In 1961, film director Robert Wise collaborated with Jerome Robbins to use film means to reproduce "West Side Story" quite perfectly on the screen. Jumping out of the circle of studio sets, the film leads audiences to the streets of New York, set against the backdrop of Manhattan's West ghetto, showing the love tragedy of modern-day Romeo and Juliet and the violence of gangster Fei. The filming method of the film also imitates the form of a musical, with the prelude and intermission making people feel like they are watching a musical in a theater. "West Side Story" is a classic American "street music musical". Many of the song and dance scenes are unfolded in a real environment. The dance moves designed by Jerome Robbins are lively, energetic, and quite New York ballet. The troupe's style, combined with director Robert Wise's jumpy and social handling, and the freedom of movement of the camera, made the film a huge success. Many songs in "West Side Story", such as "Maria" and "Goodbye at Night", spread quickly with the film's popularity. "West Side Story" earned Robert Wise an Academy Award for Best Director, and Robert Wise also produced the film.
At that time, Hollywood was in the transition between the old and the new, and it respected new works and new talents. "West Side Story" touches on the issue of racial conflicts, and the music is quite unique and full of American energy, which caters to the trend of the times and the public's preferences. "Entertainment Streaming Director" Robert Wise's version of the movie really saved the face of West Side Story's loss in the Tony Award race. This film not only catered to the public's taste, but also won praise from the public opinion circle for its originality. From the studio set to the streets of New York, and from the ghetto of northwest Manhattan as the backdrop, a modern version of the "Romeo and Juliet" story unfolds on the screen. Therefore, it has exclusively won 10 awards at the 34th Academy Awards, and its number of awards is second only to "Ben-Hur", "Titanic" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King". On July 8, 1957, rehearsal with costumes and sets for the musical West Side Story officially began. After hundreds of days of meticulous creation, "West Side Story" was finally born two months later. On the occasion of the premiere, the play's composer and famous American musician Leonard Bernstein published the play's creative diary, introducing the ins and outs of "West Side Story" to the audience in the form of a diary.
On January 6, 1949, Leonard Bernstein received a letter from Jerome Robbins, who saw a newspaper report of a tragic fight between gangs of youth on the streets of New York's East Side He was very touched by the report, so he invited Leonard Bernstein and playwright Arthur Lawrenz to create a modern "Romeo and Juliet" - "West Side Story", Leonard Although Bernstein did not know Arthur Lawrenz, he remembered reading "House of the Brave" written by him and was moved like a child at the time. Leonard Bernstein is excited about this creative combination. They wanted to interpret it as a rough love story between a Jewish boy and an Italian Catholic girl. It is an unprecedented attempt to tell a tragic story in the way of musical comedy. If successful, it will open up a new way for the creation of American musicals. The dance in "West Side Story" is not just a combination of ballet and jazz, but also a variety of dance styles, such as Cuban and Spanish dance styles in the songs "Mambo" and "America". It can be said that a large number of Latin American and Spanish dances have broadened the scope of performance while enhancing the expressiveness of musical dance. There was a sudden realization that there was so much to learn from Latin American dance. Jerome Robbins himself is delighted that West Side Story has so many opportunities to perform various dances.
In fact, Jerome Robbins has always been interested in dances of different regions and ethnic groups, and has absorbed new dances almost throughout his life. In the musical "The King and I" in 1951, he personally went to the Far East to learn dance, and later in "The Fiddler on the Roof", he specialized in the dance in Jewish weddings, making the dance and the story more suitable . The addition of these new styles has undoubtedly added fresh blood to the creation of musicals. In a way, "West Side Story" is Jerome Robbins' new creation based on previous experience. He believes that the value of dancers is not necessarily related to ballet skills. Actors should have more space to show their talents. To do this, they must broaden the expressive power of dance and cannot be limited to ballet. This is his major contribution to the development of American musicals. Jerome Robbins' bold reform and innovation in "West Side Story" made him another great contribution to the development of musical theatre dance after the famous musical theatre choreographer Agnes de Millie. He himself also won the Tony Award for Best Choreography that year and became the leader of the Broadway dance industry.
