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West Side Story is so old


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15 minutes ago, DFA1970 said:

Yep it is true. She said it in an interview. Look it up because it's YouTube.

I’m not going to sift through all her interviews on YouTube. Lol  Why would the studio even audition her for the role if they thought she was too “ethnic”?

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15 hours ago, Jurassic Lancer said:

I think he will give it a fair treatment. When he is focused on important events, he comes through. And WSS is an important work. 

I have read that Moreno has some connection to the new film, so let us hope it is good.

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1 hour ago, Brian Tuma said:

I’m not going to sift through all her interviews on YouTube. Lol  Why would the studio even audition her for the role if they thought she was too “ethnic”?

You find it hard to believe that a movie studio in the 50s that cast a Polish guy in brown face and lily white woman as "Puerto Ricans" would relegate an actual Puerto Rican to a supporting role rather than a starring one? Even if it didn't go down exactly like that, it certainly wouldn't be unheard of at that time. 

The phrase "too ethnic" as grounds for routine discrimination was actually pretty PC in the 50s, disgustingly enough. 

 

Edited by Lance
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47 minutes ago, Brian Tuma said:

I’m not going to sift through all her interviews on YouTube. Lol  Why would the studio even audition her for the role if they thought she was too “ethnic”?

Actually you are correct. I got it wrong....she had to have makeup put on her to make her look more darker because Natalie Wood and George Chakiris who play Latinos are white. So she had to have the same skin tones as the other actors. 

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2 hours ago, Lance said:

I wasn't happy with the original movie orchestration, either.  That's different from choreography, and I'm fine with most of it being tweaked, but not Cool.  That particular choreography is timeless and virtually unimprovable, IMO.  

* I just read this article, though.  It talks about how the choreography had to change, including in Cool, because dancing has changed so much since the 50s.  I had no idea.  So maybe I need to be a little more...flexible...with my viewpoint. 

https://www.americantheatre.org/2020/01/30/a-west-side-story-that-resets-the-choreographic-balance/

The broadway revival was meant to be updated. The Spielberg film appears to be set in the 50s. As much as I am a huge fan of the Jerome Robbins choreography, I also love Justin Peck's work and am excited to see his interpretation.

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2 hours ago, Lance said:

The phrase "too ethnic" as grounds for routine discrimination was actually pretty PC in the 50s, disgustingly enough. 

FWIW ethnicity is not the same thing as race.

Also FWIW, Natalie Wood’s real name was Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko.

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