Post by erik on May 21, 2022 12:17:11 GMT -5
Leonard Bernstein's great Broadway score West Side Story found a second life on the big screen in 2021; and it is this new cinematic soundtrack iteration that is in this week's Classical Works Spotlight.
Leonard Bernstein: WEST SIDE STORY (2021 MOVIE SOUNDTRACK)
Without question, West Side Story was one of the high points of American music in general, and Broadway musicals in particular, during the 20th century. Combining lyrics by first-timer Stephen Sondheim, choreography by Jerome Robbins, and a book by Arthur Laurents, West Side Story, which was to all intents and purposes an Americanized version of Shakespeare’s Romeo And Juliet set against a White-versus-Puerto Rican gang war in upper West Side Manhattan, premiered in 1957 and ran for 750 performances during its first run; but it really attracted mass attention when the film version, co-directed by Robbins and Robert Wise, was unleashed in 1961, and became such a huge critical and box office smash, winning a record ten Academy Awards. A lot of this success, both on stage and screen, had to do with the genius of Leonard Bernstein’s music, which, combined with the other three geniuses in the room, solidified the deal. However, one of the two big flaws of the 1961 film version (apart from the fact that almost none of the actors portraying Puerto Ricans was actually Hispanic) is that almost none of the cast sang with their real voices (most notoriously the film’s Tony and Maria [Richard Beymer; Natalie Wood]). This got rectified in the 2021 reworking by director Steven Spielberg, who not only managed to assemble a cast that could sing and dance, but got every Puerto Rican role portrayed by actors and actresses of Latinx origin. Much of the attention centered around Rachel Zegler, a complete newcomer to the film process whom Spielberg cast as Maria on the basis of her astute vocal training. Although the film’s box office was damaged by the 2020-2021 COVID pandemic, the 2021 West Side Story, with the Bernstein score performed by Bernstein’s own New York Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel, was still highly acclaimed by critics.
Tony: ANSEL ELGORT
Maria: RACHEL ZEGLER
Bernardo: DAVID ALVAREZ
Anita: ARIANA DEBOSE
Riff: MIKE FAIST
Valentina: RITA MORENO
Sharks Cast
Jets Cast
New York Philharmonic Orchestra/GUSTAVO DUDAMEL (Hollywood)
Leonard Bernstein: WEST SIDE STORY (2021 MOVIE SOUNDTRACK)
Without question, West Side Story was one of the high points of American music in general, and Broadway musicals in particular, during the 20th century. Combining lyrics by first-timer Stephen Sondheim, choreography by Jerome Robbins, and a book by Arthur Laurents, West Side Story, which was to all intents and purposes an Americanized version of Shakespeare’s Romeo And Juliet set against a White-versus-Puerto Rican gang war in upper West Side Manhattan, premiered in 1957 and ran for 750 performances during its first run; but it really attracted mass attention when the film version, co-directed by Robbins and Robert Wise, was unleashed in 1961, and became such a huge critical and box office smash, winning a record ten Academy Awards. A lot of this success, both on stage and screen, had to do with the genius of Leonard Bernstein’s music, which, combined with the other three geniuses in the room, solidified the deal. However, one of the two big flaws of the 1961 film version (apart from the fact that almost none of the actors portraying Puerto Ricans was actually Hispanic) is that almost none of the cast sang with their real voices (most notoriously the film’s Tony and Maria [Richard Beymer; Natalie Wood]). This got rectified in the 2021 reworking by director Steven Spielberg, who not only managed to assemble a cast that could sing and dance, but got every Puerto Rican role portrayed by actors and actresses of Latinx origin. Much of the attention centered around Rachel Zegler, a complete newcomer to the film process whom Spielberg cast as Maria on the basis of her astute vocal training. Although the film’s box office was damaged by the 2020-2021 COVID pandemic, the 2021 West Side Story, with the Bernstein score performed by Bernstein’s own New York Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel, was still highly acclaimed by critics.
Tony: ANSEL ELGORT
Maria: RACHEL ZEGLER
Bernardo: DAVID ALVAREZ
Anita: ARIANA DEBOSE
Riff: MIKE FAIST
Valentina: RITA MORENO
Sharks Cast
Jets Cast
New York Philharmonic Orchestra/GUSTAVO DUDAMEL (Hollywood)