Theatre, unlike cinema, is always changing, with every director, with every cast, with every staging. It isn’t static or set in stone. It is, by design, meant to be deciphered and translated, to be made new each and every time a different group of artists come together with their own take. It is why no two productions are ever the same. Not the choreography. Not the characters. Not in the way the songs are sung. By that measure, Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story isn’t a remake or a reboot. This isn’t a reimagining. This is a revival. A reinterpretation by someone who clearly loves the original, was deeply inspired by it, and wanted to give us his own take. It is a version that stands side by side with both the stage play and the 1961 film. And it is glorious.
Like most of you, I’ve never had the opportunity to watch West Side Story on stage. Unlike most of you, however, I do watch Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins’ 1961 film adaptation at least once a year. The soundtrack is almost always on my Spotify Wrapped list, with “America,” “Tonight,” “Maria,” and “Gee, Officer Krupke” listened to for hundreds upon hundreds of minutes every year. I am what you might call, a fan. Someone who loves that original movie with all of my heart.
Now I am not here to tell you if this version is better or worse than that one. To do so would be to indulge in a false equivalence because both movies are very different things. That said, I think I might love this one just a little bit more.
O.K. By Me in America
From the second we hear those three eerie whistles we know we’re in for something different. From the way Spielberg chooses to open the movie – framing it from the ground up, in direct opposition to Saul Bass’ majestic aerial shots of New York in the original – it’s immediately clear that he’s telling this story from a different point of view. This is a street musical. Make no mistake about it.
This is also cinema. It is propulsive. It feels big and brash. The camera is constantly moving, up and down, over and under, creating a sense of kineticism, taking you inside every dance, and giving you a perspective that just isn’t possible if you were watching this play out on a stage.
Which is precisely what you want from a screen adaptation. Not more of the same. Not just a recreation of the original. But a version that exploits all of the tools made available to the medium.
60 years on, Steven Spielberg still manages to give his adaptation new life. His version of West Side Story is in no way a nostalgia play. He doesn’t waste his time painstakingly recreating this period piece that he deeply loves. This isn’t fan fiction. He directs this version with sense of a fierce urgency. He leans into the fact that West Side Story always had thoroughly modern sensibilities. He uses this 1957 setting to say something relevant about youth, and immigration, and racism, about urban decay and gentrification. He uses it to drive home the point that there needs to be more listening and less of the mulish stating of one’s position.
And it works incredibly well. Never once feeling preachy or didactic. Mostly because there is an agility to the source material that allows for such interpretation. But also because Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner are such proficient visual storytellers that they never once rely on exposition to do any of the heavy lifting.
Say It Soft and It’s Almost Like Praying
Everyone here is at their top of their game. Ansel Elgort is tall, and dark, and handsome, with an effortless charm that will leave you weak at the knees. David Alvarez steals every scene he’s in. Ariana DeBose is simply stunning as Anita. And I’ll be damned if Mike Faist isn’t at least nominated for an Academy Award.
And then there’s Rachel Zegler. I didn’t think I could fall in love with another Maria after Natalie Wood, but Rachel Zegler is a revelation. She somehow manages to balance doe-eyed innocence and quiet strength in a way that Wood never did. Her Maria isn’t just hapless and star-crossed. She has agency. She has an inner life.
What’s more, unlike the original, Tony and Maria aren’t completely outdone every time Bernardo and Anita are on screen. Both Elgort and Zegler have a frenzied chemistry. One that’ll have you completely and immediately transfixed on their doomed love affair.
I don’t feel the need to talk about the shifting rhythms of Leonard Bernstein’s genius score, or the breathless beauty of Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics. Much smarter people have already waxed lyrical about both those things. Besides, you don’t need an academic thesis to tell to why West Side Story is magical, you just feel it in your soul.
There’s Only You Tonight
I walked into Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story a sceptic. I walked out 156 minutes later reinvigorated. I walked out revived.
My abiding love for the original aside, I was doubtful that he would be able to recapture that lightning in a bottle. I wasn’t sure if this was a story that would feel dated when shot through a modern lens. I didn’t think that a remake could still feel bracing and new.
I should have had more faith. I should have known better. I should have realized that the crusty quarrelsome chaos of America would still make this riff on Romeo and Juliet as relevant as ever.
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