West Side Story (2021)

 

Those who loved West Side Story 1961 will certainly love 2021 -- and for many of the same reasons. New fans might be won by the splendid music -- of course -- but also by director Steven Spielberg's expansion of the production's color palette (both in casting and costuming) and screenwriter Tony Kushner's recrafting of New York's white/brown conflict to reflect both familiar immigration battles and the existential threats of urban development for all but the wealthiest city dwellers.

The leads for this production, Ansel Elgort and newcomer Rachel Zegler, are natural charmers, who deliver what I consider to be the show's more beautiful melodies (Maria; Tonight; One Hand, One Heart) with exuberance, warmth and grace. But the show's power center, as was true for the '61 version, is the three featured seconds -- Ariana Debose as Anita, David Alvarez as Bernardo and Mike Faist as Riff. All are brilliant, especially Debose, a true mesmerizing beauty.

The dancing has been re-choreographed by Justin Peck to emphasize, to great effect, more balletic movement and de-emphasize the acrobatic from the earlier film (courtesy of gymnast Russ Tamblyn who played Riff in '61). His re-imagining of Cool as a pas de deux for Elgort and Faist is particularly impressive.

Some songs have been moved around and reassigned. Rita Moreno, Anita in '61, returns to WSS as a new character and is assigned the aching Somewhere, sung by Maria and Tony in the original. It's a touching homage by and for the Oscar-winner that might strike some longtime fans as more of a gimmick than a natural narrative correction or substitution.

In the end, WSS '21 is a Spielberg production -- immaculate and stunning and sure to make billions.