Abstract:

This essay returns to the author’s 2012 Theatre Journal article, “Compiling West Side Story’s Parahistories, 1949–2009,” to reassess the utility of “parahistory” as a critical or historiographic device to evince how “revisals” of canonical theatrical works might chart, illuminate, and document changes in the historical conditions of creative possibility. The essay then considers three notable productions of the musical that have appeared since the essay’s publication: the 2021 cinematic adaptation by Stephen Spielberg and Tony Kushner; the 2019 Broadway revival directed by Ivo van Hove; and Carnegie Hall’s 2016 The Somewhere Project. Teasing out how each of these productions underscore both the limits and possibility of “parahistory,” the essay concludes with a consideration of how artists and scholars have used West Side Story as a point of critical and creative departure and ponders how a more expansive notion of parahistories might orient a generative path toward understanding the theatrical canon amidst the contemporary cultural trend toward “the multiverse.”

摘要：

本文回顾了作者 2012 年在《戏剧杂志》上发表的文章“编译《西区故事》的准历史，1949-2009”，重新评估“准历史”作为批评或史学​​手段的效用，以证明对经典戏剧作品的“修订”可能会产生怎样的效果。图表、阐明和记录创造可能性的历史条件的变化。然后，本文考虑了自文章发表以来这部音乐剧的三部著名作品：斯蒂芬·斯皮尔伯格和托尼·库什纳于 2021 年改编的电影；2019 年百老汇重演，由伊沃·范霍夫 (Ivo van Hove) 执导；以及卡内基音乐厅 2016 年“某处项目”。本文梳理了这些作品如何强调“准历史”的局限性和可能性，最后考虑了艺术家和学者如何使用《西区故事》作为批判和创造性的出发点，并思考如何更广泛的概念在当代“多元宇宙”的文化趋势中，超历史可能会引导一条理解戏剧经典的生成路径。