We collect cookies to analyze our website traffic and performance; we never collect any personal data. Cookie Policy
Accept
NEW YORK DAWN™NEW YORK DAWN™NEW YORK DAWN™
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
  • Home
  • Trending
  • New York
  • World
  • Politics
  • Business
    • Business
    • Economy
    • Real Estate
  • Crypto & NFTs
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
    • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Fashion
    • Art
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
Reading: ‘West Side Story’ Review: In Love and War, 1957 Might Be Tonight
Share
Font ResizerAa
NEW YORK DAWN™NEW YORK DAWN™
Search
  • Home
  • Trending
  • New York
  • World
  • Politics
  • Business
    • Business
    • Economy
    • Real Estate
  • Crypto & NFTs
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
    • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Fashion
    • Art
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
Follow US
NEW YORK DAWN™ > Blog > Entertainment > ‘West Side Story’ Review: In Love and War, 1957 Might Be Tonight
‘West Side Story’ Review: In Love and War, 1957 Might Be Tonight
Entertainment

‘West Side Story’ Review: In Love and War, 1957 Might Be Tonight

Last updated: December 8, 2021 4:44 pm
Editorial Board Published December 8, 2021
Share
SHARE
09west side review facebookJumbo

The Jets and the Sharks, a white teenage gang and their Puerto Rican antagonists, aren’t mirror images of each other. Ostensibly contending for control over a few battered blocks in the West 60s, they collide like taxis speeding toward each other on a one-way street.

The Sharks are children of an upwardly striving, migrant working class, a generation (or less) removed from mostly rural poverty in the Caribbean and determined to find a foothold in the imperial metropolis, where they are greeted with prejudice and suspicion. Bernardo (David Alvarez), their leader, is a boxer. His girlfriend, Anita (Ariana DeBose), works as a seamstress, while his younger sister, Maria (Rachel Zegler), toils on the night shift as a cleaner at Gimbels department store. Chino (Josh Andrés Rivera), who Bernardo and Anita believe would be a good match for Maria, is a bespectacled future accountant. (But of course Maria falls for Tony, a reluctant Jet played by the heartthrobby Ansel Elgort.) All of them have plans, aspirations, dreams. The violence of the streets is, for Bernardo, a necessary and temporary evil, something to be overcome through hard work and communal cohesion on the way to something better.

The Jets, by contrast, are the bitter remnant of an immigrant cohort that has, for the most part, moved on — to the Long Island suburbs and the bungalows of Queens, to a share of postwar prosperity. As the policemen Officer Krupke (Brian D’Arcy James) and Lieutenant Schrank (Corey Stoll) are on hand to explain — and as the Jets themselves testify — these kids are the product of family dysfunction and societal neglect. Without aspirations for the future, they are held together by clannish loyalty and racist resentment — an empty sense of white entitlement and a perpetually expanding catalog of grievances. Their nihilism is embodied by Riff (the rangy Mike Faist), the kind of brawler who would rather fight than win.

As the song says: “Life can be bright in America/If you can fight in America.” But what lingers after this “West Side Story” is a darkness that seems to belong more to our own angry, tribal moment than to the (relatively) optimistic ’50s or early ’60s. The heartbreak lands so heavily because the eruptions of joy are so heady. The big comic and romantic numbers — “Tonight,” “America” and, yes, “I Feel Pretty” — burst with color and feeling, and the silliness of “Officer Krupke” cuts like an internal satire of some of the show’s avowed liberal pieties.

You Might Also Like

10 books to learn in June

There’s one vivid spot for San Francisco’s workplace house market

‘The biggest mistake of my life’: 6 actors on typecasting, comedy idols and extra

Taylor Swift reacquires rights to the music that impressed the ‘(Taylor’s Model)’ marketing campaign

Elizabeth Banks and Jessica Biel on ‘The Better Sister’ and taking management in Hollywood

TAGGED:Alvarez, David (1994- )Bernstein, LeonardDeBose, ArianaKushner, TonyLaurents, ArthurMoviesNew York CityPeck, JustinRobbins, JeromeSondheim, StephenSpielberg, StevenTesori, JeanineThe Washington MailTheaterWest Side Story (2021) (Movie)
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Email Print

Follow US

Find US on Social Medias
FacebookLike
TwitterFollow
YoutubeSubscribe
TelegramFollow
Popular News
Etel Adnan Captured the Mild of Many Suns 
Art

Etel Adnan Captured the Mild of Many Suns 

Editorial Board February 4, 2025
As Fed Prepares to Raise Rates, Global Economy Sinks Deeper Into Turmoil 
Bronchial asthma biologics can be utilized throughout being pregnant to scale back threat of issues, researchers say
Harvey Weinstein hospitalized following ‘alarming’ blood take a look at
Trump administration takes purpose at Harvard’s worldwide college students and tax-exempt standing

You Might Also Like

Assessment: It’s 2044 and pink fog is enveloping Los Angeles. Chaos ensues
Entertainment

Assessment: It’s 2044 and pink fog is enveloping Los Angeles. Chaos ensues

May 30, 2025
Overview: In ‘Mountainhead,’ billionaire tech bros watch the world burn
Entertainment

Overview: In ‘Mountainhead,’ billionaire tech bros watch the world burn

May 30, 2025
Marcel Ophuls, L.A.-raised documentarian and Oscar winner, dies
Entertainment

Marcel Ophuls, L.A.-raised documentarian and Oscar winner, dies

May 29, 2025
FLAG as soon as once more proves that not all punk band reunions are created equal
Entertainment

FLAG as soon as once more proves that not all punk band reunions are created equal

May 29, 2025

Categories

  • Health
  • Sports
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Technology
  • World
  • Art

About US

New York Dawn is a proud and integral publication of the Enspirers News Group, embodying the values of journalistic integrity and excellence.
Company
  • About Us
  • Newsroom Policies & Standards
  • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Careers
  • Media & Community Relations
  • Accessibility Statement
Contact Us
  • Contact Us
  • Contact Customer Care
  • Advertise
  • Licensing & Syndication
  • Request a Correction
  • Contact the Newsroom
  • Send a News Tip
  • Report a Vulnerability
Term of Use
  • Digital Products Terms of Sale
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Settings
  • Submissions & Discussion Policy
  • RSS Terms of Service
  • Ad Choices
© 2024 New York Dawn. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?