The Wall.St Journal 21Feb2020

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Friday, February 21, 2020 |A

GAME PIECES| By Patrick Berry

TheWSJDailyCrossword|Edited by Mike Shenk

1234 5678 9101112

13 14 15

16 17 18

19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30 31 32

33 34

35 36 37 38

39 40

41 42 43 44 45

46 47 48

49 50 51 52 53

54 55 56 57 58

59 60 61

62 63 64

The answer to

this week’s contest

crossword isthe

name of a game.

Across

1 Jam-pack

5 Overhead

compartment’s

contents

9 Remaining

13 Blink-and-

you’ll-miss-it

appearance

14 This puzzle’s

missing piece?

15 “Interesting...”

16 Author of

novels set in

the fictional

Kindle County

18 Triangular blade

Previous Puzzle’s Solution

19 Swinger at a

party?

20 Saying nothing

22 Outdated

23 Came down

24 Books of rules?

28 Gross minus

expenses

29 Common listicle

topic after the

Oscar

nominations

30 Like inept

burglars

33 Washstand

vessels

34 Unnerve

35 Grand Guignol

sights

38 Stuffed mice,

perhaps

39 Many a

man-made lake,

formerly

40 The “something

sweet” in

Samson’s riddle

41 “Graceland”

singer

42 External

appearance

43 Prez on a penny

46 Musician who

composed the

Windows 95

start-up chime

48 Object modeled

by Bohr

49 Martian moon

count

51 Long in films

52 Make a mess of

54 Star and

co-writer of

“Bridesmaids”

56 Button-down

59 Where most

people live

60 In addition

61 Brother of Fredo

and Michael

62 Privateer’s target

63 “Serpico” org.

64 Tango dancer’s

prop

Down

1 Overly simplistic

2 Gofer’s promise

3 “___, c’est moi”

(Louis XIV quote)

4 Pro Football Hall

of Famer Ronnie

5 ___-ray

6 Make known

7 Small figures

8 Clinch

9 Golf ball position

10 Player whose #

jersey was retired

by the Bruins

11 Believe

12 Sore, with “off”

13 TV channel with

no ads

17 Smelly workplace

21 Half-ton

swimmer

25 Shared by us

26 “Conan” channel

27 Eccentric

29 Ready to testify

31 Scheming

32 Triumphant cry

33 Fielding flub

34 Life-or-death

payments

35 Command

centers, for short

36 Arles agreement

37 1988 Stallone

film

38 Originate

40 Decorator’s

choice

42 Slang term that

can mean either

“very bad” or

“very good”

43 Man with a diet

plan

44 Recurring role for

Damon

45 Like streets after

curfew

47 “Elementary”

actor Quinn

48 Pollen season

sound

49 Opening word of

“Jabberwocky”

50 Well-made

choice?

53 Abbr. on pre-

maps

55 Interstice

57 Gift not everyone

accepts

58 Ground cover

s

Email your answer—in the subject line—[email protected]

by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time Sunday, Feb. 23. A solver selected at random

will win a WSJ mug. Last week’s winner: Jen Bennion, Dallas, TX. Complete

contest rules atWSJ.com/Puzzles. (No purchase necessary. Void where

prohibited. U.S. residents 18 and over only.)

AHA MOAB DAMAGE

BIN LORE INARUT

ST I CKP IN ANGLER

MED JAPANESE

STALAGMI TE ASS

TALLYUP ERAT

ARFS REA MEWLS

TSA BUGSOUT HEN

SITBY PWN LAVA

REST ETAI LER

SU I CUTSOFBEEF

DELEGATE REP

OPTFOR ANTELOPE

GARL I C SEAS DOT

ELAYNE ETCH SPA

PUZZLE

CONTEST

Weather

Shown are today’s noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.

