and ford. we go further, so you can. >> australia is still burning. fires are devouring forests. daytime skies are turning marmalade. and the continent's wildlife has seen losses that are difficult to measure. this is malcolm turnbull, australia's last prime minister and a political conservative. >> the right-wing climate deniers' climate is downright dangerous, dangerous for here in australia and right around the world. >> so the server, they say, is held by a company whose primary ownership individual is from ukraine. i'd like to see the server.

>> during the investigation you were leading, did crowdstrike ever send any of the dnc's computer hardware to ukraine? >> no, that is insane, and this is not within the realm of reality. >> no snapping fingers, no fire escape balcony, nope, this is not your parent's "west side story." >> everything scares me about this. it's a huge challenge. >> ladies, lady, ladies! >> and, of course, everyone has an expectation. "60 minutes" spent the last four months behind the scenes as this epic american production gets set to open on broadway. ( ticking ) >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm bill whitaker. >> i'm anderson cooper. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories, tonight, on "60 minutes." ( ticking )

>> cbs money watch sponsored by lincoln financial, helping you create a secure financial future. >> good evening. financial markets are closed tomorrow for presidents day. investors are watching coronavirus developments with the nasdaq and s&p at all-time high, and with we'll know tuesday if a shortened holiday shopping season squeezed walmart's earnings. i'm elaine quijano, cbs news. up to 90 percent of people fall short

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>> whitker: tonight, holly williams, on assignment for "60 minutes." >> williams: it's summer in australia and it's been a season from hell. raging fires have devastated the continent, scorching a reported 27 million acres and killing 33 people. bush fires are a part of life in australia- and they're often deadly. but the scale of these fires is unprecedented. areas across multiple states have ignited. australian cities have suffocated in smoke, on some days giving residents te worst air quality in the world.

and according to one estimate, a billion animals have been killed. scientists say climate change is transforming australia's environment- making it hotter and drier- and exposing it to longer, more intense fire seasons. the fires started unusually early in september, and when we visited the continent this month, we found that australia is still burning. the fires have devoured forests like rivers of lava, smoke blanketing the landscape, the skies turning marmalade in the middle of the day. it's been a black summer down under, and it's not over yet. it sometimes feels as if australia is at war, fighting against insatiable flames that are fueled by record heat, high winds and a country parched by drought, and this is what's been

left behind in towns like cobargo, five hours south of sydney, where marilyn mills was trapped in her burning house. so the fire came up through here, is that right? >> marilyn mills: it started coming up here, just straight and i thought, i'm just gonna burn to death. >> williams: it sounds as if you were convinced that you were going to die. >> mills: and i thought, just die. >> williams: you wanted to die at that point. >> mills: yeah, if i could have killed myself, i would have done it in a second rather than burn to death. it was so hot. >> oh my god! >> williams: 60 miles away, on the coast, the scenes on new year's eve were like a modern- day dunkirk. the fires forced people to retreat to the beaches, as flying embers gusted across the sand. >> greg mullins: they actually had to jump into the ocean to escape. the fires burnt right to the edge. >> williams: have you ever seen that before, people having to shelter on, on the beach and

in the water? >> mullins: on a massive scale, over hundreds of miles in, in multiple communities, no. that's just unprecedented. >> williams: greg mullins was there, an experienced fire captain battling towering flames. >> mullins: the wind was howling. when the fire came through, that sounded like a 747 jet landing. so the sounds, the sights, it was just, it was apocalyptic. i don't like this. out, out, out, out. >> williams: mullins says he'd never seen a blaze move that quickly. >> mullins: at one stage, i saw kangaroos come out of the bush on fire, and then just drop dead on the roadway. and i've never, ever seen that before. because they're fast animals. they know where to go. >> williams: this time lapse video from a dash cam shows how firefighters were forced to scramble in the face of rapidly approaching flames. in less than two minutes the fire consumed anything that didn't make it out.

