New Bilingual West Side Story Tender, Uneven

He should know ... he wrote them

(NEWSER) - When Stephen Sondheim thinks about the lyrics he wrote for West Side Story—for example, “It’s alarming how charming I feel”—he likes to “put my head under my wing and pretend I’m not there,” he tells Nightline . The universally beloved musical “embarrasses me,” he says. “It's very hard for me to listen to some of those songs,” which he wrote in his early twenties. “I don't mean that they are terrible,” he adds of the lyrics, “I just mean they're so self-conscious.” More»

Miscast and old-fashioned, revival falls flat

(NEWSER) - Back when it debuted in the late '60s, Promises, Promises was a critical darling. These days... not so much. Here's what the critics are saying:

• “Problems, like promises, abound,” writes John Simon of Bloomberg . Chief among them: “Musical comedy has evolved well beyond these cookie-cutter songs, however cute.” Kristin Chenoweth is also badly miscast as a sweet, innocent menial; she “oozes star glamor.”

Revival will be even more PC than high school productions

(NEWSER) - High school drama clubs have been putting on Bye Bye Birdie for nearly 50 years—apparently they didn’t realize they've been staging a certain scene so risque it makes Broadway blush. The upcoming Broadway revival will cut a dance sequence featuring Rose cavorting on and around a table with a group of fez-adorned men. Why? “It seemed a little too gang rape-y,” says Gina Gershon, who stars as Rose. More»

'Carrie' to open off-Broadway tomorrow

(AP) - When the musical Carrie had a sudden early death on Broadway in 1988, few were as unhappy as three men who worked hard to give it life. Lawrence D. Cohen, Michael Gore, and Dean Pitchford, who wrote the script, music, and lyrics, clearly were not happy with the final product, which closed after five regular performances, lost $8 million, and became the most expensive flop in Broadway history at the time. Despite offers to produce the show elsewhere, the trio refused—until now, 24 years later. More»

Problem-plagued musical not worth your time, money: critics

(NEWSER) - Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark hasn’t officially opened yet, but people are already shelling out up to $275 a ticket to see it—and considering its opening has already been pushed back five times, many news organizations “skirted Broadway protocol” and reviewed the show today, since its last official opening date was last night (before it was postponed). The verdict: not good.

• The only way to make the money they spend worth it for theatergoers is to let them in on “the national joke that this problem-plagued show has become,” writes Ben Brantley in the New York Times . “Stock the Foxwoods gift shops with souvenir crash helmets and T-shirts that say 'I saw Spider-Man and lived.' Otherwise, a more appropriate slogan would be 'I saw Spider-Man and slept.'" Everything, from the music to the sets and the plot, is “sheer ineptitude.”