Classical music experts give Newsweek their verdict of Steven Spielberg’s reimagining of the Broadway musical, “West Side Story.”
For his musical-film debut, Steven Spielberg decided to bring the 1957 Broadway musical and 1961 Hollywood film West Side Story back to life. In an epic re-imagining, Spielberg has stuck exceptionally close to the original Broadway material and set out to right several of the wrongs from the 1961 film, including casting actors with Hispanic backgrounds in Hispanic roles and having the actors signing their parts instead of being dubbed. Fans of the original musical and 1961 will be pleased to know Spielberg has included all of the songs from the original stage and film score, including “Maria”, “Somewhere” and “Cool”: but are the updated numbers as good as the original? Newsweek spoke to Oscar-nominated Composer David Newman, who worked as an arranger and adapter on Spielberg’s West Side Story, and classical music expert Rosie Pentreath to find out more. Whether you are a fan or not of the original West Side Story, it is fair to say the musical’s score is considered to be one of the greatest. Conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents, the 1957 musical went on to receive six Tony nominations winning two for Best Choreography and Best Scenic Design. The 1961 film directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins went on to win 10 Oscars, including the award for Best Picture. Speaking to Newsweek, classical music expert Rosie Pentreath said: “Leonard Bernstein’s music for West Side Story is unquestionably among the greatest ever written for a musical. And the beauty of the 2021 film is that the score, like the overall production, has stayed faithful to composer Leonard Bernstein’s original intentions, but with an ear to modern tastes and sensibilities. “It’s wonderful to revel in the sharp, snappy numbers like the jazzy ‘Jet Song’ and the slick, syncopated ‘Cool’ all over again. The energetic group number, ‘America’ is a delight, and the love ballads ‘Maria’ and ‘Tonight’, which leads Ansel Elgort (Tony) and Rachel Zegler (Maria) do real justice to, are wonderful.” In Spielberg’s adaption, Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler lead the cast as Tony and Maria, with Arina DeBose as Anita, David Alvarez as Bernardo, Mike Faist as Riff and Rita Moreno as Valentina. Just like the Broadway show and 1961 film, Spielberg’s West Side Story starts with “Jet Song” and ends with “Somewhere”, with hits such as “The Rumble”, “America” and “Maria” in between.