hundreds of bush fires have burned for weeks on end, some of them merging into mega fires, and firefighters on the front line say nature has gone awry. >> mullins: i saw fire behavior i didn't expect. and what i learned later was that the fire had created its own weather system. >> williams: what do you mean the fire had created its own weather system? >> mullins: big fires can form storm clouds, which then you have an inrush of air at the bottom, you have downbursts, just like a normal thunderstorm. you have lightning that can start fires 20, 25 miles away. and firefighters can lose their lives. so one night, an eight-ton fire truck was picked up by a downburst and put on its roof injured the rest of them. >> williams: to drop fire retardant, australia is relying on borrowed flying tankers from north america. one of the planes went down in smokey conditions last month,

killing three american firefighters on board. >> mullins: we're so indebted to those people. and every firefighter felt it. three of our brothers, albeit from the u.s., lost their lives trying to help us. >> williams: australia's firefighters are nearly all volunteers- courageous, but exhausted. they're affectionately known as "firies" and we saw them protecting suburban homes. this fire is burning out of control and it's just 25 miles from canberra, australia's capital city. and what makes this even more dangerous are the conditions. it's windy today, it's bone dry and it's nearly 110 degrees. and it's the changing climate that is at the heart of the problem, according to scientists. >> joelle gergis: 2019 was the hottest and the driest year in australia's history. so we actually saw temperature records be broken all over the country.

>> williams: joelle gergis is a climate scientist at the australian national university and is a lead author of an upcoming united nations report on climate change. >> gergis: this is the type of summer you might not have expected 'til the middle of the century based on past projections. so i think this is really redefining what it means to actually be living through a period of rapid climate change. >> williams: so you're saying you would have expected this kind of scenario that we saw this summer to happen in 2050? >> gergis: yeah, potentially. middle of the century. >> williams: are you shocked? >> gergis: of course i'm shocked. >> williams: gergis says australia is more vulnerable to climate change than any other developed nation, in part because it's the driest inhabited continent. when it comes to climate change is australia a bell-weather for the rest of the world? has beker: i think this summer most australians. and myself as, as a climate scientist, seeing the extreme level of heat and the bush fires and the drought conditions playing out so catastrophically

has been, i think, a wakeup call to the world. >> malcolm turnbull: we have been mugged by the reality of climate change in this summer. >> williams: malcolm turnbull is a political conservative who served as australia's prime minister up until august of 2018. >> turnbull: this is climate change in the raw. this is what we have been told to expect for years. >> williams: when you were prime minister, were you warned that the fires were getting worse? >> turnbull: well, of course. everyone has known this. we've been warned by the climate scientists. everyone has been aware of this except for those who, well, the climate change deniers are aware of it, but they choose to deny reality. it's been a challenging time. >> williams: turnbull was bounced out of office by the right wing of his own party largely over his support for cutting carbon emissions. >> turnbull: the right wing climate deniers treat an issue of science and physics and fact

as though it was a question of ideology, and their conduct is not just idiotic. it is downright dangerous. dangerous for us here in australia and around the world. >> williams: you're talking about people in your own party. >> turnbull: of course i am. yeah. absolutely. >> williams: dangerous and idiotic. >> turnbull: well, of course it is dangerous and idiotic not to be taking the strongest action to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions. >> williams: turnbull was replaced by scott morrison, who has minimized climate change. he famously stood up in parliament in 2017 and taunted his opponents with a lump of coal. >> scott morrison: this is coal. don't be afraid, don't be scared. it's coal. >> williams: morrison has prioritized protecting australia's mining industry. coal is the country's second largest export, and members of the current government argue it's not australia's responsibility to act on climate change since the country only

produces about 1% of global emissions. isn't there some truth in that? >> turnbull: well-- >> williams: i mean, if, if the u.s. doesn't act, if china and india don't act on emissions, it doesn't matter very much. >> turnbull: well, if we-- >> williams: what australia does-- >> turnbull: well, if we don't act, if we don't act, a wealthy advanced economy facing the harsh reality of climate change, if we don't act and show leadership, why would anyone else act? >> williams: with his country on fire, the current prime minister scott morrison took his family on a hawaiian vacation. when he returned home, he was given a cold shoulder as he tried to comfort victims in the fire zones. he was heckled by seething residents. >> you're an idiot, mate, you really are. >> williams: including in the hard-hit town of cobargo where marilyn mills lives a lot of people in cobargo are angry with the prime minister.

