I ❤️ West Side Story

A movie doesn't win ten Oscars unless it comes pretty close to perfection--like the Jerome Robbins/Steven Sondheim/Leonard Bernstein/Arthur Laurent's "West Side Story" did in 1961.

And now, sixty years later, Steven Spielberg has changed "pretty close" to "absolute" in this new version, the one that IS absolute perfection.

The choreography, music, lyrics, costumes--they were always superb in every version I've seen of this iconic musical, but Spielberg and writer Tony Kushner bring something else to the table--credibility and authenticity that go way beyond casting the right ethnic actors and not overdoing the make-up palette.

"West Side Story" has been an important part of my life for as long as I can remember--from making it the theme to my college BFF's surprise 30th birthday party(it's his favorite film of all time) in the '80's to a wonderful staging of it at my high school, starring the late great Joni Sledge as Anita.

I remember customizing lyrics and writing an updated book with a feminist  slant  for a summer camp production that focused on forbidden friendship, with a strong message.

More "West Side" trivia:  I remember my grandmother telling me tales of how she used to scold a rambunctious Leonard Bernstein for waking up her sleeping baby(my aunt) in their suburban Boston home with noisy stickball in the streets.

I recall when an obsessed friend drove over an hour to join me at a local library screening, regaling me with tales of her unparallelled obsession. She had seen the movie twenty-six times prior to this; her mom forbade her to see it after the tenth time, but she and her sister would lie about having baby-sitting jobs in town,  in an era where the women dressed like Jackie Kennedy, and they wore their jeans and tees  to indulge and  listen to "Gee, Officer Krupke!" for the umpteenth time. She had three things in her wallet: her driver's license, her credit card, and a photo of Richard Beymer, who played the doomed Tony.

As a super fan of everything Sharks and Jets, I remember complaining to my gang  that as much as I loved the score, I had major issues with the skimpy backstory and book, which the new version addresses masterfully.

"Wait a second," I remember saying with a pout:  "Are we supposed to believe that a fifteen year old Maria spent her first night in America, bitching about wearing a "babyish" white dress, on her first night in the city, when her parents and siblings had obviously been there for awhile? Did she really fall in love after just one kiss and almost no conversation at all?  She was fifteen..and planning her WEDDING in a bridal shop less than twenty-four hours later? Would Tony have hit on her if she looked like "Anybody's?" How'd she get her own room with a big bed and a balcony(OK, technically, a fire escape) when cousins were cramming into single rooms by the dozen? Why was she complaining about sitting all day and sewing all night if she just got there"

Oh..I wasn't done yet..

"Why does Anita yell at her, in song, that "He(Tony) will murder her love since he murdered hers?"

  Tony WAS the love she was referring to..was she saying Tony would murder..himself??

I had issues all right.  Issues and questions.

And in case you're wondering, I did have experience with love at first site, once, in my twenties, when my friend Denise set me up with a guy, Jeff K., who gave me the best kissing session of my life that didn't come from an over zealous canine.  He had just gotten back from Europe, where, he said, he " learned a few things" as he brushed my hair softly. 

I never saw him again after that unforgettable make-out session, but the point is, I looked at it for what it was.

 A fantasy kiss that would stay with me forever.

I did not make plans to marry him the next day, while turning a mannequin in a dress shop into my father. 

And if he stabbed my brother(not even in self-defense, but to avenge an accidental stabbing of a klutzy friend and a few dance missteps!!) I'd be writing this post from prison.

You'd think that after writing this long diatribe that I disliked the original Broadway production and/or movie, but it's not true. My issues were with the Romeo and Juliet-inspired idea of love.  (And don't even get me started with the bard, who romanticized a twelve year old losing her v-card to her family foe)

I was skeptical about this remake--I saw the disaster that director Gus Van Sant produced when he tried to do a frame-by-frame reproduction of "Psycho", but this 2021 version  of "West Side Story"  is not a remake.

It is a masterpiece. A masterpiece with authenticity. And credible dialogue.

Some of the songs were not in the order I am so familiar with, but it worked.  It absolutely worked.

Everything--absolutely everything worked.

I started bawling when the familiar  three note whistle started the opening number..and didn't stop for over two hours. I could barely catch my breath when Rita Moreno first appeared on screen, playing Doc's widow, Valentina. 

Ariana deBoze filled her dancing shoes perfectly,  giving Anita brand new life--and a key to her rented apartment.

Is it possible that the genius of Spielberg and his gift to the pandemic weary, hungry audience will win even more Oscars than the 1961 film?

Could be!!

Who knows??