oh that sucks about Somewhere

I was able to watch that ABC News special on Hulu last night! :yay: If anything, the scenery & dancing are going to be excellent! :lol:

This is The Voice Season 10 (2016) winner, Alisan Porter, singing "Somewhere". I downloaded the song the minute it was available on iTunes & have been obsessed with it ever since. :lol:

‘West Side Story’s Ansel Elgort and Mike Faist on Watching Steven Spielberg and Cinematographer Janusz Kaminski Set Up the Incredible Shots

‘West Side Story’s Ariana Debose and David Alvarez on the Way Steven Spielberg Shattered Their Expectations

Did you get to watch the movie Jessica?

I really enjoyed the remake. I was not sure about it. Even with my love for musicals. Why redo it, but they did a brilliant job with it.

Only flaw would be yeah, giving Somewhere to Rita to sing. It should have stayed Maria and Tony's song.

Still, they did a very good job.

glad to hear you enjoyed it

100% truth :high_five:

I'm so tired of all the reviews that are sucking up to this very important and very annoying change. It suited being a lovers' duet.

It's so obvious Spielberg did this as an excuse for Rita to get more screen time. (She literally refused be in the movie if it was a cameo.)


Also... I might inadvertently turn this thread into a Mike-loving haven soon. :innocent: That guy has seriously grown on me over the last few months, and I never thought I'd ever love anyone except Russ Tamblyn as Riff but here we are. :sigh:

Here's a :new: post from Paloma who played Riff's girlfriend Graziella, showing her and Mike and the whole process of how they researched 1950s Beat Generation couples to become the characters [swipe for 3 photos :flowers:]:

not sure if you saw my post but I’ll bump it up if you didn’t

https://www.fanforum.com/105391251-post42.html

Thanks for bumping this, yes I remember writing those posts and feeling very embittered about the whole thing. (Still do, actually.) Thanks for replying :hug:

The Jets in the new one are supposed to be a range of Irish, Polish and Italian descendants. Spielberg was trying to get back to the Broadway vision more than the 1961 movie. What baffles me is that people still don't understand the message that the Jets are suffering oppression in a society they grew up in that is now being demolished or handed on a plate to newbies. So many are just focused on those xenophobic white guys! :eyebrow: Like... There's more to it than that. Riff is trying to hold on to the tiny bit of land he can still call home. He has no prospects in life. His friends are criminals like him. His parents are nowhere to be seen... Tony and Graziella are his only sources of comfort, yet neither one of them can fully be trusted in Riff's mind because Tony is 'changing' and Graziella is 'torn'. By going to war with the Sharks, in his mind he is reclaiming some sense of pride.

Is that xenophobic? Well yes, primarily based on the language he and the Jets use in their fights. But it's a two-way street. The Sharks call the Jets racist terms as well (one beginning with G, the other P) and yet it always gets overlooked because the Sharks are a minority race.

Honestly, I wish the Broadway writers had kept to the original vision of Jewish/Catholic tension :nod:. Might have been less controversial, ironically.

It's just insane to me that so many people view the Sharks as victims. Let's remember that Bernardo is the modern day stand-in for TYBALT. The original psycho of Romeo & Juliet. :look: :crazy:

I think the ongoing sympathy for Bernardo is completely about sympathizing with Anita and her grief, rather than his own character outside of how she talks about him.

As for Valentina, well... She's a character created specifically for Rita. She's created to demonize the Jets in the store scene. Somebody needs to verbalize "rapists", right? ... :pout:

yeah I think that’s what I appreciate about the original movie - that no one side is really made to be better or worse than the other (it’s more neutral)

Bingo :fist_bump: and for Spielberg & Tony Kushner to take away that balanced portrayal seems like a deep betrayal and more woke nonsense.


HOT photo of some of the Jets cast - Jess LeProtto, Kevin Csolak, Mike Faist, Kyle Coffman, Sean Harrison Jones and Ben Cook [via Ricky Ubeda's IG] :hotpinkie:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FHEymemX...pg&name=medium

Jets actors behind the scenes :dj:

VIDEO

If you listen to Somewhere, it's more suited to be about a young lovers and especially Maria and Tony who are yearning to be together, but being separated by circumstance. I get where they were going with Rita's version, but it did not really fit when the song is so identified with Maria and Tony.

Some of the other changes worked well... But that did not, although I love Rita in the movie. And turning her into Doc's widow made sense.

I saw this movie today.

I liked some things about it and other things didn't thrill me.

I did like how the 2021 version used the streets of NYC more and highlighted how building Lincoln Center was displacing a lot of residents. As someone who is from NYC (born/raised) it was a nice history lesson.

I liked that in between musical numbers the characters and relationships seemed to be fleshed out a little more. Like telling us Tony went to jail was a touch I liked.

The actress playing Maria had a really nice voice.

Costumes/sets were great.

What I was not so thrilled about was I Feel Pretty being moved to after the rumble. I read in the Broadway play that IFP is after the rumble, but I agree with the 1961 version's decision to move it to an earlier scene. After the rumble, it's jarring to have a happy, happy song.

I also prefer the performance of Cool in the 1961 version. I like how the whole Jets ensemble gets to dance to it, whereas in 2021 it seems they hold back and it's really focused on Tony/Riff facing off.

I miss the acrobatic dancing from Riff in the '61 version. But the new Riff did a good job with all the other stuff.

Tony/Maria didn't have much chemistry....but at least they had more conversations and he did take her up to the Cloisters, so they did try to show us some bonding beyond thinking the other person was attractive and that's what their love is based on.

I don't really love Spielberg's decision to not give us English subtitles whenever they spoke Spanish. And I am totally fine with the PR characters speaking Spanish amongst themselves. It's realistic. But if I didn't know the 1961 version so well, I wouldn't have known what the scene was all about, what messages they were trying to get across to each other, etc. I spent too much time trying to decipher what they were saying in these scenes that it took away from me just enjoying the scene.
Also, if there was a person who only knew Russian, or only knew Italian, or pick any language, and this person was asked to watch an English film, Russian/Italian/whatever subtitles would be provided. The Russian/Italian/whatever nationality person would not be asked to just suck it up and deal with not understanding.

That's all I got for now.

thanks for sharing your thoughts