West Side Story – Spielberg remake (2 Viewers)

[TravisR]

I have not trusted Spielberg since CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977) and I'm not about to start trusting him now. He's never been anything to me but a highly skillful but highly glorified hack.

To each their own. I think he's one of the best directors to have ever lived and still easily one of the best working today.

 

[Garysb]

I have never seen the point of remaking a successful film. What more can they bring to the material? The only point I see to remaking this film is have age appropriate actors doing their own singing and being the same ethnicity as the characters . None of the Sharks or Jets were teenagers when the original movie was filmed in 1960. The problem with appropriate actors is are they capable of performing the material to the highest standard?

 

[Jake Lipson]

The problem with appropriate actors is are they capable of performing the material to the highest standard?

With the exception of Rachel Zegler, who a newcomer, the rest of the people cast this week all have Broadway credentials. So yes, I think it's fair to assume they can sing. And Zegler's YouTube channel is damn impressive. Obviously she's going to work with a vocal coach -- they all will, as is normal -- and they're going to have time to perfect their interpretations. But Spielberg cast them, so he obviously feels like they can do it. I don't know what Sondheim's involvement on this production is at this point, but as he is a living member of the original creative team, it would not surprise me if they have also sung for him. He famously doesn't like his lyrics for West Side Story much, so I don't know how much he would want to be involved, but if he wants to, I assume the invitation is open.

The issues you raised in your above post as to why they would remake this are all valid reasons. Spielberg also probably has a direction concept that is different than Robert Wise's.

As I said when our former friend mplo was burning up this thread, there's not much point to debating why they should or shouldn't make this film. It has gotten to a point now where they are going to make it. Each one of us is welcome to see it, or not, and we're welcome to like it, or not. But it's going to happen, and none of us have the power to stop it. This is what I meant when I told mplo that "she" should get used to it. Your approval, or not, is of course totally subjective. But the film is getting made, and it will exist. So the choice facing us as consumers is whether we engage with the film or not But the train is leaving the station whether or not we are on board. Personally, I am.

 

[Garysb]

I am sure Sondheim is involved in some capacity. He at least has to give his OK . I know when the powers that be were thinking of remaking "Gypsy" they needed his OK as the sole remaining creator. Something similar is probably true of West Side Story. West Side is coming back to Broadway in 2020 unless these plans change.

From Playbill:

Broadway Revival of West Side Story Continues Search for Latinx Performers for Roles of Maria, Anita, Bernardo
West Side Story, which arrives on Broadway December 10, is continuing its nationwide search for Latinx performers for the roles of Maria, Anita, and Bernardo.

The production is also looking for contemporary dancers of all ethnicities. An open dance call will be held January 21. To receive an appointment time for the principal roles, email a headshot and resume—or video by January 22—to [email protected].

Directed by Tony winner Ivo van Hove with choreography by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, the reimagining of Jerome Robbins, Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim's masterwork will officially open February 6, 2020, at a Broadway theatre to be announced.

West Side Story will feature all-new choreography (a first for major New York productions), with sets and lighting design by Jan Versweyveld.


Something very special. From 2007 the 50th Anniversary Salute to the Broadway , not movie, version of West Side Story with members of the original Broadway Cast. Sadly Larry Kert ( original Tony) had passed away by then,



From a 1960's TV show Larry Kert and Carol Lawrence.


From Ed Sullivan Show Larry Kert and Carol Lawrence during Broadway run I believe.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

West Side is coming back to Broadway in 2020 unless these plans change.

That's a no brainer, from a commercial standpoint. Whether this turns out to be well-received or ends up being a catastrophic disaster, West Side Story is going to be getting a lot of press attention in the next year or two. The Broadway revival can piggyback off all of that attention.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Actually, the Broadway revival is going to be opening in December, so it will be starting ahead of the movie and was planned separately, so the fact that the two are going to be prominent at the same time is something of a coincidence. However, you're absolutely right that the interest in and press about one will fuel the same in the other.

