of page ten of the booklet — that we are hearing The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, conducted by Nick Ingham. Mr. Ingham seems to have a pretty good understanding of the score, which makes a world of difference. They give us the entire "Dance at the Gym," which is nice for a change. (I always marvel at the last part of the sequence; "Jump" it's called. It's not so much dance but an incidental played under dialogue as the scene breaks up. A throwaway that is barely noticeable in the theatre — and listen to the marvelous music Bernstein provided!) If they give us the entire gymnasium dance, which is a plus, we get neither the "Rumble" nor the big second act ballet. The "Somewhere" sequence, alone, is included, sung by Connie Fisher. Jamie Bernstein provides a thoughtful and intelligent liner note, too.

Lest anybody be interested, let me add that the orchestrations — which sound wonderful under Mr. Ingham's baton — are by Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal. I mention this only because their names are nowhere to be seen. For those who think that orchestrators are merely interchangeable craftsman, I encourage you to muse what West Side Story would have sounded like if it had been orchestrated by Bernstein's regular orchestrator, Hershy Kay. (Or, for that matter, if Candide had been Ramin and Kostal rather than Kay.)

(Steven Suskin is author of "Second Act Trouble," "A Must See! Brilliant Broadway Artwork," "Show Tunes," and the "Opening Night on Broadway" books. He can be reached at Ssuskin@aol.com)

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