West Side Story (DVD)

~~ WEST SIDE STORY ~~

I would like to say this is a modern day Romeo and Juliet and I suppose it is, if you think back to when Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet, but in fact the film is now 44 years old and it was nominated for 11 Oscars which it won 10 of.

West Side Story (Stage show), premiered at the Rivoli Theatre in New York in 1957, where it had a very successful run of 77 weeks. After its successful time on ...
...be the Golden Anniversary of West Side Story and I should imagine they will re-release a special edition to celebrate it.

Originally the movie version was only going to take 3 weeks to make, but instead it took months and Premiered in October 1961. Why did it take so long, well, Jerome Robbins who was one of the two directors on the movie, was a perfectionist when it came to the dance routines, he pushed all the cast beyond their ... more

~~ WEST SIDE STORY ~~

I would like to say this is a modern day Romeo and Juliet and I suppose it is, if you think back to when Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet, but in fact the film is now 44 years old and it was nominated for 11 Oscars which it won 10 of.

West Side Story (Stage show), premiered at the Rivoli Theatre in New York in 1957, where it had a very successful run of 77 weeks. After its successful time on the stage, the movie went into production in August 1960, the full cast having to complete 2 months of gruelling rehearsals prior to production. So look out next year as it will be the Golden Anniversary of West Side Story and I should imagine they will re-release a special edition to celebrate it.

Originally the movie version was only going to take 3 weeks to make, but instead it took months and Premiered in October 1961. Why did it take so long, well, Jerome Robbins who was one of the two directors on the movie, was a perfectionist when it came to the dance routines, he pushed all the cast beyond their own expectations and achieved fantastic results on the dance scenes. But sadly ¾ of the way through the movie the men with the money sacked Robbins so they could finish the film quicker, they did reinstate Robbins though at the end to help with the editing of the movie. For your information the other Director on the movie was Robert Wise.

~~ Cast ~~

Maria - Natalie Wood - She was the 2nd choice for the part, the original choice was for Audrey Hepburn, who declined the part due to being pregnant. So we have a young and very beautiful Natalie Wood playing the part of Maria, to me she played the part very well, from what I have read she hated her on screen partner Richard Brymer (Tony), but on the emotional scenes you would never have guessed. She wanted to do all the songs herself, but sadly her voice was not strong enough for the songs or at least the directors thought so and they brought in Marni Nixon who did all the songs on voice over for Maria (she was also known for the voice over songs in the King and I for Deborah Kerr and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady).

Sorry I digressed to technical info again, back to Maria - she is Puerto Rican and the young sister of the gang leader of the Sharks. Going out to her first dance she meets Tony and it is love at first sight, where you have the romantic look across the Gym at the local dance. They are quickly torn apart by the two gang leaders.

Tony - Richard Beymer - Our Romeo in this movie, as just stated it was love at first sight, after the dance he meets Maria in a sneaky rendezvous with and with a pledge of undying love they make arrangements to meet the next day.

Anita - Rita Moreno - She plays the girlfriend of gang leader Bernardo (The Sharks), she is also a friend and it appears watchdog over Maria. She works with Maria and watches over her for Bernardo. She was very good in her part, there was a scene where the rival gang The Jets set about her pushing her around when she was on an errand to help Tony and Maria. Due to their behaviour she told them that Maria had been shot. This was sadly passed on to Tony making him to go demented in anguish and causing him to run away to his demise.

Lt Schrank - Simon Oakland, Officer Krupke - William Bramley and Doc - Ned Glass - all have small contributing parts to the flow of the story and make periodic appearances throughout the film.

Now that leaves our two gangs. Yes, there are two rival gangs made up of Puerto Ricans and Americans, both gangs hating each other causing friction and fighting. Do not expect the blood and guts as you will get today, this is a musical remember you will get the fights which have been wonderfully choreographed and appear more like a dance than a fight.

~~ The Jets ~~

Riff - Russ Tamblyn - He is the gang leader, a bit cocky, a bit stupid (let's face it aren't all 'gang' leaders), anyway he is the best friend of Tony who used to be the Gang Leader until he wanted to grow up and leave the scene and get a job at Doc's. Due to Tony falling for Maria who happened to be Bernardo's sister, Riff decides that they must have a rumble and so a war meeting had to take place that night at midnight.

Other Jet members were - Ice - Tucker Smith, Action - Tony Mordente, A-Rab - David Winters, Baby John - Eliot Feld and Anybody's - Sue Oakes.

~~ The Sharks ~~

Bernardo - George Chakiris - Gang Leader of the Puerto Ricans, he was just as hot headed as Riff, overly protective of his sister and dating Anita. There was a nice scene on the roof of his apartment block where America was sung. He plays the part of an arrogant youth with attitude.