 

[Garysb]

Actually, the Broadway revival is going to be opening in December, so it will be starting ahead of the movie and was planned separately, so the fact that the two are going to be prominent at the same time is something of a coincidence. However, you're absolutely right that the interest in and press about one will fuel the same in the other.

The show will start performances in December per the article but wont open (be reviewed) until February 2020 .

 

[cinemiracle]

WEST SIDE STORY will be staged on Sydney Harbour from 22 March to 21 April. Top price for tickets now available is $A361 . Cheapest is $A131. The corporate boxes are generally sold out up to a year in advance and include food and wine. They are the most expensive and are the best seats in which to see the show. WSS is bound to be a sell out.Dvds of previous shows on Sydney Harbour are available to buy.(no blurays ).

 

[Robert Crawford]

I have not trusted Spielberg since CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977) and I'm not about to start trusting him now. He's never been anything to me but a highly skillful but highly glorified hack.

I had to read this post twice to make sure you were being serious. I must say I totally disagree with you, but you're welcome to your opinion.

 

[Robert Crawford]

People are too hung up on such things as race and ethnicity in terms of casting.

And too many people try to have it both ways lending a clear cast of hypocrisy on what they find acceptable and what they find offensive.

I think there is a level of hypocrisy in all of us when it comes to that subject matter as I see humans basically conflicted in general as we deal with our own hypocrisy.

 

[Robert Crawford]

At first, when I read this film was being remade, I didn't have much interest in it. However, I'm now looking forward to seeing this rendition of "West Side Story" as I'm generally curious now how they're going to tell this story by people that are living in 2019. Also, I watched a Youtube video of this young lady and she can sing as well as having some engaging personality so I'm looking forward to seeing this version of Maria.

 

[Tino]

I have not trusted Spielberg since CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977) and I'm not about to start trusting him now. He's never been anything to me but a highly skillful but highly glorified hack.

Yup

Raiders Of The Lost Ark
E.T
Schindler’s List
Saving Private Ryan

Obviously the works of a hack.

 

[Chelsearicky]

I love that they cast a Latina teenager to play a Latina teenager. She's of Colombian and Polish ancestry, so I imagine there will still be some kvetching, but this casting is still light years ahead of Natalie Wood.

Even more than the ethnicity issue, I like that she's the right age. There's a vulnerability to watching a high school age girl playing a high school age girl that you don't get when you have a woman in her mid- to late-twenties playing a high school age girl.

And unlike Wood, Zegler's singing voice won't need to be dubbed. Here she is singing "Breathe" from In the Heights:


With a team of professional vocal coaches and recording engineering behind her, she'll only sound better for the movie.

And here is Ariana DeBose, who got nominated for a Tony for her starring role as Disco Donna in Summer: The Donna Summer Musical:


It'll be interesting to see who they cast for the Jets, especially Riff.

I wonder if Moreno's character is Italian.

Are you equally as happy that a Latino actor was cast as Bernardo? You don't make mention of that.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Are you equally as happy that a Latino actor was cast as Bernardo? You don't make mention of that.

I haven't really seen enough of the actor in question to know whether he's a good fit for the part, that's why I refrained from commenting. I guess we'll see as more stuff comes out about the movie.

I think my main thing is that I hope he makes different choices than George Chakiris, because that take on the character is so iconic that he's going to lose if he sets himself up for a direct comparison.

From what I've gathered, he was well-regarded in the title role for the Broadway run of Billy Elliot as a teenager, for which he jointly won a Tony for Best Actor. He's also lived an interesting life: He was born in Montreal and apparently spent his early years speaking Spanish at home and French out in public, making English his third language. At the age of 11, his family relocated to NYC so he could pursue classical ballet at an elite level. His dancing led him to Billy Elliot. And after his run on Billy Elliot was over, he joined the US Army, serving two and a half years including overseas deployments as a sniper. After being honorably discharged, his military-honed physique got him onto the ensemble for the 2014 revival of another Bernstein/Robbins collaboration, On the Town.