do you share those feelings? >> mills: well, he didn't light the fire. like, what can he do? he's just a bloke with a whole bunch of people under him and they're all idiots. ( laughs ) >> williams: for you, it sounds like it's the entire government that you're angry with. >> mills: well, they need to have a look at what, what threatens australia. fire threatens australia. that's our big thing, fire. fire, drought, all those sorts of things, that's what they need to focus on. >> williams: greg mullins says he and 22 former fire and emergency service chiefs from all over australia wrote to prime minister morrison last april warning him of a looming catastrophe and requesting more resources to fight bush fires. and what was the response? >> mullins: ah, that he was too busy to meet with us. >> williams: he refused to meet with you. >> mullins: point blank. told us to buzz off basically. >> williams: why? >> mullins: we've been told by senior public servants in canberra that because we uttered two horrible words, "climate change," we were discounted as

being activists, and we would not get a meeting at any stage with the prime minister. >> williams: we wanted to interview the prime minister about the devastating fires and their connection with climate change but he declined our request, as did other members of his government. scott morrison has admitted that he made mistakes in his handling of this crisis. but what he has not done is make any change to reduce this country's carbon emissions. climate scientist joelle gergis says the future of australia hangs in the balance. are the australian people being betrayed by their politicians? >> gergis: at this moment i think it is really reckless and potentially criminal because we know enough. we actually know enough about the science now. i think the science is crystal clear. and i think the impacts are now playing out now. remember that australia is actually an extraordinary continent. we have the highest level of plants and animals that are found here and nowhere else on

earth. >> williams: australia's most iconic animals- koalas and kangaroos-- have fared terribly, innocent victims of the fires. one scientist estimates at least a billion animals have died. we went to kangaroo island, off australia's southern coast, where tens of thousands of koalas are believed to have been killed. 48% of the island has burned. surviving koalas have been brought to a makeshift care center-- the living room of a family that runs a wildlife park. the baby koalas, some only months old, receive special attention. many koalas were singed on their paws and arrived dehydrated. a mash unit has been set up to sedate them and treat their wounds so they may one day return to their habitat-- or what's left of it. feeding grounds have been reduced to char.

and just before we left the island, we came across this hungry kangaroo, scouring the ashes for something to eat. in the last two weeks it's fnally rained, giving everyone some respite, and hope that this most brutal season of fires may be coming to an end. but the scars remain. in what used to be pristine wilderness ringing with birdsong and brimming with wildlife, there is silence. the music of the forest, in the middle of the australian summer, is gone. ( ticking ) >> australia's bushfires hit close to home for the "60 minutes" team who reported this story. go to 60minutesovertime.com, sponsored by pfizer.

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>> pelley: even after the acquittal of the president, his lawyer, rudy giuliani, is pursuing allegations of corruption in ukraine. this past week, attorney general william barr said the justice department would "carefully scrutinize" what giuliani finds.

