Tony Kushner is writing a play about Trump and a WEST SIDE STORY remake for Spielberg

It kinda makes me sad how many people talk about WSS as this kitschy thing. It's one of my favorite musicals. And doesn't flinch with its politics.

I am gonna try to take my folks

WSS rules

I have to eat my words a bit ... was not blown away by WSS '21 last night. But I will never walk away from a Spielberg movie without giving it the benefit of the doubt, so I'll try again soon.

I don't like the 1961 movie version much. It went way too far in its artificiality -- you need some unreality to make song & dance work, but it went so far that it didn't resemble the real world. It was a good choice for a musical to remake.

I think the stage musical works better in that regard. Easier to be conceptual and doesn't seem so jarring as it does in a movie

He has found his true audience: critics who want Old Hollywood to live again, zombie-like, and he's doing his best to make it do so.

— Richard Brody (@tnyfrontrow) December 15, 2021

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/review-steven-spielbergs-west-side-story-remake-is-worse-than-the-original

oh is THAT what it is

is this even true?

The original Tony, for instance, wants to avoid a fight because he has a job and wants a better future than the one that seems to await his layabout friends in the Jets. There’s no single awakening that led him to want out of gang life. His decisions seem to follow the complex yet inchoate impulses of his character. By contrast, the Tony of Spielberg’s film is a convict who has spent a year in Sing Sing because of a fight in which he nearly killed another young man. He avoids the Jets because he doesn’t want to jeopardize his parole. When Riff tries to persuade him to take part in the “rumble” with the Sharks anyway, Tony explains that he’d spent his time in prison examining himself ruefully and resolving to live differently. Whatever Spielberg and Kushner may have had in mind, what they deliver with this simplistic backstory is an endorsement of incarceration: the movie makes clear that Tony came out of prison a better person than he went in.

I mean, basically it is. The last part is sheerly interpretive tho.

that's what I meant. It's a...novel interpretation.

It's a reach, yes.

woah hold up you mean spielberg isn't a prison abolitionist?

surprising no one i thought this was magnificent for the most part

the richard brody review is profoundly stupid

I'm not reading it all and it could be accidental but the first few paragraphs read like he thinks the first movie is the "original" West Side Story

I listened to In The Thick a LatinX podcast talk about the new version over the last couple of days. I think they concluded that it is still heavily white gaze and maybe Spielberg should have stepped aside and produced a LatinX directed version of the film if he needed to revive it.

I thought the original West Side Story was whatever Shakespeare borrowed heavily from for Romeo & Juliet.
Presumably the musical itself was on Broadway before a film version happened.

I did also hear that the 60s film had all the Puerto Ricans with the same skintone failing to reflect the diversity of ancestry which is a big factor in PR culture.

the most effective change is the robert moses/lincoln center setup imo (though this may be one of the things eric thinks is too smart for the material)

being anti-gentrification (and those gentrifying forces reinforcing racism) is def the most radical and clear theme in the spielberg version

but let's be real this movie is mainly about sound and image, and it delivers on all those fronts, especially the "america" and "i feel pretty" sequences

my gf was telling me about a modernized wss revival where they cut "i feel pretty" to maintain a dour and dismal mood (i keep calling this version "i feel gritty"), and i think of this anytime i read someone wishing spielberg had brought the text into the present

I'll probably walk back the "smart" comments when I see it again, but yes, I kind of did find the real-world elements to be an intrusion on the basic primal power of the central romance and Bernstein's music. I get that they sort of ought to be there if you're going to remake the movie as a (now) period piece, and thank gawd they didn't make a present day version with gangs made up of, I guess, the only people who can afford to live in Manhattan?

Anyway, I'll see it again.

Elgort the least interesting thing. And his voice is heavily treated.

Otherwise.... magnificent

some of the changes effective - Rita Moreno as Doc's widow was a clever take, gave her a connection to the Sharks.

unfortunately, means my favorite bit of dialogue in the original musical was cut:

"You guys make this world lousy!"
"It's how we found it, Doc"

and adding backstory that Tony went to prison and specifying he almost killed a dude was a bit unnecessary.

but ultimately this was one of the most well-cast modern movie musicals I've seen. Faist's Riff was heartbreaking, and Rachel Zegler and Ariana DeBose were utter fire. I don't honestly think there were any castings I didn't like other than Elgort.

watching it again, I remember I don’t really like the original West Side Story

haven't seen Spielberg's version yet

I didn't love this remake at all but wow this sucks: https://www.billboard.com/culture/tv-film/rachel-zegler-oscars-invite-west-side-story-1235046314/