'West Side Story' directed by Steven Spielberg
14 January 2022
On Saturday we were at the Odeon in Milton Keynes to see Steven Spielberg’s new film version of ‘West Side Story’. Often feted as the greatest of all musicals, I have fond memories of seeing a stage production of ‘West Side Story’ at the Opera House in Manchester many years ago and I have twice performed Leonard Bernstein’s fiendishly difficult ‘Symphonic Dances from West Side Story’ (with Northampton Symphony Orchestra - reviewed here in March 2008, and with Milton Keynes Sinfonia - reviewed here in January 2015). Spielberg’s film is a homage to the 1961 original, directed by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise - and is notable for the involvement of Rita Moreno, who played Anita then and is now given a newly invented role as Valentina - Tony’s employer and confidante. Spielberg also invited Stephen Sondheim, who wrote the lyrics to Bernstein’s music, onto the set during the filming, though Sondheim sadly died before the film was released. Spielberg’s recreation of 1957 Manhattan is amazing, using state of the art CGI to make you feel you are there. The gritty realism sometimes sits oddly with the ensemble dance sequences in the New York streets, and uncomfortably reveals the true brutality of this version of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ with some gruesome violence. The new screenplay by Tony Kushner adds a lot of scenes of dialogue, which really help you to understand the motivations of the characters and explain their behaviour, but make the film far too long. Nevertheless, the music is fantastic (featuring the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel), the singing is brilliant (particularly the leads - Ansel Elgort as Tony and Rachel Zegler as Maria) and the dancing is amazing (choreographed by Justin Peck, with some nice nods to Jerome Robbins).
posted by Robin Simpson @ 11:08 am
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