City Hi LoW Hi LoW City Hi Lo W Hi Lo W

Today Tomorrow Today Tomorrow

City Hi LoW Hi LoW

Anchorage 33 19 sf 24 11 sf

Atlanta 47 28 pc 55 33 s

Austin 54 30 pc 60 46 c

Baltimore 40 25 s 54 28 s

Boise 46 26 pc 50 28 s

Boston 33 27 s 49 32 s

Burlington 28 18 s 37 26 pc

Charlotte 45 23 s 55 28 s

Chicago 38 26 s 47 33 s

Cleveland 36 25 s 45 32 s

Dallas 50 36 s 56 46 c

Denver 49 25 s 51 28 pc

Detroit 37 24 s 45 30 s

Honolulu 81 70 pc 82 67 pc

Houston 56 33 s 60 46 c

Indianapolis 38 23 s 48 30 s

Kansas City 46 29 s 54 37 pc

Las Vegas 70 49 s 57 46 r

Little Rock 45 25 s 53 38 pc

Los Angeles 75 54 s 61 52 sh

Miami 78 60 c 74 64 pc

Milwaukee 36 25 s 46 31 s

Minneapolis 37 19 s 39 21 s

Nashville 44 23 s 53 33 s

New Orleans 55 40 s 58 46 s

New York City 36 29 s 50 35 s

Oklahoma City 48 32 s 58 44 c

Omaha 49 25 s 57 28 s

Orlando 60 48 c 68 51 pc

Philadelphia 38 27 s 52 31 s

Phoenix 79 59 pc 67 49 r

Pittsburgh 34 21 s 46 25 s

Portland, Maine 28 19 s 40 21 s

Portland, Ore. 56 36 s 54 40 sh

Sacramento 74 47 pc 69 44 pc

St. Louis 42 27 s 53 35 s

Salt Lake City 45 29 s 47 34 c

San Francisco 69 52 pc 60 50 pc

Santa Fe 50 32 c 51 35 sh

Seattle 54 40 pc 51 43 c

Sioux Falls 43 18 s 43 23 s

Wash., D.C. 41 28 s 55 32 s

Amsterdam 49 46 pc 53 45 r

Athens 56 43 sh 53 45 sh

Baghdad 72 49 pc 76 50 pc

Bangkok 94 75 s 94 74 s

Beijing 51 28 pc 50 25 s

Berlin 45 41 pc 51 41 c

Brussels 47 42 pc 52 47 r

Buenos Aires 72 55 pc 70 62 s

Dubai 82 67 pc 82 69 pc

Dublin 53 41 r 46 38 r

Edinburgh 51 37 sh 43 34 r

Frankfurt 47 37 pc 54 46 c

Geneva 52 34 pc 58 37 pc

Havana 83 62 pc 73 62 pc

Hong Kong 71 62 pc 73 63 pc

Istanbul 49 40 r 49 40 c

Jakarta 87 76 pc 87 76 t

Jerusalem 58 45 pc 50 43 sh

Johannesburg 83 64 t 80 63 t

London 52 48 pc 56 46 r

Madrid 64 36 s 66 37 s

Manila 87 73 c 88 74 pc

Melbourne 67 52 pc 72 55 s

Mexico City 75 46 pc 79 52 pc

Milan 59 34 pc 59 36 pc

Moscow 42 32 pc 40 32 pc

Mumbai 90 75 pc 92 75 pc

Paris 50 39 pc 57 48 c

Rio de Janeiro 86 74 pc 78 72 t

Riyadh 76 54 pc 82 60 pc

Rome 59 38 s 60 39 s

San Juan 86 72 pc 88 72 pc

Seoul 52 36 c 47 27 s

Shanghai 66 43 c 64 42 pc

Singapore 87 79 pc 88 78 pc

Sydney 7467sh 7368pc

Taipei City 80 60 s 76 64 s

Tokyo 54 48 s 61 49 r

Toronto 32 24 s 40 29 s

Vancouver 48 37 pc 47 37 sh

Warsaw 43 33 r 47 41 c

Zurich 47 29 pc 56 37 pc

Today Tomorrow

U.S. Forecasts

International

City Hi Lo W Hi Lo W

s...sunny; pc... partly cloudy; c...cloudy; sh...showers;

t...t’storms; r...rain; sf...snow flurries; sn...snow; i...ice

Today Tomorrow

Warm

Cold

Stationary

Showers

Rain

T-storms

Snow

Flurries

Ice

<

0s

10s

20s

30s

40s

50s

60s

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90s

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Winnipeg

VVancouver CCalgaryl

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Honolulu

Anchorage

Jacksonville

Little Rock

Charlotte

Louisville

Pittsburgh

New York

Salt Lake City

Tampa

Nashville

Memphis

Detroit

Kansas

City

El Paso Dallas

Billings

Portland

Miami

San Francisco

Sacramento

Orlando

Atlanta

New Orleans

Houston

San Diego Phoenix

Los Angeles

Las

Vegas

Seattle

Boise

Denver

Mpls./St. Paul

St. Louis

Chicago

Washington D.C.

