West Side Story Review: Steven Spielberg's effervescent homage to the cult musical is a triumphant celebration

West Side Story

West Side Story Cast: Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Mike Faist, Rita Moreno

West Side Story Director: Steven Spielberg

West Side Story Stars: 4/5

Just the thought of Steven Spielberg directing a musical feels like a whimsical fever dream but after watching West Side Story, nothing has made more sense to me! His masterfully articulate vision of keeping the essence of the iconic musical intact, but with a splice of modern storytelling tactics interlaced and more importantly, a diverse and vivacious cast, makes the 2021 version just as fruitful (maybe even more!) a cinematic success as the classic 1961 10-time Oscar-winning film.

Adapted more from the 1957 stage musical than the Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins directorial, Steven makes it visually known that for him, West Side Story was a personal, familial project. We see this in his grandiose take, oscillating between realism through the gritty characters and surreal art through the dark surroundings. Spielberg's West Side Story is also an intrusive love letter to a 1950's New York, particularly the literally decaying rubble (with a wrecking ball as direct conversation opening shot!) in Upper West Side being bulldozed to make way for the new Lincoln Center, set amid the backdrop of a heated rivalry between the Jets (led by the cocky Riff [Mike Faist]) and the Sharks (led by the flamboyantly repressed Bernando [David Alvarez]). In comes the racial discrimination against the Peurto Ricans by the Whites as vividly and pridefully explained or sung by the Jets and the police force, headlined by the cynical Officer Krupke (Brian d'Arcy James) and Lieutenant Schrank (Corey Stoll).

While the fiery Anita (Ariana DeBose) is the apt kryptonite for Bernando, a 'doomed' love at first sight romance between a recently paroled and Jets member Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Bernardo's younger sister Maria (Rachel Zegler) leads to the growing tensions between the Jets and the Sharks to reach a cataclysmic end. While Tony and Maria's love story is given considerable leverage, the true narrative of West Side Story remains very much on the crumbling, wasted youth, displaced from society at large and finding reprieve in antagonising the other, despite being categorised equally as literal rubble to be eradicated. Moreover, Steven pays more than a befitting homage to the 1961 movie by having its scene-stealing star, the scintillating Rita Moreno returns to the beloved musical, playing Doc's widowed wife Valentina who is the single ray of normalcy in Tony's twisted dream of a normal life.

When it comes to the performances, Ariana delivers a knockout performance, owning every frame as her masterful painting with infectious sassy confidence. Equally diverting, in a less boisterous manner, is newcomer Rachel, who captures Maria's butterfly personality, waiting to blossom, with calmful finesse. Zegler looks like she belongs in Hollywood and it made perfect sense why she was chosen amongst the thousands to portray Maria. Both women are given a more elaborate, soulful voice, as opposed to the original, where their sharp tongue reduces the male ego to a T. Even Rita's extended appearance has a sparkling delight, unsurprisingly.

That's not to say that the men in West Side Story were left behind! David and Mike add their own harshly charming qualities to their rag-tag characters as they're able to add edginess while being poetically cut from the same cloth. Ansel, on the other hand, has his work cut out for him, playing a more tame character as opposed to the lively bunch in his every corner. However, Elgort's old-school Hollywood avatar works like magic as you're definitely in tune with his every step, especially when it comes to his easy chemistry with Zegler. The pair delightfully orchestrate a love story to root for while Alvarez and DeBose add just the right spunky flavours of 'fireworks' proportions to their passionate romance. While Brian and Corey deliver on their assignment of being truly unlikeable, Josh Andrés Rivera as Chino and Iris Menas as Anybodys, though limited, make a mark as well.

Staying true to the roots of the characters with an authentic ensemble is a glaring difference between the West Side Story of today and the dated 1961 version, which Steven was painstakingly clear about when casting. There's also the fact that the characters are very much aware of their fateful, miserable lives, but follow the ignorance is bliss motto, until, it comes back to bite them. We see this in intricate musical numbers like Gee, Officer Krupke, as well as the more outlandishly delectable sequences like America (Ariana and David eat this up!) to the palpitating duets like Cool (Ansel and Mike are devilishly on beat!) and A Boy Like That/I, Have a Love (Ariana and Rachel are nothing short of electrifying!). Speaking of the flashy musical numbers, choreographer Justin Peck does a remarkable job in bringing the evocative music and lyrics by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim through the pulsating dance moves, particularly, the fiery The Dance at the Gym and the energetic, sprightly Jet Song. Even the classic romantic numbers like Maria and Tonight have a youthful, peppy endeavour attached. Moreno's bittersweet rendition of Somewhere is nothing short of extraordinary while I was also pleasantly inspired by Ansel's pétillant take on Something's Coming and Rachel's high-spirited take on I Feel Pretty, almost like the soulful calm before the impending storm.

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As I mentioned before, there's an equal balance stricken in West Side Story between the aesthetic of the past with a message to the youth, which unfortunately rings true even today, though with a gruesome climax very much in place, and that's thanks to Tony Kushner's clinically adept screenplay, which is very much in rhythm with Steven's larger than life perspective. This makes sense given how this is Steven and Tony's third collaboration after Munich and Lincoln. Equally astonishing is Janusz Kaminski's articulate cinematography, swinging between dimly lit to unapologetically colourful, which manages to whisk its way through the heart-stopping musical numbers like The Dance at the Gym and America (I mention these two musical numbers again because they were personal highlights for me in West Side Story!) at with just as much ease as the more inward POV sequences, like Tony and Maria's religiously romantic One Hand, One Heart number during their uptown outing at a cloister. Janusz's work is made a more aesthetic experience thanks to Adam Stockhausen's scrupulous production design and Paul Tazewell’s exceptional costumes, from Anita's colourful, flowy skirts to Maria's angelic, well-fitted dresses. At 156 minutes, Sarah Broshar and Michael Kahn manage to keep the pace steady without ever faltering when it comes to the bigger picture.

At the end of the day, watching West Side Story is witnessing a cinematic extraordinaire like Steven Spielberg having copious amounts of fun in the art of mixing filmmaking with theatre. And to that, dare I say, Gee, Steven Spielberg!