Steven Spielberg has unveiled his first full-length trailer for his version of the classic musical West Side Story. The iconic 1957 Broadway musical came from Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim, and Leonard Bernstein. Yeah, that’s some serious theatrical and musical mettle.
What makes this particular trailer work so well is the undercurrent of Maria (Rachel Zegler) singing the classic Tonight which resonates throughout the entire two-minute-plus trailer.
Maria will meet Tony (Ansel Elgort) at a dance and in 1950s New York, Puerto Rican and Anglo being together is a big and sad no-no.
If one knows the story, that you know that this is very much an update of Romeo & Juliet and it contains some of the most memorable musical theater moments in history.
I, for one, cannot wait to see what the movie master in Spielberg has done with this classic. This is his first-ever musical and from the visual cornucopia that is helped by his longtime cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, this should be a sonic and visual feast for the eyes when it lands on December 10.