last july, president trump made the phone call to ukraine that led to impeachment. he asked the president of ukraine to investigate a mysterious democratic national committee computer server that mr. trump said was hidden in ukraine. we have found that odd request is a story that has grown over the years and was influenced by moscow. you may have wondered how the president was impeached over ukraine of all places. the answer is in the story of the mystery server-- a reminder that the u.s. and russia have been on opposite sides of a war in ukraine since russia's invasion in 2014. >> bill taylor: ukraine's security is important to our security, and the reason i believe that is that ukraine is on the frontline. >> pelley: few people understand what's at stake as well as ambassador bill taylor. he led the u.s. embassy in

ukraine as the trump administration withheld military aid while pressing for investigations of democrats. >> taylor: it was illogical, it could not be explained, it was crazy. >> pelley: taylor's testimony carried the weight of his resume; west point, 101st airborne in vietnam, 33 years as a diplomat, and an expert on ukraine. >> taylor: the russian are fighting a hybrid war against ukraine, but it's not just about ukraine, they are fighting a hybrid war against europe and against the united states. >> pelley: the war that the russians are fighting in ukraine, we have a stake in? >> taylor: we have a stake in, but it's not just the military war. hybrid war is more than tanks and soldiers. hybrid war is information war, it's cyber war, it's economic war, it's attacks on elections

and as we know they have attacked our elections. >> pelley: the russian attack on the 2016 election included hacking the computers of the democratic national committee. u.s. intelligence agencies found, "the russian government aspired to help president elect trump's election chances when possible by discrediting secretary clinton." former deputy national intelligence officer and c.i.a. russia analyst, andrea kendall-taylor worked on that report. >> andrea kendell-taylor: the report itself was based on a large body of evidence that demonstrated not only what russia was doing, but also its intent. and it's based on a number of different sources, collected human intelligence, technical intelligence. >> pelley: you seem to be saying that the evidence is convincing. that this isn't a close call. >> kendell-taylor: that's absolutely right. if you read the intelligence report, it's the consensus view of three intelligence agencies; c.i.a., n.s.a. and the f.b.i.

>> pelley: the same conclusion was reached by the republican- led senate select committee on intelligence. the committee's report on russian interference was unanimously approved by all of its democratic and republican members. democrat mark warner is vice- chairman. >> mark warner: the russian project was a top down, government-run covert operation that hacked into the d.n.c. and individuals' personal emails, and weaponized that information to release it at the most important times. >> pelley: but the idea that the trump campaign was helped by russia, even unwittingly, was a unanimous judgment mr. trump would not accept. >> donald trump: and by the way folks just in case you're like, curious, no, russia did not help me okay? russia? i call it the russian hoax.

>> pelley: mr. trump began a campaign to discredit the intelligence community's conclusions. he tweeted, "so how and why are they so sure about hacking if they never even requested an examination of the computer servers?" in mr. trump's telling, the f.b.i. failed to look for evidence on the democrats' computer network. the story of the mystery server was born. you dealt directly with the f.b.i.? >> robert johnston: i did. yeah, sure. >> pelley: robert johnston was an investigator of the d.n.c. hack for crowdstrike, a leading cyber security company hired by the democrats. he told us the f.b.i. didn't physically examine the d.n.c. servers because crowdstrike gave the bureau copies of the data from the servers. >> johnston: if there is a server or a computer system of any kind that's involved in the incident you can take an exact bit for bit digital copy of

what's on that system. now that digital copy is just as good as having the real thing. >> pelley: as far as you know, the f.b.i. got what it needed and what it wanted? >> johnston: exactly, and evidence of that is you don't hear the f.b.i. complaining. >> pelley: he's right. a former senior government official, familiar with the investigation, told us what the f.b.i. would have preferred to work alongside crowdstrike's investigators, but the democratic national committee decided to give the bureau digital copies of its servers instead. the official told us this was" acceptable," in fact even typical in f.b.i. investigations. the f.b.i. used the data to help indict 12 russian intelligence agents for hacking the d.n.c. but mr. trump's tweets persisted." why did the d.n.c. refuse to turn over its server to the f.b.i." and "where are hidden

