Mambo Scene from West Side Story- Cherokee High School

[BebeChic112]

This is the BEST high school production of West Side STory that i have ever seen!

[NickMattKid1]

WAAAAAY too many people on stage... Very distracting. The promenade seemed HUGE! So hard to the the Jets from the sharks... Not a very good performance of this piece....

[TheGodKingOfMusic]

good job except there are too many girls yelling

[westsidestory97]

Anita NEEDS a purple dress. :o

[rdhead184]

Glad Hand could have been more awkward

[lexinator86]

this is pretty good, compared to some other the other high schools ive seen, but my school is doing it in november, and its orginal broadway dancing, so much better than this..

[Luiantval]

Am I the only one put off by the girl in the jeans and cap? You know, the one who looks totally out of place?

[yodason7]

@Luiantval i'm pretty sure this was just a dress rehearsal. i worked tech for it and i promise, there was no one in jeans on stage in this scene

[Luiantval]

@yodason7 Hmm, fair enough. Makes sense, I guess.

[texmatt]

@yodason7 I think you're forgetting the character of Anybodys - remember the girl who wanted to join the Jets? She was definitely in this scene in the play and the movie and she dressed kind of like a guy.

[texmatt]

@Luiantval That girl was the character of "Anybodys".  A kind of tomboyish girl who wanted to join the Jets gang.

[1singer4]

@Luiantval it's a character.. "anybodys", she's a girl that wants to be a fighter with the jet boys. You just have to actually know the play

[Jbirdrules3818]

great there good dancers the music is a allright could have been better but for high school it was pretty good

[gabriellehowarth]

@Jbirdrules3818 since the musicians are union and not high school kids it is appears you don't knoe the difference

[Eliemarieee]

You worked HARD.

congrats!

[silhuetto]

Amazing!!

[dryamaka]

WAY too many people for this scene! and small stage!

[SJAzz92]

small stage? its bigger than the academy of music and the kimmel center...

[dryamaka]

@SJAzz92 oh, and you know the dimensions of both the stages you mentioned and the one in the video? nice try, ass.

[SJAzz92]

@dryamaka i go to this high school and have performed on this stage numerous times. the stage crew sells their sets to the acadamy of music. so yes, it was a nice try and a nice success.

[gabriellehowarth]

@SJAzz92 actually it is the same size. the 4.5 million theater was built as a regional p. arts center.

[SJAzz92]

@gabriellehowarth yeah i go to cherokee haha. and nice job in les mis

[waynebrasler]

Dance copyright only went into effect in 1976 and even then only one case has ever come to court. Countless productions of "West Side Story" have used the Robbins original as a close reference. The choreography here has a problem in that a lot of time a lot of dancers seem to be marking time. It doesn't do justice to "Dance at the Gym." On the other hand, the talent, energy and large scale here are truly impressive. This cast could have pulled off the original dances I'm sure.

[ChasingNever]

That chorus is HUGE!!! well done all... are there any strings in that pit? its too... marching band.... kinda ruins the piece... otherwise OUTSTANDING

[SJAzz92]

sounds too marching band? the musicians are professionals, all whom have played on broadway at some point in their careers. I know the lead trumpet player played in Frank Sinatra's band, Buddy Rich's, the Village Vanguard, and with Maynard Ferguson...he's my private teacher.

[ChasingNever]

oh I never said it was bad from a technical stand point... just that the Symphonic Suite from West Side Story was written for a symphony and has tons of outstanding string moments (especially within this scene)... Don't spin my words, its very good.

[SJAzz92]

oh you meant instrumentation. gotcha. i thought you meant like tone and dynamics. because when someone says "it was played too marching band" i think of really loud, and bad tone.

[SJAzz92]

and there were strings in the pit.

[ChasingNever]

In which case the sound was not well done.... too much percussion most of all

[kingpita172]

For high school, pretty good

[Vampyr789]

amazing for a high school!!! This is awesome!! there is so much energy in the dancing!!! the music sounds awesome too!

[Caramiat5]

this is one of the best Dance at the Gym scene's I've seen on youtube! the dancing is really good, and they have lots of energy! awesome job :)

[kingpita172]

pretty good, for a high school production

[71yes71]

THIS IS HELLA GOOD

THE ENERGY IS CRAZY

[fujunction]

for real

the "MAMBO-MAMBO-GO" part sounds tight

[Anime0German]

Das ist ja mal Cool^^

[laaviebohemee]

this is so similar to my school's production, except ours had more lights:) this looks really good though, lots of talent.

