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

5 crime novels to learn this summer time — and their authors reveal the writers who encourage them

‘I’ve no worry’: L.A. Opera lovers attend reveals in downtown L.A. regardless of protests

Elisabeth Moss’ ‘Handmaid’s Story’ Emmy possibilities, by the numbers

‘Sally’ explains why a trailblazing astronaut selected to remain within the closet

‘Overcompensating,’ ‘Huge Mouth’ and 4 different collection to look at throughout Satisfaction Month

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
Hypnosis will not put you underneath a spell. However it may well open your thoughts to alter—and assist deal with ache
Health

Hypnosis will not put you underneath a spell. However it may well open your thoughts to alter—and assist deal with ache

Editorial Board December 12, 2024
Checking Out: Trump Hotel Sale Will End an Era
Canada Protests Baffle a Nation of Rule Followers
House Passes Bill to Expand Health Benefits for Burn Pit Exposure
NYC comptroller hopeful Justin Brannan nets key union help amid Hudson Yards on line casino debate

You Might Also Like

Assessment: In Joyce Carol Oates’ luridly seductive ‘Fox,’ a pedophile trainer finally ends up useless
Entertainment

Assessment: In Joyce Carol Oates’ luridly seductive ‘Fox,’ a pedophile trainer finally ends up useless

June 16, 2025
How Toothless advanced for the brand new ‘How one can Prepare Your Dragon’: ‘We needed him to really feel like an enormous pet’
Entertainment

How Toothless advanced for the brand new ‘How one can Prepare Your Dragon’: ‘We needed him to really feel like an enormous pet’

June 14, 2025
Is it too late to reverse Hollywood’s runaway manufacturing? Writers on the ‘stark’ actuality
Entertainment

Is it too late to reverse Hollywood’s runaway manufacturing? Writers on the ‘stark’ actuality

June 14, 2025
The 2025 Envelope Emmy Roundtables
Entertainment

The 2025 Envelope Emmy Roundtables

June 14, 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?