Time Editorial Department | Eight and a half
Like a movie, use darkness to meet light.
A new version of West End Story, directed by big director Steven Spielberg, was officially released in North America last week, exactly 60 years after the last version of the film in 1961.
As a classic of Broadway musicals, "West End Story" has been put on the stage countless times around the world, but the screen adaptation is the second time.
This year's Hollywood song and dance films are particularly numerous, and the musical adaptations are particularly concentrated and prolific.
"In the Highlands", "Countdown", "To Evan Hansen", "From afar" and other song and dance films that have come out one after another are almost all screen reproductions of musicals of the same name, of which the most anticipated is undoubtedly Spielberg's masterpiece at the end of the year.
At present, the film's media reputation has been lifted, Rotten Tomatoes freshness 93%, popcorn index 100%, MetaCritic comprehensive score of 86/100, word of mouth explosion!
If you don't know enough about this classic, time will give you a good science popularization.
The film adaptation of the musical, formerly titled East Side Story, won 10 Oscars
As a milestone in the history of Broadway musicals, "West End Story" has been performed in the United States since 1957, winning seven awards including the Tony Award and the Oliver Award.
Such a seminal work is the result of the efforts of three masters— the Broadrope Compilation Dancer Jerome Robbins, the musician Leonard Bernstein, and the playwright Arthur Lawrence, as well as the successful references to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
Jerome Robbins and Leonard Bernstein
Tracing the birth of this musical, as early as 1949, the three people conceived of the play as a passionate love affair between an Italian-Catholic boy and a Jewish girl in the east side of Manhattan, usa, which was then named "East Side Story", but because of the first performance of the same theme work, the story was shelved.
By the 1950s, due to the frequent latino racial violence, the musician Bernstein wanted to move the background of the story to the Puerto Rican immigrant community, so he restarted the creation of the play and renamed it West End Story.
Bernstein in 1958; a scene from Broadway's West End Story
In this way, the entangled struggle between the two families of "Romeo and Juliet" in Shakespeare's play was moved to the West Side of Manhattan, New York, and interpreted into a dispute between two different ethnic groups and different street gangs- the "Shark Gang" composed of Hispanic ethnic groups and the "Rocket Gang" composed of locals, while retaining the tragic love story of two young people in Shakespeare's play.
Therefore, this drama has always been known as the "American gangster version of Romeo and Juliet".
Due to the focus on the social problems of the time such as racial contradictions and cultural conflicts, coupled with the innovative presentation of the musical song and dance form: choreographer Jerome Robbins harmoniously integrates modern drama, song and dance, and ballet, while containing rich and diverse musical elements, the play, known as the "epitome of the times", was very popular after its launch.
The songs "Tonight", "Maria", "America", and "Somewhere" have also been widely sung.
Robbins, 1959; On the set of Robbins' West End Story
The musical was a huge success in promoting cinematic adaptations, and in 1961, Hollywood adapted it into a film, co-directed by Robert Wise, the director who would later make The Sound of Music, and Jerome Robbins, the original musical choreographer of The West End Story.
Like the later "The Sound of Music," West End Story eventually became the business card of broadway and Hollywood's amphibious dramas.
The film won 10 awards at the 34th Academy Awards the following year, including best picture, director, supporting actor, supporting actress, etc., a record that was not broken until the advent of "Titanic" in 1997, but in the field of song and dance films, there has been no work that can be right.
This film also opened another golden age of Hollywood song and dance films, and classic song and dance films such as "Lady", "The Sound of Music", "Orphans of the Mist" and so on were born one after another.
In addition, this is the first film to win the Academy Award for Best Director by two directors, and the second film with two directors to win the Oscar for Best Director is the 2007 Coen Brothers' "Old Nobody".
Regarding this excellent screen adaptation, in addition to the guarantee of the original musical drama and the input of the original drama creation team, Robbins's choreography is indispensable, but at the same time, the film has also made many breakthrough attempts in the expression method, showing the characteristics that are different from the musical.
The film's scenes jumped out of the traditional studio and went to manhattan streets, sports fields and other places for a large number of live-action shooting, and many ballet action scenes were unfolded in real environments.
Therefore, this film is also known as the originator of the "street song and dance film" in the United States, providing a new way of expression for the creation of modern song and dance films.
In the film, Maria and Tony, the tragic lovers, make their first date, talk to each other, and sing "Tonight" at the balcony railing of Maria's house has become a classic.
The amphibious success of the musical and the film has led to the wider circulation of the songs, and the film's soundtrack record has dominated the best-selling film soundtrack charts for decades.
These songs, which bridge the gap between musical theater and popular culture, drove the film and influenced generations of American audiences.
Selling copies is a West End Story fan Spielberg's childhood dream come true
The west side story's remarkable achievements on Broadway and Hollywood influenced the creation of a series of similar works (such as the many bridges in "Philharmonic City" to pay tribute to it), and also influenced a large wave of film directors.
It's hard to imagine that director Michael Bay is also a big fan of the movie West End Story. Earlier, in an interview, Sell copy had emphasized that "West End Story" was the beginning of his directorial career and one of his favorite films.
Selling copies is good at using the different levels and movement trajectories of the characters and the environment to create a sense of blockbuster, and the operation and scheduling of the movie "West End Story" affects his image expression to a certain extent. He has said that many of the song and dance scenes in "West End Story" look "very dynamic."
In addition to "selling copies", the big director Spielberg also has a deep affection for the "West End Story" musicals and movies.
Spielberg, born in 1946, recalled, "When I was a kid, West End Story was the first pop music to be played at home, and it took me with me to escape reality. This 1957 version of the Broadway musical album, I fell in love with it instantly, and it has been tempting me to bring it to the big screen ever since. ”
In 2003, Spielberg finally won the right to adapt the show.
Spielberg believes that the show's themes and stories have meaning to every generation, "Every disagreement can be repaired with love, in a sense, it's a story that never goes out of style and we need to keep revisiting it." ”
That's why Spielberg, who has tried almost every genre of film, dedicated his debut cabaret to this work.
Especially at present, the racial conflicts in the United States are constantly aggravated and ethnic differences are aggravated, and this theme can attract the attention of americans at present.
However, for the Puerto Ricans represented by the "Shark Gang" in the original work to portray a fanatical image wielding a spring knife, in the face of racial discrimination and the banner of "political correctness", how to rationalize and adapt, to avoid falling into racial disputes or other storms, will be a major problem.
Recently, the new version of "West End Story" was banned in many countries in the Middle East Gulf, most likely because the role of Anybodys in the film was adapted into a transgender character, and played by queer actor Iris Menas, which did not pass local censorship. In a way, it shows the strength of the new version of the adaptation.
Regarding the new version of the West End Story, Tony Kushner, who worked with Spielberg on "Munich" and "Lincoln", wrote the script for the film, and it is reported that the story will be closer to the original musical than the 1961 version.
Ansel Elgert, the actor of the music-loving car god baby in "Extreme Car Thief", will play Tony of the white "Rocket Gang".
The heroine Maria is played by 17-year-old high school girl Rachel Ziegler, a Colombian girl who has been selected by 30,000 people to finally win the role, and Disney has now approved her to star in the new version of "Snow White".
In addition, puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno, who played Anita in the 1961 film version, won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for this film that year, will play the corner shop owner who will work for Tony in the new version, and in addition to the film, she also served as the film's executive producer.
Finally, a comparison of the actors in the old and new versions is attached:
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