and smashed d.n.c. servers?" there were more than 140 servers in the democrats' network. but mr. trump created an image of a single box of incriminating information. >> trump: where is the server? i want to know, where is the server? and what is the server saying? with that being said, all i can do is ask the question. my people came to me-- dan coats came to me and some others-- they said they think it's russia. i have president putin; he just said it's not russia. i will say this: i don't see any reason why it would be, but i really do want to see the server. >> pelley: that statement, letting russia off the hook, forced president trump to issue a retraction the next day. through all of this, vladimir putin wasn't just standing idly by. he was working to shift blame away from russia. >> kendall-taylor: what we can see is that russia did what russia does, and that is piling

on. they amplify those narratives in ways that then advance russia's own interests. >> pelley: they look for conspiracy theories that are already out there? >> kendell-taylor: they're picking up on elements or narratives that already exist in a society and amplifying those narratives that advance russian interests. >> pelley: the interest of putin was to drive a wedge between his enemy, ukraine, and ukraine's most important ally, the united states. >> kendall-taylor: a successful, prosperous, western-oriented ukraine provides a direct threat to putin's hold on power. he can't have a successful ukraine on his southern border, because then it demonstrates to russians what is possible. >> pelley: two weeks after mr. trinauguratipu said, inhinews conference, it was not russia that helped donald trump, but ukraine that helped hillary clinton. russian media and u.s.

conspiracy websites began to spin suspicion of ukraine. ultimately, those rumors appealed to mr. trump's private lawyer, rudy giuliani, who was working to discredit the investigations of russian meddling in 2016. >> taylor: and there were concerns that there was another game being played, another channel that mr. giuliani was involved in. >> pelley: as head of the u.s. embassy in ukraine, bill taylor was frustrated that giuliani was agitating for investigations that were never official u.s. policy. did anyone at the state department ever direct you to investigate whether there was a server in ukraine? >> taylor: no. >> pelley: why not? >> taylor: no one took it seriously. >> pelley: no one perhaps, except the president. in 2017, for the first time, he added ukraine to the story of the server. in an interview he said, "why wouldn't hillary clinton allow

the f.b.i. to see the server? they brought in another company that i hear is ukrainian-based." crowdstrike?" the reporter asked." that's what i heard. i heard it's owned by a very rich ukrainian." the securities and exchange commission, shows that crowdstrike is incorporated in delaware and based in california. its largest shareholders are american venture capital firms. over the years crowdstrike has been hired by both the democratic and republican parties. >> trump: so, the server, they say, is held by a company whose primary ownership individual is from ukraine. i'd like to see the server. >> pelley: are there any links, to your knowledge, between crowdstrike and anyone in ukraine? >> taylor: not to my knowledge. >> pelley: was this something that the embassy was concerned about? >> taylor: no. >> pelley: during the investigation you were leading, did crowdstrike ever send any of

the d.n.c.'s computer hardware to ukraine? >> johnston: no. that-- that is-- that is insane. that is not within the realm of reality. >> pelley: last july, reality suffered a final blow. the story mr. trump first adopted as a server the f.b.i. was blocked from seeing, and then became the server investigated by a ukrainian company, finally morphed into the server hidden in ukraine. in the call, after the ukrainian president asked for anti-tank missiles to defend himself from russia, mr. trump replied, "i would like you to do us a favor though. they say crowdstrike... i guess you have one of your wealthy people... the server, they say ukraine has it." this was the first favor mr. trump asked for even before his request that ukraine also investigate the son of vice president biden. this past november, mr. trump spoke, by phone, to fox and

friends. >> trump: they gave the server to crowdstrike or whatever it's called which is a company owned by a very wealthy ukrainian and i still want to see that server you know the f.b.i.'s never gotten that server. that's a big part of this whole thing. why did they give it to a ukrainian company, why? >> are you sure they did that? are you sure they gave it to ukraine? >> trump: well, that's what the word is. >> pelley: "the word," that ukraine was involved, was amplified by the president's defenders in the impeachment inquiry. they pointed to a 2016 opinion article and social media posts, written by ukrainians, that were critical of mr. trump-- as though they were equivalent to russia's covert campaign targeting u.s. computer networks, voting systems and social media. fiona hill, mr. trump's former senior director for russia on the national security council, warned the committee. >> fiona hill: some of you on this committee appear to believe

that russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against our country, and that, perhaps, somehow, for some reason, ukraine did. this is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the russian security services themselves. >> pelley: what are the chances that this whispering campaign about a democratic national committee server in ukraine is actually a russian intelligence operation, a russian dis- information operation? >> taylor: the russians are very good at that. it's these fake stories that they have propagated. and that's what they do. they do it pretty well. we have to be on guard against that. >> pelley: from vladimir putin's perspective it worked. last november, as impeachment played out and america's next election season was underway, he said, at this forum, "thank god no one is accusing us of interfering in the u.s. elections anymore; now they're accusing ukraine."

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( ticking ) >> whitaker: when the musical "west side story" opened on broadway in 1957, it caused a sensation with the innovative fusion of dance, music and theater-- a re-imagining of shakespeare's "romeo and juliet," tony and maria are the star-crossed lovers. rival new york city street gangs, the jets and the sharks, take the roles of the montagues in four daysa new team of creative artists will open r the iconic musical ever to hit

broadway. we were given unprecedented, behind-the-scenes access to see the making of this more than $15 million production. there's no intermission. it's stripped down, fast and gritty-- a "west side story for the 21st century." we started rolling our cameras early in october in a mid-manhattan dance studio. ♪ ♪ >> whitaker: the first notes, of leonard bernstein's music and stephen sondheim's lyrics stirred treasured memories. ♪ i will know right away. as soon as it shows ♪ >> whitaker: but ivo van hove, a tony award winning director, known for his cutting-edge productions, promised something new: a more raw and raging "west side story." a man ♪ little man >> whitaker: it's van hove's

first broadway musical. updating this american masterpiece was his idea. the belgian director says the story is universal. jumping into this american classic, there must be things about this that just scare you. >> ivo van hove: everything-- ( laughs ) --scares me about this. it-- it's a huge challenge, because-- everything has to be on the highest level, the singing, the dancing, and the acting. and of course everybody has an expectation. ♪ ♪ >> anne teresa de keersmaeker: and push. >> whitaker: the songs and arthur laurents' story are the same, but the dancing... all new. ♪ ♪ >> de keersmaeker: okay, one more time. >> whitaker: van hove tapped choreographer anne teresa de keersmaeker, his friend and fellow belgian, to design more contemporary, street influenced movement. in america you forget i'm in america ♪ ♪ ♪

>> de keersmaeker: can the ladies, could you that think there's a way you be closer to the guys? let's try once not to have unified steps. on the first curve you don't gonna come into a straight line. >> whitaker: this is your first broadway production. >> de keersmaeker: yes, yes. and-- >> whitaker: this is a different animal. >> de keersmaeker: would you call it an animal? ( laughs ) what kind of animal? a lion-- a serpent? a dragon? ( laughs ) maybe a dragon. i don't-- >> whitaker: is that what it feels like sometimes? >> de keersmaeker: it's huge. it's a lot of people. it's-- is a lot at stake. and it's-- it's teamwork. you know, with clear leaders being ivo and i. ivo, ivo, tell me what's the situation. >> whitaker: their young cast reflects america today. in this version the jets are not all white. and the sharks are not just puerto ricans. they're recent latino immigrants. 33 of the 50 cast members are making their broadway debuts. ♪ ♪

