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Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story (2021)


mrbellamy

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Would it be similar to his role on Fiddler on the Roof?  I've never seen that film, nor am I familiar with the original musical. What did Williams do on it?  I think he at least wrote the violin cadenza for the introduction, for Isaac Stern.  I guess he could conduct the sessions for West Side Story, along with whatever tweaking/transitions need to be done.  Possibly arranging a new suite for the end credits!

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He won an Oscar for it, so he must have done a good job, whatever he did!

 

And yeah, I reckon he'd conduct the score at a minimum. There's no chance Spielberg finally makes his musical and doesn't have Williams involved in some capacity.

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22 minutes ago, tannhauser said:

I thought as much!  I was hoping someone here, better informed than myself, could enlighten me?

 

For FIDDLER? He orchestrated all of the songs, and wrote some 'tissue material' based on Bock's thematic material. Orchestrated it TOO MUCH, if you ask me, regardless of the Oscar win and general celebration. I prefer Bock's original, more raw material.

 

I would also be surprised if Williams wasn't involved in the orchestration work for this, given not only his relationship to Bernstein, but also how much experience he has in that area (FIDDLER, GOODBYE MR. CHIPS, TOM SAWYER, VALLEY OF THE DOLLS etc., not to mention all the times he weaved his scores around song material by others in the 60s).

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I love the over-the-top orchestration!

 

29 minutes ago, Quintus said:

I should imagine Spielberg would want a fresh and vibrant new take on the film's music and songs. Which would mean Williams is out.

 

You don't think JW can do a fresh take on WSS?

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39 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

You don't think JW can do a fresh take on WSS?

 

In Valen's name!

WEST SIDE STORY does not need a "fresh take"! After almost 60 years, it's still as fresh as a daisy, and as sharp as a knife. It does not need rebooting, re-imagining, remaking, redoing, rethinking, or reworking! 

What does Sondheim think of all this, after all, it's half his?

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5 minutes ago, Richard said:

 

In Valen's name!

WEST SIDE STORY does not need a "fresh take"! After almost 60 years, it's still as fresh as a daisy, and as sharp as a knife. It does not need rebooting, re-imagining, remaking, redoing, rethinking, or reworking! 

What does Sondheim think of all this, after all, it's half his?

 

Agreed. I'm sure JW is able to make a cool arrangement of the musical, but I doubt he would agree to do it, out of reverence. The best we can hope for is that JW does the additional music that's undoubtedly needed.

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JW would be able to add a little modernity to Bernstein's music, using a lot of respect, and without denaturing the work.

 

I hear Ansel Elgort will play Tony. Good choice.

 

Steven Spielberg West Side Story Ansel Elgort Co-Star

 

 

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Modernity?  What does that even mean?  William's compositional style is no more "modern" than Bernstein's, for a start.  And West Side Story's music doesn't need modernising any more than Beethoven's 5th Symphony does.

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West Side Story is very sixtish... yes the music can be modernized.... especially the rythm of the lyrics, the songs can be adapted to sound more modern. I listened several adaptations of this musical, and yes, the music could definitely be modernized with great result.

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15 minutes ago, Bespin said:

JW would be able to add a little modernity to Bernstein's music, using a lot of respect, and without denaturing the work.

 

I hear Ansel Elgort will play Tony. Good choice.

 

Steven Spielberg West Side Story Ansel Elgort Co-Star

 

 

 

With this major role under his belt, he'll hopefully be able to afford a larger car.

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8 minutes ago, Bespin said:

West Side Story is very sixtish... yes the music can be modernized.... especially the rythm of the lyrics can be adapted to a more modern way, I listened several adaptations of this musical, yes, the music could be modernized with a great result.

 

Well, the music was written in the 50's, but doesn't really sound dated because it draws on such a wide variety of styles and influences.  It's like nothing that came before it on Broadway (other than an occasional vaudeville number like Gee Officer Krupke), and also like nothing that has been written since.  The quality and sophistication of it's construction, the gritty soundworld of the orchestration, and the beauty of its melodies gives it a timeless quality.  

 

I'm interested in hearing the modern adaptations which you mention.  Can you give me some details?

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27 minutes ago, Bespin said:

JW would be able to add a little modernity to Bernstein's music, using a lot of respect, and without denaturing the work.

 

I hear Ansel Elgort will play Tony. Good choice.

 

Steven Spielberg West Side Story Ansel Elgort Co-Star

 

 

 

Just looking at this character with tinnitus wearing ear phones gives me a PTSD attack...

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20 minutes ago, tannhauser said:

 

I'm interested in hearing the modern adaptations which you mention.  Can you give me some details?

 

Sorry, sixties or fifties, I never love the rythm of the songs of this musical. I’m not a fan of Bernstein’s music either.

 

There are plenty of adaptations on Spotify.

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I understood what you meant Bespin. The Bernstein original has 60s movie score sensibilities in both the arrangements and the quality of the recording. Both aspects could benefit from an update and even a more radical stylistic overhaul, whilst still preserving the orchestral spirit and sweep of the original version.

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You know what you have to Jay.

 

It's a great film, an all-time favourtie of mine. Complete with memorable score and songs. It's a New York 60's version of Romeo and Juliet, essentially.

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11 minutes ago, Jay said:

Am I the only one who's never seen West Side Story and never heard it's music?

 

My dad gave me the soundtrack LP a few months back (I think I posted it in this thread earlier), so I have that. But embarassingly, I've never seen the full film. Only individual scenes. One of my historical holes to fill.

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I watched it a few weeks ago. It's one of those I like to see every now and then. It's refreshing especially because they don't make movies like it anymore- which is exactly why they shouldn't remake it.

