First trailer of Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story
The first trailer of West Side story is now out!
West Side Story is classic musical that tackles issues like racism. This musical had been around Broadway for many generations because of it’s universal theme. It is a modern take on Romeo and Juliet but with an interracial twist. The plot revolves around the tension between the Jets and the Sharks. Two feuding gangs of teenage Caucasian and Puerto Rican teenagers in New York. Tony the bestfriend of the leader of the Jets and Maria, the sister of the leader of the Sharks fell in love. Iconic Director Steven Spielberg will be directing the movie the reimagining.
For a Musical that is criticism about racism, It has a racist history. Which is a shame because it was considered to be a culturally significant by the US Congress for the National Film Registry.
They had been casting White women to play Maria for Broadway productions of West Side Story and also the 1961 movie production.Rita Moreno almost got to play the role of Maria. The people in power is not confident on a Hispanic female lead. So they decided to go for a Caucasian Actress named Natalie Wood to play Maria. On the Bright side, Rita Moreno won Best supporting actress for her role of Anita, who is Maria’s best friend. Rita Moreno is one of the few stars who became an EGOT member. On the Broadway version they started casting Hispanic women to play Maria in the 1980s.
Rita Moreno will be back as a newly introduced character named Valentina. Steven Spielberg’s West Side story will correct the wrongs of the past because A hispanic actress will play Maria. 17 year old Rachel Zegler is of Colombian descent will be playing Maria. Ansel Elgort will be playing Tony and Ariana DeBose will be playing Anita.