Wasn't Rita around 30? With today's surgery, same difference. Sorry, I just took the idea and ran with it.
Haven't heard a peep, just a hunch. I agree that she's talented and as far as her age, that would be a tiny hurdle. Just seems like the type of decision Hollywood would make, or maybe creating a new character just to get her name on the marque!
JLo could play a role created just for her: Maria's sassy aunt "Tia Malo". A happy ending is guaranteed with Tia Malo accidently saving Tony's life by pushing him out of the way of an oncoming bus and taking the hit herself. No sad endings like the original -this is 2018.
If you go by Broadway box office grosses, they already are. The top musicals are bringing in well over a million a week. So there is obviously an audience out there, and as movies are cheaper than Broadway, there is a chance that will happen.
I don't think Sondheim was quite at his height yet. He's dismissed his work on WSS as juvenilia (probably not the word he used). It's not my intent to poo-poo his lyrics--he's probably being too hard on himself--but he really only came into his own later.
I'm always uncomfortable with the word 'remake' in situations like this. WSS is primarily a musical, one that was made into a movie in 1961. Saying this is a remake is saying that movie is the primary text. But Spielberg is (presumably) not remaking that movie; he's making the musical into another movie. Comparisons to the earlier movie are inevitable, sure, but I still don't see it as remaking the movie. In some cases that's exactly what it is. Other than a few film historians, who remembers the book that Hitchcock bought the rights for to turn into Psycho? or The Birds? Filming The Birds today, unless the intent was to strip off Hitchcockisms and film and go back to the book, would be a remake because that movie effectively replaced the book. But West Side Story remains a staged musical primarily. The movie supplemented it; it didn't replace it. I know. It's probably just me.
I just read Daphne Du Maurier’s “The Birds” actually. Filming that would result in a fairly different movie from Hitchcock’s — they share the central idea of “birds inexplicably attack humans” but the setting and characters are not the same. While reading I thought someone should tackle it.
I don’t think that’s the case with every musical, though. I can’t imagine anyone making another film of The Sound of Music, for instance. (The live TV performance of the play doesn’t count.) I don’t think the WSS movie is quite as untouchable as that but it’s only one step below. The main area where there is some scope for a new treatment is filming it with a more authentically Latino cast. (And maybe a more interesting Tony... and leads who can do their own singing.)
I'm hoping E.T. will make a little appearance in West Side Story and do a little tap dance with the sailors for a minute or two. Spielberg has never made three kinds of films: no all-out comedies (I'm not counting 1941); no Westerns; and no musicals... until now.
In the other thread on this subject (didn't know this one existed, sorry!) I mentioned that Latin Jazz legend Bobby Sanabria recently released a new Big Band record featuring the music of West Side Story. He incorporates different styles of Latin music from different countries, the results are stunning. He also touches on the current political climate at certain points in the record. There's an interview available, relating to this project, with Maestro Sanabria and Leonard Bernstein's daughter. In it, she wholeheartedly supports the record, and speaks of how pleased her father would've been to see the continued love for WSS. They also touch upon how relevant the story still is. For the more musically adventurous Jazz loving audiophile (this is a great sounding recording!), this record is very highly recommended!
That wheezy, blurp-py sound you just heard, was Natalie Wood rolling over in Davy Jones' Locker...and she just hocked-up a jellyfish...
I’m wondering why a remake of an old musical. Why not hire a talented composer and make a new musical?
I can think of a few recent Broadway musicals of note that could be filmed: Fun Home, Dear Evan Hanson, Come From Away, Falsettos, The View Upstairs (off B'way). And notice that I didn't even mention Hamilton
Well, it’s not like tons of dough cannot be made by exercising a little creativity in the creation of a new musical. Just ask Walt.
The 1961 film made the (arguably) very smart change of swapping "Officer Krupke" and "Cool". The placement of those songs in the film complements the narrative better - "Krupke" is a comedic number that fits with the tone of the first act, while the paranoid "Cool" makes more sense coming on the heels of Riffs murder. So anyway, it seems Spielberg would be wise to repeat that change, but if he does, it will be even more of a "remake" of the previous film... I also hope he doesn't try to make the film into a simplistic political statement. The themes of West Side Story are more universal than that.
I'd argue the exact opposite. Totally possible, and probable, that this project will be a titanic failure. And that it's going take tons of backbreaking work on the part of everyone involved to pull off!