 

[Chelsearicky]

I haven't really seen enough of the actor in question to know whether he's a good fit for the part, that's why I refrained from commenting. I guess we'll see as more stuff comes out about the movie.

I think my main thing is that I hope he makes different choices than George Chakiris, because that take on the character is so iconic that he's going to lose if he sets himself up for a direct comparison.

From what I've gathered, he was well-regarded in the title role for the Broadway run of Billy Elliot as a teenager, for which he jointly won a Tony for Best Actor. He's also lived an interesting life: He was born in Montreal and apparently spent his early years speaking Spanish at home and French out in public, making English his third language. At the age of 11, his family relocated to NYC so he could pursue classical ballet at an elite level. His dancing led him to Billy Elliot. And after his run on Billy Elliot was over, he joined the US Army, serving two and a half years including overseas deployments as a sniper. After being honorably discharged, his military-honed physique got him onto the ensemble for the 2014 revival of another Bernstein/Robbins collaboration, On the Town.

I was actually seeking your response to the ethnic perspective. Chakiris played the role perfectly, but the lack of outrage around a Greek American playing Bernardo has always loomed large for me, particularly since it's become 'de rigueur' to be incensed by the casting of Wood.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Wood's casting gets more attention because Maria gets more attention. She's the lead. She's supposed to get more attention than Bernardo. That doesn't make the casting of the supporting roles any less problematic in terms of 2019 cultural norms. And it also doesn't mean they didn't do a fantastic job in the 1961 film.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I was actually seeking your response to the ethnic perspective. Chakiris played the role perfectly, but the lack of outrage around a Greek American playing Bernardo has always loomed large for me, particularly since it's become 'de rigueur' to be incensed by the casting of Wood.

Wood was the female lead, so it makes sense that the appropriateness of her casting garnered more discussion. For me, the casting of the 1961 film was what it was, a product of the time in which it was made, and I wouldn't go back and change anything now. Substituting any element might terminally affect the alchemy that made the movie such a success.

But if you're going to remake a movie, especially a great movie, the whole point should be to do something different than was done the last time around, provide the audience with a different experience than the one that's already awaiting them on the shelf. The Spielberg production's efforts to avoid the casting faux pas of the Wise production is one of the ways the two versions are differentiated, and I find that interesting.

Is casting a French Canadian of Cuban ancestry really better than casting an American of Greek ancestry as Bernardo? Those who want to see more Latino actors get cast in prominent film roles would probably say yes; those who want to see Puerto Rican characters embodied by Puerto Rican performers would probably say no.

I'm not sure I have a strong opinion either way. But what excites me is the hope that Alvarez's Bernardo will be very different from Chakiris's Bernardo, and hopefully as successful. Presumably the casting team looked at many, many Puerto Rican actors for this role, and Alvarez brought something to the table that they didn't. I look forward to seeing what that something is.

 

[TJPC]

I would have no objection to Natalie Wood, if she had actually been able to sing.

 

[MartinP.]

^^^

Do you object that Marni Nixon also dubbed Rita Moreno's singing in the film's "Tonight" quintet?

Do you object to Deborah Kerr in The King & I?

Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady?

Do you object to the numerous British and Australian actors playing Americans?

Do you object to stunt performers standing in for actors?

For that matter, do you object to CGI standing in for actual landscapes?

Do you object to actors voicing animals in Babe?

We've become a people always looking for offense even if none is intended. Or even warranted.
Heaven knows (Mr. Allison, heh!) that there's a myriad of offense to be found if one goes looking for it.
Who wants to spend their precious time looking for it?

 

[Jake Lipson]

Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady?

Yes. With respect to Audrey Hepburn, who did what she could, that should have been Julie Andrews. (Although, if it had been, she wouldn't have been able to do Mary Poppins, so she got the last laugh there.)

In regards to your larger question, the norms of the time period in which those films were made are what they are. But I'm glad that casting a star and dubbing them over doesn't happen as much anymore. I'd much rather have someone who can sing and act the role.