Comments

1
I didn't realize West Side Story's legend had become so tidy, with the Catholic/Jewish idea being laid neatly at Robbins' feet and the notion to improve it credited solely to Bernstein. My understanding is that they all noodled about with the premise for years. Arthur Laurents for one would hate the idea of Bernstein being painted as the one who set everyone straight.
2
Edward Albee was finally right about something. Go figure.
3
I read that it wasn't just Catholics and Jews; that it was Irish and Jews because the musical possibilities were so rich (and some of the group dance patterns bear similarities). In addition, not long before the Catholic/Jewish angle was being considered, a show called "Abie's Irish Rose" had just opened, so the idea was scrapped.
4
During the original run of Abie's Irish Rose in the 1920s, Robert Benchley was very entertainingly mean in Life. For example, "People laugh at this every night, which explains why democracy can never be a success."
5

I heard that "Cats" was originally supposed to be about ocelots.

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