♪ puerto rico is in america >> van hove: it's not easy to sing these songs. you have to dance at the same time. also-- ( laughs ) time-- you have to be able to act. so that's a very difficult thing when you're very young and ha-- and when you don't have a lot of experience. the sharks will be here. >> whitaker: van hove is animated, decisive; de keersmaeker calls herself a patient collaborator. >> de keersmaeker: so i don't need a military line like this. i don't want to organize it like an army. i'm not a general i'm not like, "cha, cha, cha, chack." we start to shape it together with the dancers. >> whitaker: her style is vastly different from the original, balletic dancing of director, choreographer jerome robbins, immortalized in the 1961 movie. ♪ ♪ so how do you change something like "america," the way she throws the dress around? >> de keersmaeker: those dresses are very beautiful. they really enlarge the movement, but that's not the way

people-- young people dance these days. ♪ ♪ >> whitaker: so that's-- that's out? >> de keersmaeker: that's-- that's out. >> van hove: no snapping of the fingers-- (snapping fingers) >> whitaker: no snapping of the fingers-- >> van hove: no, because it's not in the score. it's an invention of jerome robbins and we should respect that, you know? you can be inspired by other people, but not stealing from them, i think. ♪ ♪ >> whitaker: this was their vision. after five weeks in the rehearsal hall, the last run through before moving to the theater. ♪ ♪ >> cast and crew to the stage please, please. >> whitaker: two days later on november 18, the production went up town. to the broadway theatre. >> we made it. here we are. ( cheers and applause ) >> whitaker: the scenery is an enormous, black wall that opens up to reveal two hidden sets. central to van hove's re-imagining: cameras

everywhere, 25 of them, projecting images onto the wall designed to intensify the action. ♪ ♪ it's video on a scale broadway has never seen. >> de keersmaeker: i would like sort of curve it. >> whitaker: de keersmaeker had to scale up her dancers' movements to fit the bigger space and giant images. >> van hove: video-wise we have now to explore what we do there. >> whitaker: veteran producer scott rudin is the money and power behind this production. so when the audience walks in, that's what they're going to see? >> scott rudin: that's it. that's-- that's "west side story." it's a black box, fully exposed, guts and all. it's not "west side story" of 1957. it's just not that. >> whitaker: it's huge. are you concerned at all that that video image will overwhelm your actors on stage? >> rudin: i think we're managing our way into it. there are places where i think it still does slightly overwhelm, or ki-- kind of dwarf the actors, and some places

where it's incredibly exciting that it's there. but it's been a fascinating-- toolkit to play with. >> shereen pimentel: it is off stage. >> whitaker: isaac powell and shereen pimentel play the doomed lovers, tony and maria. they took us to what they call a secret set. four flights up above the stage, out of sight of the audience. >> pimentel: they have a camera set up right here in what was once a dressing room, now is maria's bedroom... there's a camera set up in the bedroom. >> whitaker: so in the play-- >> pimentel: yes. >> whitaker: you will be running up and down the stairs to come to your room? >> pimentel: yep. >> whitaker: so is this a theater, or a movie set? >> isaac powell: why does it have to be either? >> pimentel: exactly. >> powell: it's both. >> pimentel: it's-- it's happening in real time. >> whitaker: seamlessly? >> powell: sometimes. of course there are bound to be bumps, and-- and kinks that need to be ironed out. >> van hove: i saw him now into his frame. >> whitaker: we saw some of those kinks- the first time in the theater van hove rehearsed

the bedroom scene when maria learns tony has killed her brother. it was like directing a movie. he blocked it with the actors and cameras, then went down to the theatre to watch it unfold on the video wall. >> van hove: i see him again. but this goes wrong. no, uh, no. she should not stand there. it's out of focus, out of focus, guys. this is so many mistakes. yeah, i give you a moment, but i was there already explaining five times. you know, it's not that difficult. >> whitaker: we were here one day when you were rehearsing the bedroom scene upstairs. the camera was out of focus, the actors were out of position, you were getting angry. you at one point said everything is wrong. so much of this is wrong. did you ever have any questions through that about the use of the video like that? >> van hove: no, no, no, no. >> whitaker: never? it never-- >> van hove: no, no. >> whitaker: it never made you have doubt? >> van hove: no, the challenges were high. and of course you know that it

