West Side Story Redux - An Entreaty in One Act

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West Side Story Redux -
An Entreaty in One Act

 
offered by Andrea Lena DiMaggio

Copyright © 2009 Andrea Lena DiMaggio

 

A modern take on an old tale, told from a new perspective
Hopefully with a happy ending…
For a dear friend


 


Forget your tale - - and write another
It feels just like - - you shouldn't bother
Just write what we want
Oh, not what you want

A misspelled word - -mistaken fact
We'll point it out - - and with no tact
It's not such a big deal
But it's what we feel

__________________

We like to point out your mistakes
Feels like you don't have what it takes
Just change it now, for goodness sakes
We like to point out your mistakes

Your story has too much emotion

How did you arrive at that notion?

Minutia is what is important now

Not who, we just want to know what and how

We like to point out your mistakes
Feels like you don't have what it takes
Just change it now, for goodness sakes
We like to point out your mistakes

But...

There's a site for us
Somewhere to write for us
Inspiration and loving care
Wait for us
Right there

There's some friends for us
Dear ones who tend to us
If we try to be sweet and fair
Polite and kind if we dare to care,

Some day!

Somewhere.

Safety for all our expressing
A haven for all our confessing
Somewhere . . .

________________________

The most inviting sound I ever heard:
Big Closet...Big Closet ..Big Closet.. Big Closet. .
The most nurturing site . .in two simple words
Big Closet...Big Closet ..Big Closet.. Big Closet. .

Big Closet

I've just found a site called Big Closet,
I've found a brand new home
No need to ever roam
again

Big Closet
I feel right at home at Big Closet,
Dear ones who care for me
I find that I can be
a friend

Big Closet,

Reading fiction that can inspire
With acceptance to which we aspire

Big Closet,
I’ll try to remember to comment

With kindness and caring in every word
Big Closet

Adapted from several tunes from West Side Story
Words and Music by Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein

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Comments

The Best of the West (Side Story)

Andrea,
Very nice piece. WSS was not my favorite, but I did get to see it on Broadway many many years ago, and still remember most of the songs. You did a great job of fitting your lyrics to them. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Avid Reader.

Stage musicals

ALISON
'have always been a favouite of mine and West Side was no exception,so trust you to put it to verse,Andrea.As I have said
before,you never cease to amaze me.Thank you so much,dear one.
Alison.

ALISON

My Sister Wears a Mustache,

My brother wears a dress.
Goodness gracious, that's why I'm a mess!

--

This site, this site.
It's not just any site.
This site affords home to us All.
This site, this site, if you care for this site,
You must work, really work, keep things right.
BC
The stories are like our lives
They mirror our frustration
And tell us love is might.
Oh site, burn bright
And make our endless fight endless right.

Angela Rasch (Jill M I)

Angela Rasch (Jill M I)

this site, this site...

laika's picture

This is a good song, Andrea. Sad yet hopeful.

Many times in my life I've thought I found a loving Utopia, be it a church, a political group, a tribe of street people banded together for survival, where folks really seemed to love and support each other in perfect harmony, only to find that wherever you go people eventually act like people. "We have met the enemy and he is us," I believe Pogo once said. My utopian dream of unconditional love would then give way to disillusionment and kneejerk cynicism. But lately I've been able to put these things in perspective a bit better. As in compared to what. This little internet family of writers, readers, commenters, zips, tranks and lobos is vastly more supportive & willing to communicate honestly than my birth family ever was (or given that most of them are dead, ever will be...) We're not always perfectly thoughtful but I believe the spirit is here, a relative friendliness (considering that some here have their own lives and aren't so invested in this place as some sorta haven); sometimes we just need a reminder. Like Erin's THINK BEFORE YOU COMMENT or an honest heartfelt entreaty like this from my sweet sister Drea...
~~hugs, Laika
.

[Leave it to Jill to zero in on that line from OFFICER KRUPKE, that song is Sondheim at his funniest ("We're depraved on account of we're deprived!"). Oddly enough, I allude to this number in my next Jackie Kaiser story, which is a bit kinder to Jackie than my previous two tales about her had been. Jackie and Sherrie having all kinds of silly fun at Sherrie's apartment after Church, at one point bursting into song:

"We are sick, we are sick, we are sick! We are psychologically de-stoibed!"

Sherrie's mom hears this, sticks her head into the room: "My God! What are you girls- er, kids singing?"

"Officer Cupcake!"

"Huh?"

"Yeah, from that movie you watched with us. WEST SIDE STORY..."

"Oh, that's right," she said, sounding somewhat relieved, "But I don't think his name was Officer Cupcake..."]

amusing

I love your interpretation of some posters here Drea... *sigh* so true at times :P
Alyssa

West Side Story

Was I believe Romeo And Juliet set in New York or Chicago. But your poem can speak for all here, 'Drea. Thanks for posting it.

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine
    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine

Now there's a talent

that I don't posess - verse and song.

I don't think I ever had the energy needed to perform the original, either.

If I like a work, I'll try to say so. If it's not to my taste, then I'll shut up and allow that someone else may well find it moving.

I do love this, and other songs which have inspired our authors' creativity.

Susie

Lenny was not a favorite of mine.

But Sondheim can be considered a minor deity for sure. As usual, the high quality of your work and message speak to us with a resounding voice. I find this piece hopeful and dripping with the grace that only 'we' can have.

Mea the Magnificent