Jerome Robbins' dance in "West Side Story" is not only numerous, but also difficult. For a play where the language of dance is as important as the language of music, it is unimaginable that the actors can't dance well. To this end, Jerome Robbins is extremely demanding when selecting actors. According to the practice of Broadway in the past, the selection of actors generally pays attention to singing ability, and the requirements for dance quality are not very high, as long as they have a good image and certain physical expression. But Jerome Robbins must break the stereotype and choose actors on a realistic scale, whether they are popular stars or unknown people, as long as they are suitable for the role, they will boldly use them. Actor Richard Bermel, who plays Tony, is a newcomer, and he can't believe it when he learns he's been cast for the lead role. Because of his strict requirements, the formal rehearsal time is only 8 weeks, and the selection of actors is as long as a year. Because of the dance requirements, it also changed the way West Side Story recruited actors. In the original production, the creators thought the dancers they were looking for had to be able to act as well as sing, when in fact, with the exception of Tony and Maria (Natalie Wood), singing was the last of the three to be considered . In many other dance-heavy musicals at the time, the actors were often divided into chorus and group dancers for recruitment, but in "West Side Story", the chorus had to be eliminated because of the demanding needs of dance. recruitment. Fortunately, this approach is in harmony with Leonard Bernstein's requirements for singing actors. Leonard Bernstein believed that those professionally trained singers should not be selected from the beginning. Because too many skills and overly sculpted singing can easily erase the individuality of each actor and destroy the vibrant atmosphere of the drama. Leonard Bernstein insisted on not using a professionally trained voice, although it was true that it was difficult for non-professional actors to handle "The Quintet Tonight" and some other demanding scenes. This is indeed rare in the 1940s and 1950s when American Broadway still used professionally trained actors.
In West Side Story, Jerome Robbins assigns each dancer a role, no two characters dance the same, and each has a name, making each actor independent Personality. Jerome Robbins believes that this can enhance the importance of dance, allow everyone to connect themselves with drama, and most importantly, can truly express the diversity and richness of dance. Of course, this requires more effort than There are many more people dancing the exact same group dance. During rehearsal, in order to create animosity between the two gangs, Jerome Robbins deliberately did not let the two gangs eat together, and instilled the idea of hostility in his life. He wanted to let the actors know that the hate, violence and love of West Side Story didn't happen somewhere unknown, it happened here and now. During the filming of the movie "West Side Story", due to Jerome Robbins' strict requirements, many scenes were practiced and rehearsed, and many dancers were exhausted and fainted on the set. In the "cool and cool" segment, the actor has to dance in a sweltering garage, miserable. When the "Calm" rehearsal was over, the actors learned that they didn't need to rehearse, and they burned all the "Calm" information with an angry torch, which is evident. Under Jerome Robbins' strict request, the dance of the five-minute prologue music was scheduled for two months, and when it came to the official shooting, it was all changed and rearranged.
Jerome Robbins himself also fell out with co-director Robert Wise because of his fickle style and uncompromising temper. He was once fired by the producer, and was later returned at the request of actors and other parties. When I arrived on the set, I still did not change my original intention. Jerome Robbins thinks his choreography is driven by being authentic, and only when the actors can't meet my desires do I set the bar to be strict with them. What is certain is that without the creativity and harshness of Jerome Robbins, there would be no "West Side Story" dance, whose artistic value must be admired by all. Although "West Side Story" was a classic in American movies in the 1960s, it didn't even make it into the top 250 on IMDB, which fully proves that in the eyes of audiences and filmmakers, the film is really a matter of opinion, and the wise see wisdom.