will be a-- journey. you know, it took us a while to bring all the elements, you know, in a perfect balance. so, no, it's a normal process, in this case a very intense one. come on. bang. where's the rain? >> whitaker: something else they had to fix: the rain. a deluge that soaks the actors and sometimes musicians in the orchestra pit. >> van hove: let's go on. >> whitaker: the calm in the middle of the storm: ivo van hove. you take notes on everything. the next day you go up and you have production meetings with the-- with the crew, and you-- you go work with the actors. i mean, this seems like a grueling process >> van hove: i-- i love that. i feel like a-- fish in the ocean, you know? and-- and the ocean is a dangerous place to be sometimes, you know, but also great place to be. i love the sometimes violent, but always the-- the high energy

of a rehearsal-- process. >> whitaker: as the show evolved, we saw as much drama offstage as on. two latin dance consultants were brought in to add more authenticity and broadway flair to de keersmaeker's choreography. >> de keersmaeker: i don't like when they start to fuzzle with your material. >> whitaker: is that what they were doing? fuzzling with your material? >> de keersmaeker: well, there is a certain codified language in broadway. you know, how a number has to end, how you have to build tension, you know? and-- it's true. i don't have so much experience about that. i think finally it turned out well. but i would be lying if i say that it went, like, smoothly like this, you know? ♪ ♪ >> whitaker: it seemed the show was snake bit. isaac powell, tony, injured his knee and had to take a month off.

that delayed opening night by two weeks. veteran actor, ben cook, who played riff, the leader of the jets, dislocated his shoulder and had to leave the show six weeks before opening, giving 22- year-old cast mate, dharon jones, a newcomer to broadway, the break of a lifetime. then protests erupted over amar ramasar, a dancer with the new york city ballet who plays the leader of the sharks. he's been named in a civil suit alleging he participated in an exchange of explicit pictures of female dancers, which he contests. ramasar was initially fired by the new york city ballet. >> rudin: the arbitrator found that there had been no firing offense. he got reinstated. i don't excuse it. i think what he did was really stupid. i mean, am i supposed to replace him in the show? i'm not going to do that. >> gee, officer krupke.

>> whitaker: after 19 weeks, the performances have been polished, the video fine-tuned, the dancing distinct. ♪ ♪ they're ready, after all the blood, sweat and tears. >> de keersmaeker: it's a bit like a battlefield, you know? it's a battlefield. and you have to behave like-- a general. >> whitaker: you told us originally that you are not a general. >> de keersmaeker: yeah. i know. i'm not a general. but i am a dancer. so, i mean, i'm flexible. i've patience. in italian, they say "hai voluto la bicicletta." they say you wanted the bicycle. so now you have to... >> whitaker: peddle. >> de keersmaeker: you have to peddle, you know? i made a choice of doing this. i knew it was not going to be easy. so hai voluto la bicicletta. ( laughs ) yeah, now peddle. >> whitaker: and now they ride into the uncertainty of opening night.

>> van hove: i was at the birth of this thing. i know exactly what i wanted it to be. the whole vision has been realized. and i'm really happy with that. ♪ we're drawing the line so keep your nose hidden ♪ am i always successful? no. will this be successful? we'll see. it's up to you, you know, to judge that. it's not up to me. i did everything possible with my team. ♪ here comes you're going to be on the street ♪ on the whole mother ever loving street ♪ ( ticking ) >> cbs sports hq is presented by progressive insurance. at the genesis invitational, adam scott shoots a final round

70 to win his 14th career title. in college basketball today, iowa and villanova were both winners, and san diego state remains undefeated, with just four weeks to go until selection sunday. for 24/7news and highlight, visit cbs sports hq.com. jim nantz reporting from los angeles. they look the same. i've been spinning faster recently. i think they're getting bigger. feel them. ♪ yeah, they kinda feel bigger. yeah, cool. ♪ -sorry. -it's okay. switch to progressive and you could save hundreds. you know...like the sign says. switch to progressive and you could save hundreds. when hbe soft.hem grow up. when they grow up too fast... i got it! ...be strong. life takes softness and strength.

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