Ariana DeBose in West Side Story
Steven Spielberg remakes the 1961 film West Side Story with (mostly) new stars, new screenplay, and a fresh take on the classic. Featuring star is born performances by Ariana DeBose and Rachel Ziegler, this new version may even surpass the original.
Steven Spielberg took on two daunting tasks with his version of West Side Story. First, as a remake of a movie many consider to be one of the best ever made — it also has ten Oscars to back it up. Second, as a movie musical. An art that many of tried and nearly just as many have failed at producing in our modern age (*head slowly turns to Dear Evan Hansen*). Yet somehow he succeeds on both fronts and simultaneously delivers his best movie in years.
The original 1961 film, which was co-directed by the director of the stage version Jerome Robbins, feels like it's adapting a stage musical to the screen. The staging, even on the streets of New York, feels like musical staging in three dimensions. Spielberg has a grander vision for his new version. Rather than feeling tied to one “stage,” Spielberg allows numbers to cut and move and take up the entire world rather than just one small part of it.
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A perfect example is the restaged “America,” inarguably the most iconic song and number. In the original, Anita, played by Rita Moreno who returns in a new role in this version, dances on the rooftop along with the Sharks and their girls in choreography that honors Robbins' original vision. The camera is simply there to caption the action.
In this new version, Anita takes to the streets. She weaves through the city, into traffic, through stores, surrounded by onlookers who are just as much a part of the number as the dancers. It's a grand old Hollywood musical number elevated by the new cinematic language — the camera cuts and pans and stays ahead of the action as much as it follows it. It also helps that our new Anita Ariana DeBose delivers the number with as much, if not more, high-flying feisty energy as Moreno.
And that goes for the film as a whole. While the 1961 version is clean and polished, Spielberg infuses the story which much-needed grit that is appropriate for 50s era New York. The new sensual and dark energy makes this tragedy all the more tragic while still maintaining the hyper-stylized magic needed of a musical.
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Spielberg uses moments of surrealism like the lights dimming when Maria and Tony lock eyes for the first time in a way that blurs movie and musical without completely alienating those who might be more musical-averse in the audience. However, that doesn't mean he shies away from extravagant over-the-top musical numbers. His staging of “Office Krupke,” which always felt like a dead spot in the original, feels like an intricate Broadway staging.
You'll notice that I almost went through this entire review without talking about the leads of the story, but that's because Maria and Tony have always been the least interesting part of West Side Story. However, Kushner's screenplay recenters the story on Maria in a way that makes us buy the relationship. It helps that newcomer Rachel Ziegler gives a shining star is born performance despite her less-than-stellar costar.
West Side Story is a classic and depending on who you ask classics should not and cannot be touched. Spielberg and Kushner said, “hold my beer.” This revamped version proves that you can have reverence for your source material while updating with new cinematic sensibilities to create something that stands entirely on its own.
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Hey! I'm Karl. You can find me on Twitter here. I'm also a Tomatometer-approved critic.
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