[pedroesteban86]

wow, finally a version where the pit orchestra isn't crapping all over Bernstein's Mambo. Great trumpets.

[jsnyc40]

This is the best high school production I've ever seen. What a talented group of kids. Fantastic job.

[mattzgrl]

way 2 copy the movie exactly... unoriginal

[SirWickedCute]

The choreography is copyrighted, genius. They have to copy the movie.

OMG they copied Tonight, too! Dastardly!

[texmatt]

I think when something is under copyright, it means you CAN'T copy it without permission. It doesn't mean you MUST copy it. In any case, I agree mattzgrl is off base. Being able to pull off something even close to the original Robbins' choreography is an accomplishment that should be praised, not criticized.

[texmatt]

The original choreography is pretty spectacular, so why not use it? They presumably used the original music and storyline - so why not the original choreography? For them to even attempt Robbins is admirable in iteslf and they did a damned good job at it. "Original" doesn't always mean better or more interesting. It usually means "I don't have what it takes to honor what a genius created, so I'll just make something up and call it 'ORIGINAL'." I call that arrogant and/or lazy.

[H83wun]

It's pretty fun to watch but there are SO many people on stage. It seems so easy to get overwhelmed.

Though it is definately true to an actual youth dance.

[XhotcheetosX]

see, this is how high school plays are SUPPOSED to be!!

[AttentionSpan]

was that a pit orchestra?

if it was. THEY WERE BEAST

[bellavitagirl4]

CHS always hires local players to be in the full pit orchestra for the spring shows.

[milpool89]

Wow! I couldn't take my eyes off the girl playing Anita - she's awesome!

[bellavitagirl4]

She actually was friends with the girl who won the first season of America's Got Talent...they took voice lessons from the same teacher...

[kelly3kins]

this is very very good, but the choreography is identical to that of the movie. :[

[bellavitagirl4]

Why not honor the original Robbins choreography? It's iconic. It's even used in the new revival. Makes sense to me.

[Joserm182]

it's not identical at all.

[animecrazy102]

Woah that was really good, I hope by the time I get to Cherokee the talent will still be as amazing...

[fgulli720]

This is AMAZING. public high school or not I saw the Broadway revival last night and these kids are truly amazing!

[siltor67]

excellent work!!!! you kids have talent!!!

[keikocat2001]

Excellent.

It's hard to believe it's a high school production. Is it an average high school or a school of the arts?

[O0O0OsnapitsCarli]

we are just a public high school in new jersey. =)

we have a lot of theatre kids at our school.

[keikocat2001]

You are so lucky to attend a school with so much talent.

Thanks for the info, and the post. And I'm sorry you couldn't tape more, too ;)

[bellavitagirl4]

You should have seen when they did Les Mis. People actually said it was better than the touring version that was running in Philly at the time.

[Haileelynn]

wow this is amazing! i am going to do this show this summer and i was wondering if you had clips of anybodys?

[O0O0OsnapitsCarli]

no sorry, since I wasnt in it I didnt get to record the whole show, but this was the only scene I could sneak my camera out for lol.

[H83wun]

You can see her in the dance for a bit, I'm pretty sure. She gets a good look up Anita's shirt xD

[Theoz69]

Not bad at all!

[texmatt]

I've been looking at a lot of WSS videos from professional, community and high school productions and this is the absolute BEST by far! Wow! These kids were so poised, moved really well - like professionals - and the orchestra sounded great. Where is Cherokee High?

[O0O0OsnapitsCarli]

it's in new jersey haha, thanks!

they all did great, I wasn't in it though.

I wish haha.

[theSuperMetroid]

Cherokee High School really is the best I've seen when it comes to plays.

[O0O0OsnapitsCarli]

thankyou so much. we are very blessed for everything we have.

they did great.

[allieluvsmike]

AHHHHH!!!! I SEE MIKE!!! I LOVE HIM SOOOOO MUCHO!! LUV THIS PLAY!!! somone really really needs to put the whole play on here!!!!!!

[O0O0OsnapitsCarli]

haha I'm glad you liked it.

I wish I could have taped moreeee.

[Sugareexthexgypsy]

kristy was the best maria ever<3!

[O0O0OsnapitsCarli]

OH MY GOD, I agree. =]

her voice is just awesome.

[castillojen]

oh that looked really fun! a lot of hard work preparing, but looks really fun