West Side Story...Again

"West Side Story” the 1961 movie that was based on the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name that made Rita Moreno a star and cast Natalie Wood as a Puerto Rican ingenue is being remade again, this time with all RuPaul Drag Race contestants as the Jets and the Sharks...ok not really, but come on, if that was true, "I Feel Pretty" would be a show stopper and YOU KNOW IT...but this time there is a famous director at hand.

"West Side Story" sets the love story of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" against a backdrop of gang culture in 1950s New York. When Jets gang member Tony falls for Maria, the sister of the leader of the Sharks, tensions rise and disaster ensues until they sing and dance around street corners and rooftops for resolution.  "When you're a jet...you're a jet all the way."

The original movie was directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a screenplay by Ernest Lehman based on the play by Arthur Laurents. This NEW West Side Story is being written by Pulitzer Prize-winning Angels in America playwright Tony Kushner, and Steven Spielberg is directing.

Why shouldn't they redo it?  The original film only won ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

The remake is expected to include all the original Bernstein songs including‘Maria,’ ‘Tonight,’ ‘America,’ ‘Somewhere,’ and ‘I Feel Pretty,’ as well as some of the iconic dance numbers from the original film.'

Ok, so there are no RuPaul Drag Race contestants cast at this point, but Tony the lead was just given to Ansel Elgort.  Umm...ok??? Just can't picture him belting out "Maria...I just met a girl named Maira" but we shall see.

The rest of the cast will be made up of Latino and Latina actors. Spielberg has also explicitly asked for actors aged between 15 and 25, who can sing and preferably speak Spanish.

As for the role of Maria, that part is still up in the air, but "Glee" actress Naya Rivera, who recently posted an ‘audition’ clip on her Instagram is gunning for the role of Anita...and just in case she gets it, they need to cast Lea Michele as Maria, if they DON'T, I say...MISSED OPPORTUNITY. #catfight

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A post shared by Naya Rivera (@nayarivera) on Mar 17, 2018 at 7:19pm PDT

We don't always love remakes, but with Speilberg's passion project...it's hard not to ❤️ it.   See ya at the movies....