Boston

Charleston

Milwaukee Hartford

Wichita

Indianapolis

Cleveland

Buffalo

Austin

Helena

Bismarck

Albuquerque

Omaha

Oklahoma City

San Antonio

Des Moines

Sioux Falls

Jackson

Birmingham

Cheyenne Philadelphia

Reno

Santa Fe

Colorado

Springs

Pierre

Richmond

Raleigh

Tucson

Albany

Topeka

Columbia

Augusta

Ft. Worth

Eugene

Springfield

Mobile

Toronto

Ottawa Montreal

Winnipeg

Vancouver Calgary

Edmonton

40s 70s

30s

20s

10s

-0s 0s

80s

70s

70s

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60s

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50s

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80s

LIFE & ARTS

FROM TOP: JAN VERSWEYVELD; JULIETA CERVANTES

an avalanche looked ridicu-

lous. And the way I used a

branch to rescue someone

who’d fallen through the

ice was just absurd.”

In a word, the film is

heartcooling, and regretta-

bly so, since the director,

Chris Sanders, has been a

force for good in Holly-

wood. He co-directed and

co-wrote, with Dean DeB-

lois, the 2002 “Lilo &

Stitch,” a delightful ani-

mated feature that figured

significantly in the resur-

gence of Disney’s anima-

tion division; in 2010 the

two made the hugely and

deservedly successful “How

to Train Your Dragon” for

DreamWorks.

But “The Call of the

Wild” doesn’t exist in the

world of pure animation

where Mr. Sanders has

flourished. Like its Saint

Bernard-Scotch Collie

hero—and like increasing

numbers of productions—

the film is mixed-breed, a

technological hybrid in

which coarse live action

has been mated with digital

imagery that’s both over-

ambitious and miscon-

ceived. Motion-capture

techniques and computer-

generated images can simu-

late just about any kind of

reality these days; Buck’s

movements and expres-

sions are a testament to

their power. Yet lifelike

doesn’t equate to having an

inner life. We project our

feelings on real dogs, in life

or on the screen, because

we love them for their limi-

tations as well as their

abilities. Buck is so preco-

cious, such a relentlessly

clever construction, that he

leaves nothing to our imag-

ination. He’s the soul-free

star of a movie that’s dead

in the icy water.

Buck, the CG dog, and Harrison Ford as John Thornton

TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX

FILM REVIEW

JOE MORGENSTERN

‘The Call of the Wild’:

Arctic Meltdown

THEY GOT ITall wrong in

“The Call of the Wild,” a

woefully inept retelling, or

re-re-retelling, of the Jack

London story about a com-

fortably domesticated Cali-

fornia dog named Buck

finding his true feral self

in the Yukon during the

Gold Rush. This latest iter-

ation of Buck is so lifelike,

thanks to the wonders of

computer animation, and

the people around him are

such lifeless caricatures,

that the studio should

have given the pooch the

gift of speech and kept the

humans mercifully mute.

But then what might

have come slobbering out

of Buck’s mouth?

Maybe “I’d really looked

forward to working with

Harrison Ford, who plays

John Thornton, my final

master, and I know this

may sound strange coming

from a computer-generated

canine, but he wasn’t very

animated—more glum than

endearing, more grumpy

than gruff.”

Or “Why did Omar Sy

turn Perrault, my first

master in the Northland

and a French-Canadian

mail courier, into such a

silly cartoon, with an

enormous smile and pop-

ping eyes? When I saw

Omar in ‘The Intouch-

ables’—yes, it was in

French, but why do you

suppose a CG creature

wouldn’t understand other

languages?—I thought he

was a force of nature. In our

movie he’s completely un-

natural, and no force at all.”

Or “Why was the action

stuff so dumb? I was glad

to be part of a sled-dog

team—it gets lonely being

digital—but having us pull

the sled into a kind of

theme-park tunnel to avoid

surprise—here and now. Oh,

yes, there’s no balcony or fire

escapes, just a huge empty

stage. Instead, the upstage

wall of the 1,761-seat Broad-

way Theatre has been re-

placed with a proscenium-

size projection screen on

which are alternately shown

scenes of the mean streets of

New York and giant live-TV

images of the cast in action.

All this, Mr. Van Hove has

said, is to the end of giving

us “a ‘West Side Story’ for

the 21st century.” On paper,

that’s an obvious but not-

unreasonable idea. I’m for

cutting and changing the

classics when it’s done with

taste and imagination—I

just reviewed an 85-minute

high-concept all-female

“Macbeth” that was thrilling

from start to finish—and

“West Side Story” is simi-

larly overdue for a thor-

oughgoing spring cleaning.

