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Robbins is a hard man to please; this is one notoriously imperious impresario. "When I work on a show," he says, "I'm a wasp. You know how a wasp buzzes around and keeps you on your toes and worries about everything. There's a sound in the air that keeps everything moving." At times the buzz becomes a sonic boom. "Jerry was still rehearsing during previews," says Victor Castelli, a City Ballet soloist who is assisting Robbins. "The kids are exhausted because they are not used to it, and Jerry will be frustrated and annoyed and will yell and scream." But those who have survived Robbins' basic training testify to its effectiveness. "The theater is not all pats on the back," says Chita Rivera, who played Anita in the original West Side Story, "because that does not get the job done. Jerry forces you to go through the pain, and then you find out that you are stronger than you were."
To Robbins, the 62-member cast of this show might be the Straw Hatters of a half-century ago, and he might be Abbott or Balanchine. "We have a wonderful company," he says. "They are devoted to the show and to each other and to the material, and I am touched and astounded by their capacity." He is already a bit sad that this long voyage into his shining past and Broadway's iffy future is completed. "I'm like a cruise director," he says. "I organize the trip and the entertainment and the luggage. Then everybody gets on the ship, and it sails off without me. After a show opens, a chasm opens before me. My relationships with 70 people almost come to a halt. I like them a lot, and I miss them tremendously."
And Broadway misses Robbins. For a decade or so after his abdication, the American musical was dominated by choreographer-directors in the Robbins mold: Bob Fosse, Michael Bennett, Tommy Tune. Today, though, Broadway is little more than a posh road stop for the British musical; the '80s' three signature smashes (Cats, Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera) were born in London. Jacobs tacitly acknowledges this when he proclaims Robbins "a genius, probably the genius of our time," then adds, "God pity me if Andrew Lloyd Webber hears that."
So hear this: Jerome Robbins is Broadway's perennial prince charming, and his show is a kiss of life to the Sleeping Beauty of the American musical. "I always felt this might well be the most exciting piece of theater in my lifetime," Jacobs says with unaccustomed fervor. "I certainly hope so." High hopes, yes, but Robbins has usually soared to achieve them. "He is the real Peter Pan," says Mary Martin, who 35 years ago played that role for Robbins. "He loves to fly."