WEST SIDE STORY is a dazzling (and relevant) masterpiece

“By the time you get out this’ll be a shiny new neighborhood of rich people in beautiful apartments, with Puerto Rican doormen to chase trash like you away.”

Steven Spielberg’s dazzling and heart-stopping reinterpretation of WEST SIDE STORY was released in theaters at the end of 2021 and, as of this month, is available on HBO Max and Disney+ to stream.

This glorious, emotional, and downright magical spectacle takes the life blood of the original 20th Century Fox 1961 musical and completely reworks it into something much more engaging and human while keeping the bones of the “whites vs browns” ghetto New York love story inspired by “Romeo and Juliet”, William Shakespeare’s famously tragic play of doomed young love and warring families.

WEST SIDE STORY has been in the works from Spielberg for decades now, who had fought tooth and nail to let 20th Fox allow him to rework the timeless classic, only for them to finally give it to him on the eve of their merger with the Walt Disney Corporation in a symbolic gesture as tragic as the merger itself.

The musical opens with the key players being introduced- it’s the late 1950’s and Puerto Rican immigrants have slowly taken over Manhattan’s Upper West Side as the slums are being leveled to make way for the soon-to-be-built Lincoln Center and all the gentrified richness that a costly new investment brings.

Of course, the hoodlum street gang The Jets, a collection of scrappy poverty-stricken white hooligans, don’t want the Puerto Rican gang “The Sharks”, lead by amateur boxer Bernardo, encroaching on their territory. Determined to fight until the last slum falls, The Jets challenge The Sharks to a “rumble” or turf-war to decide to gets to be the last rulers of their crumbling kingdom.

Desperate for help in the gang war, The Jets leader Riff seeks out their former head, Tony, who is on parole and trying to keep out of trouble by working at a small drug store. Tony reluctantly agrees to meet up with his old gang at a local dance where he meets Bernardo’s sister Maria. The two fall immediately in love, setting forth a chain of tragic events that will change the lives of these young teens forever.

Full disclosure, I starred in the Blackwell High School version of “West Side Story” in the far off year of 2008, so I’m a bit biased, but I love the original film. Now, granted, I’ve never seen the original stage production since our play borrowed heavily- almost exclusively- to the narrative of the film.

The changes Spielberg makes to 2021’s WEST SIDE STORY are all in the service of crafting a better story. The placement of certain songs does wonders here- “I Feel Pretty” is given a grim ironic twist while “Play It Cool” is used in a much more frenetic and panicked way than the dorky finger-snapping and jarring placement of the original.

Similarly, “America” is given probably the most high-profile face lift of the soundtrack. No longer is it a couple of drunk teens singing on a roof top, now it is a dazzling dance through the slowly gentrified streets of New York, taking full advantage of the added subplot featuring the slums being destroyed and the erecting of the Lincoln Center.

A WEST SIDE STORY is only as good as it’s cast, though. While the roster is mostly unknowns, Ansel Elgort shines as Tony and newcomer Racher Zegler is a treasure as Maria. The two really do come off as star-crossed lovers. Ariana DeBose transforms the role of Anita as well, the role made famous by Rita Moreno who appears in this version as well.

Speilberg’s direction here is gritty and exciting. This world feels as dangerous and lived-in as it does theatrical, and his use of lighting and colors is unmatched as only he can showcase. This definitely stomps on this summer’s IN THE HEIGHTS, as far as aesthetics go.

Another neat addition was the usage of language. The Spanish in this film isn’t subtitled, so it definitely adds to the frustrating and perplexing language barrier our characters face. Such attention is paid to Tony attempting to learn Spanish to impress Maria that it makes sense that we, the audience, have to learn and contextualize as well.

WEST SIDE STORY is as relevant now as it was in the 50’s. Maybe more-so. It’s a tragic and dazzling love story that demands to be seen and, quite possibly, has become my favorite musical all over again.