# West Side Story - Remake by Steven Spielberg



## Montisquirrel (Apr 29, 2021)

I just watched the trailer yesterday. Didn't know this one is coming. Looks awesome. West Side Story is my favorite musical. 
And with Spielberg directing is I guess it is in good hands. What do you think?


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## Daryl (Apr 29, 2021)

I won't be able to watch this. I love the original, even with all of its flaws, far too much.


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## prodigalson (Apr 29, 2021)

Quite the team too: David Newman adapted the score, Gustavo Dudamel conducted the LA Phil on the sessions and Jeanine Tesori (TONY-winning B'way composer) music directed the cast.


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## jbuhler (Apr 29, 2021)

I said this on Twitter when I first saw the trailer: Bernstein’s music sounds so trailerized.


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## wst3 (Apr 29, 2021)

I love the music, I love the movie, I have no idea how this will turn out, and it is risky to remake such an icon, but I'm rooting for them.


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## South Thames (Apr 29, 2021)

That overhead shot of the shadows approaching each other is pure Spielberg.

I'm pretty hopeful about this. Enough time has elapsed for a remake to be worthwhile and to bring this to younger people, the calibre of the folks involved is stellar, and the footage looks generally very good.
I don't think the original film had a particularly definitive rendering of the score, with its excessively fast tempos either (I'm assuming the original orchestrations will be used, at least to a significant extent). Plus... I've always wanted to see what Spielberg would do with a musical since the Temple Of Doom opening. And he's generally good with fun from this period -- Catch Me If You Can etc.

So, my fingers are crossed.



> Bernstein’s music sounds so trailerized.



Not sure exactly what's implied by this, but I'm assuming this is exactly what we're hearing -- a custom trailer cue, not excerpts from the actual score (save for a few seconds at the beginning perhaps).


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## South Thames (Apr 29, 2021)

> They’re gonna blow it. Flip through the music department list on IMDb.



Just did. What's your concern? Newman's arrangement credit I'm assuming pertains largely to conforming the material to new timings/sequences etc. I'm relieved it doesn't mention orchestration, since this would imply the originals are largely being used.


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## Stephen Limbaugh (Apr 29, 2021)

I probably shouldn’t have even commented… you either get it or you don’t. Gonna extricate myself from the thread. 👍🏻😉


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## Toecutter (Apr 29, 2021)

South Thames said:


> Just did. What's your concern? Newman's arrangement credit I'm assuming pertains largely to conforming the material to new timings/sequences etc. I'm relieved it doesn't mention orchestration, since this would imply the originals are largely being used.


I don't get it either, just scrolled through the list and it's the usual group of people with lots of credits and experience under their belt. It's hard to screw up the music of West Side Story when you have the likes of David Newman, Ramiro Belgardt, Dudamel, Shawn Murphy involved. Mmmmm sounds like another internet expert is jealous XD


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## purple (Apr 29, 2021)

prodigalson said:


> Gustavo Dudamel conducted the LA Phil on the sessions


Hope to hear this level of energy in the score:


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## TimCox (Apr 29, 2021)

jbuhler said:


> I said this on Twitter when I first saw the trailer: Bernstein’s music sounds so trailerized.


Well...it's a trailerized bit of his music, I doubt it's from the score


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## jbuhler (Apr 29, 2021)

TimCox said:


> Well...it's a trailerized bit of his music, I doubt it's from the score


Yeah, that's my point. That the trailer really trailerized the music. It never occurred to me that this would be anything but music for the trailer. And, yes, I've heard it done before with other music, so I'm not making any claim other than it is more noticeable than most. But it's always curious to hear familiar music defamiliarized in this way, distended to fit the needs of a different genre.


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## Stephen Limbaugh (Apr 29, 2021)

Toecutter said:


> Mmmmm sounds like another internet expert is jealous


….internet expert?

Edit: actually that toe guy rarely has anything useful to say in other threads, so I’m gonna put ‘em on ignore.


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## mikeh-375 (Apr 30, 2021)

Jeez, I hope they don't mess too much with the actual score. There might be some filmic cues freshly written though (hopefully motivic) and perhaps they wont limit the band to a size that fits in a theatre pit....."could be..(great)..who knows?"