This is especially true of

Robbins’s dances. While I

love his vibrant, vaulting

sketches of teenage passion,

I’ve seen them too many

times to feel the urgent

need to see them again any-

time soon. Of the five previ-

ous “West Side Story” reviv-

als that I’ve reviewed in this

space, all either reproduced

Robbins’s steps more or less

literally or were strongly in-

fluenced by his style. The

trouble with Anne Teresa De

Keersmaeker’s choreography

is not that it’s new but that

it’s dull, at once undervital-

ized (you’ll come away feel-

ing as though the chorus

had spent the evening walk-

ing, not dancing) and un-

comprehending of the elec-

trifying social-dance styles

of the ’50s that are at the

show’s heart (modern dance,

not musical comedy, is her

field). It’s not enough

merely to get rid of Rob-

bins’s dances: You have to

replace them with some-

thing equally dramatic, and

Ms. De Keersmaeker hasn’t

come close to doing so.

As for Mr. Van Hove’s

staging, it is, like everything

else he’s done on Broadway, a

medley of self-regarding min-

imalist clichés slathered with

political sauce. Does he really,

truly believe that it’s a smart

idea to turn “Gee, Officer

Krupke,” one of the most bit-

terly thought-provoking

comic songs ever written,

into a ham-fisted critique of

the evils of police brutality?

(It’s no small feat to perform

Isaac Powell, above, and Shereen Pimentel with Mr. Powell and the

cast of ‘West Side Story,’ top, in Ivo van Hove’s new Broadway revival

New York

POP QUIZ,boomers: What’s

your favorite musical? If I

had to guess, I’d go for “West

Side Story.” Not only did the

original 1957 production light

up the hit parade four times

in a row, with “Maria,” “One

Hand, One Heart,” “Some-

where” and “Tonight,” but

the 1961 film version was a

box-office smash that won 10

Oscars and remains to this

day a small-screen staple,

while regional theater com-

panies all over America con-

tinue to stage the show with

remunerative regularity. As

for Broadway, this fourth re-

vival of “West Side Story”

had been in previews since

December and is selling out

nightly. Nor is anyone buying

tickets to see the big names

in the cast, because there

aren’t any: This is a starless

production. No, they’re going

to see “West Side Story” be-

cause it’s “West Side Story.”

Unfortunately, a suburban

mom who goes to Ivo van

Hove’s new Broadway revival

without knowing anything

about Mr. Van Hove’s work in

general or this production in

particular is in for a very big

shock. This is not the “West

Side Story” you know and

love, and there are some—

quite a few, actually—who’ll

likely tell you that it’s not

“West Side Story” at all. Je-

rome Robbins’s finger-pop-

ping choreography has been

scrapped, and the rest of the

show is heavily cut (it now

runs for an intermission-free

hour and 45 minutes, an hour

shorter than the 2009 Broad-

way revival). “I Feel Pretty”

and the “Somewhere” ballet

are nowhere to be seen in

Mr. Van Hove’s production,

which takes place not on

New York’s Upper West Side

in the ’50s but—surprise,

“Krupke” in such a way that

it doesn’t get a single laugh.)

Or to accompany every scene

in the show with 50-foot-high

video projections that dwarf

the actors, making it all but

impossible to pay attention to

what they’re doing on stage?

But, then, next to nothing is

right about this “West Side

Story.” Except for the Maria,

Shereen Pimentel, a 21-year-

old Juilliard student who is

rich with promise, the cast is

mostly uninteresting. The

singing lacks swing and

punch, the stage combat is

flabby, the 25-piece pit band

is miked in such a way as to

sound half its actual

size...need I go on?

Above all, Mr. Van Hove’s

production is devoid of two

things essential to the total

effect of the original “West

Side Story.” The show that

Robbins, Leonard Bernstein,

Arthur Laurents and Stephen

Sondheim created over six

decades ago was sexy—and

funny. That’s what makes the

tragic ending land with the

force of a hydrogen bomb.

The original “West Side

Story” starts in one place,

dramatically speaking, and

ends in another, and when

the curtain finally comes

down, there’s a corpse at cen-

terstage.Evenifyouknow

the show well, you’re still

shocked. Not so Mr. Van

Hove’s version, which goes

nowhere and telegraphs all its

punches. It is its own spoiler.

West Side Story

Broadway Theatre, 1681

Broadway ($39-$199),

212-239-6200/800-432-

Mr. Teachout, the Journal’s

drama critic, is the author

of “Satchmo at the

Waldorf.” Write to him at

[email protected].

Worst Side Story

THEATER REVIEW|TERRY TEACHOUT