Other Sharks members were - Anita (already mentioned), Chino - Jose De Vega, Pepe - Jay Norman, Indio - Gus Trikonis (Gus's sister was also in the show, Gina Trikonis she played Grazella Riff's girlfriend), and Consuelo - Yvonne Othon

~~ Songs ~~

This is a musical and no musical will be without its Songs so here we go:

The Overture - takes us through the title West Side Story.

The Prologue - takes you through the opening shots which was an innovation for its year, it was an aerial shot over Manhattan and then homes in to the West Side where we will find our first meeting with the Jets.

Jet Song - we are with the gang and they take us through the streets with a dance routine.

Something's Coming - This is Tony in the courtyard at the back of Doc's where he works. It is a nice song, a happy song that picks you up and carries you along, Tony is singing this as he feels excited that something good is going to happen. I have read somewhere that Tony's singing voice had a voice over as well, but I have not been able to find out by whom.

Dance at the Gym - The dancing here was spectacular I really enjoyed the dance scenes, sadly the music did nothing for me at all, at times it was pleasant at others it had an overpowering sound of the trumpet, and the beat made your heart go faster. Typical music of that era.

Maria - Well what can I say a classic love song which is sang by Tony about a girl called Maria, it is very pleasant to listen to, he sings this in a kind of dream state where she pictures Maria and himself together.

America - Started off by Anita on the roof of their apartment block, the sharks all join in. I found this a lovely song and dance sketch, the music was fast but pleasant, with a Latin American feel to it. You wanted to sing along and click your fingers to the beat.

Tonight - A lovely duet. - This is the love song version between Maria and Tony where they both sing about meeting their love tonight.

Gee, Officer Krupke - Riff and The Jets have a load of fun singing and clowning around with this, it is a wonderful piece of chorography and song. It is quite playful and catchy.

I Feel Pretty - A fun song sang by Maria and set in the Bridal shop where she works, she runs round feeling 'pretty' wearing coloured sashes over her head, showing her happiness to her friends but not the reason why.

One Hand, One Heart - Once again it is Maria and Tony, they are alone in the bridal shop after it has closed. They talk and get carried away with their love for each other, they have a makeshift wedding using the shop dummies for their parents, best man, bridesmaids etc, all the time singing this romantic and uplifting song.

Quintet - This is 5 different versions of Tonight sang at the same time as they make their way to the rumble - you have Maria and Tony separately singing their romantic version of Tonight. Riff - singing The Jets are going to have their day tonight. Bernardo - sings The Sharks are going to have their way tonight and finally you have Anita singing her little version of what she is going to do tonight with Bernardo. Even though it is the same tune the tempo here as become faster to get you ready for the action of The Rumble.

The Rumble - The big fight between the two gangs, again I cannot find fault with the dance routines, once again the tempo of the music has been quickened to get your heart racing and temples pulsing as the choreographed dance routine and the fight begin.

Somewhere - The fight is now over Tony has ran to be with Maria - they are holding each other and feeling the depths of despair, Maria holding Tony close to her chest starts singing this song of hope - Somewhere there's a place for us, towards the end of the song they clasp hands and together they sing with hope in their hearts.

Cool - The Jets, this is started off by Ice as Riff is no longer, it is a song to build the spirits up and get the gang to act 'cool', once again a great dance scene and the song is not too bad either.

A boy like that/ I have a love - as most songs in musicals they continue the story this is a sad song, a bit like a disagreement between Anita and Maria - Anita singing the boy like that part and Maria singing I have a love part. They intertwine like a conversation.

For those of you that want to know the music was by Leonard Berstein and the lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.

~~ My Opinion ~~

West Side Story was not one of my favourite musicals, but I did enjoy it. As I mentioned earlier it was a musical spin off of Romeo and Juliet which is also not one of my favourite stories either. I love musicals, I just don't like the story line, but that is me I don't like it because this tragedy happened due to two different cultures not getting along and not allowing the love to grow.

I loved all the dance scenes they were absolutely fantastic, all the perfectionism and pushing Robbins did, really, truly paid off.

The scene where Maria and Tony did their makeshift wedding, the vows they said to each other were lovely.

Overall I enjoyed the film.

Sadly the extras were nothing special, and very difficult to come out of, I had to keep taking the disc out and putting it back in later as it would not let me navigate around it. Once you had selected an option you were stuck with it.

~~ Extras ~~

Language Options: English, Deutsch, Fracais, Italiano and Castellano.

Scene Selections: there are 36 scenes and they are grouped in blocks of 4

US Theatrical Trailer - this was a 5 minute run through the highlights of the show, like an advertising feature to encourage you into the theatre.

 

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