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Ivo van Hove: “Without the theater, society would be even more wild”
The impossible love of Tony and Maria will return this Thursday to the Broadway stages, even if it does so in a very different version from the known one. More than six decades after its premiere, Belgian director Ivo van Hove, one of the most prominent names in the contemporary scene, takes on the challenge of reinventing West Side Story , the American musical par excellence. The version that is now premiered at the Broadway Theater in New York is concentrated in one hour and 45 minutes without an interconnect - less than the original staging -, with a panoramic screen that reproduces in real time the tattooed bodies of its young performers and without the song I Feel Pretty , removed from the montage.
If the rest of the original music by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim remains in place, Van Hove has decided to dispense, for the first time on Broadway, the mythical choreography of Jerome Robbins, replacing it with an avant-garde proposal signed by Anne Teresa of Keersmaeker, an eminence of contemporary dance. "It is a new concept, a widespread questioning," said Van Hove, interviewed a few hours after the premiere of the work, which has already generated almost two million dollars in presale of tickets, a figure only surpassed by blockbusters with the route of The lion king and Hamilton . “It was always forbidden to apply changes, so for more than 60 years the original staging has continued to be used. No one dared to ask permission. I did dare, because I had a very clear vision. I would never have made a recreation of the old version, ”says Van Hove, author of the opera inspired by the movie Brokeback Mountain , released in 2014 at the Royal Theater in Madrid, and Lazarus , the celebrated musical signed by David Bowie shortly before die in 2016.
Van Hove's mission, in this case, is to enroll West Side Story in the present. Its premiere in 1957 was a small revolution on Broadway. At that time, musicals continued to run in a bubble away from social reality. The work, inspired by the cases of street violence that filled the headlines, managed to open other avenues for this genre, demonstrating that conflicts between gangs, waves of immigration and xenophobia prevailing in American society also belonged to that world, oblivious to The unhappy endings. Over time, that musical different from the others became a cultural icon admired by hordes of followers - among which names as different as Jorge Luis Borges or Michael Jackson were counted - and represented again and again following the initial staging , turned into a dogma that did not accept any change or innovation. And with that, the uniqueness of a work that, after the night of the premiere, The New York Times called “radioactive”, disappeared due to the incurable effects that it would have on the viewer and American culture.
Van Hove had been dreaming about the project for years. He decided to make it a reality after the 2016 US elections, when he understood that the social tension that allowed the victory of Donald Trump could "end up leading us to war." “I stressed the social and political issues that were hidden in the text. The work contains all the topics I have wanted to talk about: the relationship between poverty and aggressiveness, police abuse, racism between social groups or the struggle to survive through violence, ”replies Van Hove.
If the original text posed a conflict between Jets - white Americans - and Sharks - Puerto Rican immigrants - the staging of Van Hove has another approach. “Sharks are Latinos of all backgrounds, while Jets can no longer be just white. When I get on the subway in New York, I see Americans of all cultures, whether they have North African or Middle Eastern roots, ”says Van Hove. Although, again, that tension was already present in the original work, where it did not take long to discover that the whites had Polish or Italian origin, being children of the previous wave of immigration. "I wanted to remember that all Americans are immigrants, except Native Americans," the director adds. At times, it is hard to guess who faces who: in street fights the skin tones of the cast members are confused, a diverse group of 50 actors, 33 of whom debut on Broadway with this play. “I looked for real young people. In the world of musicals, actors 35 years or older are often asked to play these roles, because they have more experience singing and dancing. I refused, ”says Van Hove.
De Keersmaeker, avant-garde figure who never aspired to work on Broadway, did not hesitate before accepting the offer, even though this is not his world. “Contemporary dance was born in the New York of Merce Cunningham and Trisha Brown, for what I thought was the right person,” says Van Hove about her friend and compatriot, with whom she debuted in the Antwerp of her youth. Just as Jerome Robbins was inspired by the Spanish Harlem boys to design their steps, the new choreographer followed the trail of young dancers on YouTube and paid attention to trends such as the krump , a dance that emerged in the slums of Los Angeles. The result is not the postmodern cataclysm that could be expected, but a reinvention made with respect and sense of the spectacle.
Although violence prevails on stage, the director wanted to insist on the love story of its protagonists. “There is a fatalism in the text, but as a director I fought against that idea. I directed each scene from hope, as if I was going to have a happy ending, even if that was impossible, ”concludes Van Hove.
A classic that retains its relevance
The gestation of the project has been affected by different controversies. In recent weeks, several protests have demanded the dismissal of actor Amar Ramasar, accused of having sent mobile photographs of a dancer in 2018. In addition, two advisors were hired to improve the choreography of Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, considered too rigid ( and not Latin enough) by some interpreters. Ivo van Hove has also introduced changes regarding gender issues. Maria is no longer a young virgin, but a woman with strong opinions. The director has also underlined the homoeroticism between Tony and Riff, head of the Jets band. "For me, it is clear that they had a relationship, which does not mean they are gay," he says. These changes were approved by Stephen Sondheim, the last survivor of the quartet that created a classic that is still in full swing: Steven Spielberg also prepares an adaptation that will hit theaters in December.
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