WEST SIDE STORY (2021) – Good but not great …

West Side Story is a 1957 stage musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by the legendary Stephen Sondheim (who sadly just passed away in November this year). This was made into a successful movie adaptation in 1961 directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. That movie went on to win 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture. I recently watched the 1961 version and found it exceptional and flawless. I remember thinking to myself that Steven Spielberg has a tough act to follow in his attempt to re-make this musical for the modern ages. The question is why re-make something that is already perfect?

In this new 2021 adaptation, Spielberg has wisely stuck close and faithful with the source material. Indeed it starts off well with an amazingly choreographed opening number introducing us to the rival street gangs, The Jets (made up of true born all American jobless white youths) and The Sharks (represented by Puerto Rican migrant youths). This energetic performance accompanied by the booming majestic music score hit all the right notes and sets the expectations high for the movie. In fact the choreography of the big dance numbers like the dance at the gym, the street dancing rendition of “America” and the ensemble singing inside the emporium store for “I Feel Pretty” were all excellent. But coming from Spielberg, this version needed to be perfect in all aspects in order for it to match Robert Wise’s version in 1961. I would say categorically that for me, this Spielberg version failed to hit the 100% mark for several reasons.

The most glaring mistake for me is in the casting choice of Ansel Elgort in the pivotal role of Tony, the one half of the unfortunate star crossed lovers in this Romeo and Juliet romance. Ansel’s baby face and appearance just does not fit the character of Tony who is supposed to be a matured young adult and exhibit a wiser person after having served a prison term for nearly causing the death of another person. He is also unconvincing in his instance infatuation for Maria. His singing voice is decent but lacked conviction rendering the much loved tunes such as “Maria” and “Something’s Coming” coming across as unimpressive and forgettable. At least the role of Maria as played by new comer Rachel Zegler was a good choice. As Maria, Rachel managed to capture the glow of innocence and first love in her moments although, I have to say, she is no match to the excellent angelic performance by Natalie Wood in the 1961 version.

Rita Moreno who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting actress in the 1961 version playing the role of Maria’s close friend Anita, appears in this version as well in a role that was specially modified for her. She plays the drugstore owner where Tony works. In the original play this role is played by a male. Here she plays the widow of that white character who just happens to have married her, a Puerto Rican, hence, strengthening the underlying message for racial tolerance and harmony. This also works out well as a tribute to the original 1961 musical. However, I felt that the eagerness to strengthen her character’s role in this new version went too far by giving her the honour of singing one of the film’s most iconic song, Somewhere. This was song was originally meant to be sung by Tony to Maria. The lyrics were particularly meaningful as it carried the heavy sense of dread amidst the false hope of finding a better place “somewhere”. Getting Rita Moreno’s character to sing this instead changed the meaning of the song somewhat as it becomes something more general rather than a focus on the two star crossed lovers’ predicament while making a broader statement. This simply felt wrong to me. Perhaps having Rita Moreno be one of the film’s executive producers had something to do with this decision?

So overall these changes did not go down well with me. Happily all the songs remained intact and they sounded great especially the orchestral music accompaniment. Spielberg’s direction is tight and controlled excelling especially in the big dance numbers and the perfect sets to depict the streets of New York city in the late 1950’s. But the name Spielberg no longer seem to have the draw for audiences as it used in the 1970’s and 80’s. I watched this on its second day of release in a practically empty cinema hall! Could it be that he is becoming less relevant to the audience of today? A culture that spends more time staring at the handphones than reading? Sadly this version is unlikely to revive the popularity of big Hollywood musicals. Spielberg took on a big challenge by reimagining one of Hollywood’s best loved musicals, a masterpiece. Why remake what is already perfect? Is it possible to improve on perfection? In order to succeed the remake needs to be not just merely good, but it needs to be great. For me, I am sticking to Robert Wise’s version as my personal favourite.