The division between the Jets and the Sharks stands in here, ultimately leading to a plea for tolerance in the darkening world at large and a warning that it all might lead to tragic consequences if we don’t find our way out. The musical always has had pertinence, but for me it has never seemed more vital than it does now in an era triggered by the xenophobic message of a toxic political era and a country burning with growing intolerance for our differences.
Turf wars are standard, tensions simmering between the Jets, led by Riff (a truly sensational turn from Mike Faist), getting ready to “rumble” with the Sharks, both sides being disposed of by society and trying to find their own rhythms of life in changing times.
The tone of Kushner’s script, which also reorders the songs and action in smart ways, is set right at the start with a more mature-feeling musical prologue set to the decaying streets of an area that is being torn down, moving out the descendants of Eastern immigrants as well as the Puerto Rican population (this all happened in the ’50s to make way for the area Lincoln Center has taken over). Ansel Elgort effectively plays him, and sings beautifully, as the pair of young lovers try to overcome the ethnic differences and environment that threatens to keep them apart.
Thus we have Rachel Zegler making her movie debut as Maria, straight out of high school and delivering a heartfelt and convincing turn as the young woman who falls in love with Tony, a key Jet just out of prison and looking to turn his life around. Spielberg was determined to make every Latinx character performed by Latinx actors, a key change from Wise’s movie. Of course there was also Rita Moreno as Anita, who did become the first Latina to win an Oscar and warmly provides a connection between the 19 versions by playing a new character in the story. Although it has been revived and performed on stages from Broadway to high schools ever since, it is that 1961 movie that made it immortal, a vividly colored musical drama that took the world by storm when it debuted on screens exactly 60 years ago.Īmong its stars were Natalie Wood as Maria, an actress not of Latino descent whose songs were dubbed, and George Chakiris, who took a Supporting Oscar as Sharks leader Bernardo, even though he is of Greek descent. The original 1957 Broadway production - Leonard Bernstein wrote the music, Stephen Sondheim penned the lyrics, Jerome Robbins choreographed and Arthur Laurents wrote the book - conceived of this as a modern Romeo and Juliet set against the gang wars of the white Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks in an-ever changing environment and gentrification on New York City’s West Side. Why they’ve succeeded as well as they have here is simple: They realize the core message of West Side Story is that in world racked by racism, nativism, impossible division, poverty and a lack of hope, there is still the possibility that maybe, just maybe, love can prevail. Spielberg got immense contributions from Pulitzer Prize-winning screenwriter and sometimes collaborator Tony Kushner ( Munich, Lincoln).