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## South Thames (Dec 12, 2021)

So here's the soundtrack (it's a playlist, not just the prologue):



Pleased to note they definitely didn't screw the pooch as far as the orchestral score is concerned, it sounds utterly terrific; much better than the 1961 film version for the most part -- the tempos are more true to Bernstein's score, the acoustic is spacious and airy (bucking the horrible trend of recording film musical scores too dry) and the orchestra under Dudamel is predictably superb (also the cod hispanic accents that marred the 61 film have been reigned in). I wonder when the last time an orchestra that sounded this much like an orchestra was heard in a major film....

I don't think Ansel Elgort's voice is much to get excited about but Rachel Zegler sounds (and looks) lovely. Kudos to Spielberg for doing open calls for the film and getting it right.

The film also looks terrific:


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## easyrider (Dec 12, 2021)

Will watch!


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## Double Helix (Dec 12, 2021)

Inspired by this thread, I did a quick YouTube search for Stan Kenton's West Side Story, an album I distinctly remember that my parents had (and played incessantly) back when I was in Little League:




Revisiting this makes it all come back to me ("kinderszenen"), but if you want a real treat, fast forward to Something's Coming, followed by I Feel Pretty.


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## jbuhler (Dec 12, 2021)

I rewatched the 1961 version last night in preparation to see the new film. Overall the film holds up very well all things considered. I’m looking forward to seeing the new version. I’ve been surprised so far that the marketing has made little effort to distinguish the new version from the old and indeed has often chosen to emphasize commonalities.


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## re-peat (Dec 12, 2021)

Bought the new soundtrack this morning. Exceptionally well done, I find. A complete success. Very disciplined yet impassioned performance full of joyous abandon and well-measured restraint (neither ever exaggerated) — Dudamel finally sounds his uninhibited and fiery younger self again (I was worried there for a while he would get irreparably deutschegrammophonified.) —, the sound can’t be bettered and while it might take me a bit of time getting used to the voices, having grown up with those of the 60’s movie adaptation (several of which have become timbraly an inseparable part of the music in my mind), the singers are never less than very good.

Only “Krupke” is taken a fraction too fast, I find. But that’s really the only hesitantly critical thought I had while listening to this superb new version of the ageing-proof Bernstein-Sondheim classic.

_


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## South Thames (Dec 12, 2021)

I wonder who the 1st trumpet was? Must have lungs and lips of reinforced steel:


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## dcoscina (Dec 12, 2021)

re-peat said:


> Bought the new soundtrack this morning. Exceptionally well done, I find. A complete success. Very disciplined yet impassioned performance full of joyous abandon and well-measured restraint (neither ever exaggerated) — Dudamel finally sounds his uninhibited and fiery younger self again (I was worried there for a while he would get irreparably deutschegrammophonified.) —, the sound can’t be bettered and while it might take me a bit of time getting used to the voices, having grown up with those of the 60’s movie adaptation (several of which have become timbraly an inseparable part of the music in my mind), the singers are never less than very good.
> 
> Only “Krupke” is taken a fraction too fast, I find. But that’s really the only hesitantly critical thought I had while listening to this superb new version of the ageing-proof Bernstein-Sondheim classic.
> 
> _


Agreed! I love the sonic quality of the orchestra on this new recording. I can hear details I could not before in the original soundtrack. I do prefer the original "America" sung by Rita Moreno but it's a tall order asking someone to surpass her fiery and impassioned Anita. The new version almost sounds too pitch perfect. I liked the imperfections of the original. Aside from that, a wonderful release!


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## Stephen Limbaugh (Jan 7, 2022)

I was shocked they didn't change the words to _Gee, Officer Krupke_.

Overall, aside from the obvious reasons it flopped, I don't think 2020's audiences prefer when standards are _Glee_-ified. In the sessions, $10 says they stripped a bunch of orchestra... it's clorox.


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## LatinXCombo (Jan 9, 2022)

Stephen Limbaugh said:


> I was shocked they didn't change the words to _Gee, Officer Krupke_.
> 
> Overall, aside from the obvious reasons it flopped, I don't think 2020's audiences prefer when standards are _Glee_-ified. In the sessions, $10 says they stripped a bunch of orchestra... it's clorox.


Hey, no one wants a fella with a social disease! It was true then, just as true now.


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## mikeh-375 (Jan 9, 2022)

I thought Twitter was a social disease.....


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## dcoscina (Jan 9, 2022)

I despise the lyrics change in the new America.... 

and the number pales in comparison to the original. While I still like the sonics of the new recording, I will take the original film score album for everything else.


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