MARCH MARCHES IN ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE STORY

Last Monday night I hosted an pre-theatre event for the Paley Media Center (formerly the Museum of Radio and TV) on West Side Story. This is the second time I have done something like this. The first was an evening devoted to Ethel Merman where I interviewed and bantered with Brian Kellow, the author of the latest Ethel Merman bio. I, of course was great friends with Ethel the last two years of her life so I contributed some of my best stories and anecdotes, not to mention some of my rare video and kinescopes to the proceedings. But that's last year. Now, I was asked to interview (very briefly) Alexander Bernstein (Leonard's son), Harvey Evans (a Broadway replacement Jet and one of the film Jets) and Eliot Feld (also a replacement for Baby John and the film Baby John). I started off with a little West Side history and then introduced Bernstein after which we showed the Ed Sullivan 1958 clip of the Cool number. After that I introduced Harvey and Eliot and asked them a few questions. They were marvelous. Lastly, we showed some of Harvey's home movies from the shooting of the movie and summed it all up. Dinner was delicous (we were at Blue Fin across from the Palace Theatre where the show is playing) and then we went off to see the show. This revival is much improved from the tryout in DC but still not the bees knees in my opinion. Still too much Spanish and not enough poetry in the staging or performances. Enough said. It opens next week and I am anxious to read the notices.