Posts Tagged: West Side Story

West Side Story: A new take on Romeo and Juliet, 60 years later

January 4, 2022 | By Carla Della Gatta

Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story isn’t a mere remake of the 1961 film or a filmic version of the 1957 stage musical in which a love affair between two teenagers divided by rival New York gangs, the Sharks and the Jets, ends in tragedy. Instead, it is a layering of theatrical devices, a Hollywood riff… Continue Reading »

West Side Story: 60 years as a cultural barometer

October 19, 2021 | By Carla Della Gatta

Sixty years old this week, the 1961 movie West Side Story, based on the acclaimed Broadway musical inspired by Romeo and Juliet, also became a de facto representation of US Latinx in musicals for many years.