There is a reason for the huge success of this musical adaptation of "Romeo and Juliet", as many of the show's direct references to social problems in the United States have attracted attention to a certain extent, and at the same time, the famous conductor The rational and moving music composed by fellow composer Leonard Bernstein was also an important factor in the film's acclaim. Leonard Bernstein's music composition in "West Side Story" fully shows his deep professional skills, his music is very contemporary, energetic rhythm and new and unique tunes are perfectly combined, vividly portrayed The aggressive and vulgar character of a street gang on New York's West Side. The tactful "Maria" in the play has become a Broadway classic, and "Goodbye" allows you to appreciate the energetic, wild and unrestrained emotions of young people. It's fair to say that Leonard Bernstein's music gave West Side Story an imaginative and creative soul.
The screenwriter of "West Side Story" is Arthur Lawrenz, who also wrote the script for the classic film "Reaper of Souls" for the great director Alfred Hitchcock. There's also an undertone of homosexuality in this stage-like psychological film about two young men carrying out a murderous plan. And Farley Granger, who starred in "Reaper of Souls", was Arthur Lawrenz's live-in boyfriend in the filming year. Farley Grange also starred in Alfred Hitchcock's other classic film, The Strangers on a Train. In later memoirs and interviews for the documentary, screenwriter Arthur Lawrenz and co-star Farley Granger both talked about the handling of gay characters in Reaper of Souls. Arthur Lawrenz and Farley Grange also participated in interviews with the documentary "The Celluloid Closet" on the subject of queerness in the film. Natalie Wood's performance is superb. She plays a Puerto Rican girl who falls in love with Richard Bermel, but this love is forbidden by strict racial laws, and then his singing impresses the audience. impression. George Chakins, the leader of the Puerto Rico Sharks and the heroine's brother, gave a gorgeous performance. Playing opposite George Chakins is Ruth Tamborine, the leader of the Rockets. Ruth Temporan has drawn the character in depth and shines with his vaudeville dancing. Rita Moreno played a fiery character who is George Chakins' lover in the film, which also received rave reviews.
Most of the songs in the film are sweet and charming, including Richard Bermel's "Maria" and his solo "There's a Place"; "I Think I'm Beautiful" led by Natalie Wood; Tonight is Richard Bermel's duet with a female voice; singer Marnie Nixon's vocals on "I'm In Love" and "One Hand, One Heart" are also so perfect that audiences won't notice Well, that's not actually the voice of the heroine Natalie Wood. While you're immersed in West Side Story, a truly great musical blockbuster, Natalie Wood is devastated by the death of her beloved boyfriend Richard Bermel, can you not The moving sigh? But the only fly in the ointment is that some actors' voices do not meet the strict requirements of the script, including Natalie Wood. Therefore, Marnie Nixon was invited by the crew to sing for Maria. She has performed part of the vocals for Deborah Kerr and Audrey Hepburn in "The King and I" and "My Fair Lady" respectively. It was reported at the time that Natalie Wood was not very happy to be involved in the filming of West Side Story, and Marnie Nixon said: "At first they didn't tell Natalie Wood the truth because they were afraid she would quit if she found out. "The audience was blown away by Marnie Nixon's voice. "When I sing the phrase 'our heart is connected', according to the plot, I should cry a lot. It is really difficult to keep the grief for a long time."
It is the strong social atmosphere permeating the film that attracted Robert White. (in 1965 he directed the musical blockbuster "The Sound of Music"). The film also adds a lot of stop motion and slow motion, so that the direct and noisy killing scenes reveal an aesthetic feeling to interpret the anti-violence and anti-blood ideas of directors Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins , forming the aesthetic style of their films. In fact, the movie "West Side Story" is neither a luxurious imitation of the original stage work, nor does it have big-name stars, and the innovative model based on Shakespeare's famous drama is not new, but it can win people's favor with its dynamic rhythm. The enthusiastic and unrestrained modern style reflected everywhere makes people intoxicated, and the combination of street dance and modern music has also become a recognized model for Hollywood musicals.
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