Spielberg’s West Side Story — Page 7

I hope to god that the first thing Kushner did when sitting down to start his screenplay is drop ALL of the made up gang slang. Let Laurents spin in his grave for eternity for daring to "desecrate" his ever so important contribution to the show's legacy.

AEA AGMA SM said: "I hope to god that the first thing Kushner did when sitting down to start his screenplay is drop ALL of the made up gang slang. Let Laurents spin in his grave for eternity for daring to "desecrate" his ever so important contribution to the show's legacy."

I love “West Side Story,” and I think Laurents’ book is great overall, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a production that didn’t make me cringe a little at the line “cut the frabber jabber.”

I don’t think it’s necessary to spice up the language with lots of f-bombs and the like, but I wouldn’t get worked up if Kushner updated some of that slang.

Part of the question is that the ages of the gang members have always been sort of... nebulous. Are they hardened street toughs or innocent kids of barely high school age suddenly playing a dangerous game? Or is it a mixture of the above? If I recall, Tony is implied (maybe in the play, or just in the novel) to be seventeen and the oldest of all of them. This lends the play some of its tragedy, but also makes casting for the gang at large difficult to do without coming across as Dawson Casting.

See, I always got that the Jets speak was picked up by them from beatnicks and jazz. It's just very hard to pull off today.

I do wonder if they will keep some of the film's improvements on the stage show, such as the integration of the Sharks into "America."

Updated On: 10/3/18 at 02:28 PM

I hope so, Kad. That one change is why Chakiris has an Oscar. Otherwise, Bernardo doesn't have much of an impact.

Sorry to be a stickler, but Action has always been a character in the musical. Action sings the lead in Gee, Officer Krupke in the stage version. The invented character is Ice who basically replaces the character of Diesel from the stage show. Ice sings lead in Cool where Krupke would be in the stage show. It will be interesting to see if they keep the stage placement. I generally think the movie placement makes more sense, but I'm interested in seeing what this version does.

And Ben Platt is wonderfully talented. And his father's connections helped. Both things can be true. The other true story is Ben Platt isn't a Tony. He's a Baby John until he becomes a Gladhand. No shame in that game. I was a Baby John and am now very much a Gladhand.

Hmmm. How interesting.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Tony-Kushner-Reveals-Exciting-New-Details-On-Steven-Spielberg-Remake-of-WEST-SIDE-STORY-20181023

teddy1996 said: "i would love to see dark skinned latinos casted in this movie. it would be great representation."

I hate to be the one but someone has to stop the madness: Casted is not a word. The past tense of cast is cast.

Thrilled to read that Kushner is using the original 1957 Broadway production's book and adding realism to it thus keeping the late 50s idiom and life in NYC during that period to the screenplay. The 1961 multi-Oscar winning film was itself an adaptation of the original 1957 Broadway production. This one will be its own adaptation of the original 1957 Broadway production. They're not remaking/adapting the 1961 film so enough with this comparison talk.

BrodyFosse123 said: "Thrilled to read that Kushner is using the original 1957 Broadway production's book and adding realism to it thus keeping the late 50s idiom and life in NYC during that period to the screenplay. The 1961 multi-Oscar winning film was itself an adaptation of the original 1957 Broadway production. This one will be its own adaptation of the original 1957 Broadway production. They're not remaking/adapting the 1961 film so enough with this comparison talk.

"

I actually never saw WSS in its original Broadway glory. But this has given me faith in this remake. All we need is worthy casting