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I watched it last Saturday for the first time, having only known America beforehand. It's pretty good, though very cheesy and stage-play-y at parts (stabbings etc.).

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That's the best part. When they fight they mostly fight-dance rather than actually beating each other up. Until Baby John gets bloodied...

Just now, Alexcremers said:

The film language is dated, hence the update, I guess.

Pardon?

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1 hour ago, Bespin said:

West Side Story is very sixtish... yes the music can be modernized.... especially the rythm of the lyrics, the songs can be adapted to sound more modern. I listened several adaptations of this musical, and yes, the music could definitely be modernized with great result.

"sixtyish"? Really? Are you sure, Bes?

Yes, it could be modernised, but does it need to be?

Spielberg is so obsessed with whether he could, he didn't stop to think whether he should. What you call modernisation, I call the rape of a perfectly good musical.

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I'm pretty sure that they will stay as close as possible to Bernstein's original orchestrations of the 1957 Broadway show. One of the issues Lenny had with the movie adaptation (in which he hadn't any role whatsoever) was the "beefed up" Hollywood-ized orchestrations supervised by Saul Chaplin and Johnny Green (even though Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal, who were Lenny's orchestrators for West Side Story, also had a helping hand). I'm sure Spielberg and Lenny's estate will want to stay faithful to his original orchestrations. Of course there will be a need to adapt, rearrange bits and pieces and perhaps writing even original music as connective tissue. So that will be interesting to see how it's gonna be dealt with and if JW will have a role in it.

 

1 hour ago, Jay said:

Am I the only one who's never seen West Side Story and never heard it's music?

 

If you guys never heard West Side Story, my heartfelt suggestion is to listen first and foremost to the Original Broadway Cast recording from 1957. IMHO, it's still the best around. Even though it's not complete, it has a raw power and energy subsequent versions don't have:

 

After that, then listen to Bernstein's preferred version, which is a studio recording of the complete score (with revised orchestrations) done in 1984 with opera singers (José Carreras, Kiri Te Kanawa, Tatiana Troyanos, Kurt Ollman and Marylin Horne) conducted by the composer himself. Some "purists" don't like Lenny's "operatic" approach, but the recording is top-notch Deutsche Grammophon and the playing of the orchestra is none short of amazing (there's even Wynton Marsalis playing trumpet):

 

 

IMHO, the OST recording of the 1961 film version is fine, but it's probably the weakest recording available of this masterpiece. I honestly don't like very much Marni Nixon's singing:

 

The point is that for many people West Side Story is the movie version, but as fine as it is, it's still an adaptation of a musical theatre work.

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1 hour ago, Jay said:

Am I the only one who's never seen West Side Story and never heard it's music?

 

Probably.

 

But don't feel bad. While the music is fantastic, I don't think it's the be and end all of musicals the way its being described in this thread.  Part of the reason it's so well known, and beloved, is because of the endless productions of it that have featured at American high schools for decades.  It's a piece of Americana. If, before Spielberg ever mentioned wanting to do this, and I had to guess which musical he'd pick, it would have been West Side Story.

 

Don't get me wrong. It's fantastic fun.  But it ain't all that (IMO).

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13 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

 

My personal favorite of the old musical adapters/orchestrators from the time period.  Pretty much just for this single cue

 

 

 

For me, nothing beats the great school of the MGM arrangers/orchestrators of the "Arthur Freed unit", as they called it: Conrad Salinger, Skip Martin, Sandy Courage, Lenny Hayton, Maurice DePackh and others. That was an amazing pool of talent. Irwin Kostal was a very fine musician too.

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3 minutes ago, TownerFan said:

For me, nothing beats the great school of the MGM arrangers/orchestrators of the "Arthur Freed unit", as they called it: Conrad Salinger, Skip Martin, Sandy Courage, Lenny Hayton, Maurice DePackh and others.

 

Very true, by "time period" I meant the 60s.  The 1-2 punch of orchestrating Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music makes Kostal the king of that era in terms of movie musicals.

 

But yes, if we're talking the classic mid-40s to mid-50s Freed musicals, nothing tops them.

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57 minutes ago, Richard said:

"sixtyish"? Really? Are you sure, Bes?

Yes, it could be modernised, but does it need to be?

Spielberg is so obsessed with whether he could, he didn't stop to think whether he should. What you call modernisation, I call the rape of a perfectly good musical.

 

Grumpy old fart 😉

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Just now, Richard said:

Right. That's you off my Christmas card list, and you can forget about getting into that restaurant. I know the doorman.

 

Knowing the chef could yield much more interesting forms of revenge.... ;)

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9 hours ago, Jay said:

Am I the only one who's never seen West Side Story and never heard it's music?

 

Nope, never seen it, never heard it, know very little about it.

 

7 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

My personal favorite of the old musical adapters/orchestrators from the time period.  Pretty much just for this single cue

 

 

 

Wow, this is great! What a time, when movies relied on glorious visuals and music to tell the story, rather than incessant dialogue.

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On 10/4/2018 at 2:42 AM, crumbs said:

Wow, this is great! What a time, when movies relied on glorious visuals and music to tell the story, rather than incessant dialogue.

:crymore: If only today's filmmakers knew how significantly they can improve their movies just by setting more value upon music. There are so many great films that make that one fault and neglect the music. I mean, watch the original and the remake of Papillon.

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4 hours ago, crumbs said:

Or compare Star Wars under Lucas to Star Wars under Abrams. Let's hope Abrams learned a few things from Johnson's usage of score in TLJ.

 

"Every fan hates The Last Jedi and wants me to undo everything Rian Johnson did, huh? Not a problem, anything for the fans.... :devil: "

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