It was a dream of Elvis Presley, Marlon Brando, and Warren Beatty. Even without their participation, West Side Story, 1961, remains one of the most important screen musicals ever. This is evident when it comes to Academy Awards. It received ten Oscars. It was one of three movies, and none of these were musicals.
Steven Spielberg’s new’reimagined version’ of West Side Story is set to be released in theaters this week. This movie, originally published in 60-year-old West Side Story in the U.S., has been receiving greater attention than any other film in decades.
Spielberg’s film is a triumph and has been enthusiastically reviewed — described as ‘relentlessly dazzling, swoonily beautiful’ and his finest film in 20 years.
However, it cannot surpass 1961’s movie about behind-the-scenes gossip and glamour. It was the fictional Gang Wars between Puerto Rican Sharks, all-American Jets that mirrored the true-life drama of the 1957 Broadway musical.
The Original: Rita Moreno, pictured, now 89 and an executive producer of Spielberg’s film, in which she also dazzles in a small but crucial supporting role, later admitted in her autobiography that she only went out with Elvis to make her on-off boyfriend jealous
West Side Story had many problems before reaching the stage. The original collaboration was between Jerome Robbins (choreographer), Leonard Bernstein (composer), and Arthur Laurents (writer).
As author Richard Barrios tells in a new book about the making of the film, all three were ferociously intelligent, intensely ambitious, exceedingly volatile, gay (or bisexual) — and incorrigibly egotistical. Their parents were both Jewish. In fact, they were also Jewish.
Robbins, in particular, could prove to be truly monstrous. Robbins was particularly troubled by his sexuality and, as a self-defense measure, gave shamelessly the names of Communist sympathisers, to the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Robbins was assigned to the choreography while Wise was responsible for the dramatic scenes. This was the union of opposites. Wise would eventually direct The Sound Of Music a few more years later. His generosity and kindness were well known in the film industry. Robbins is, bluntly put, not.
Stephen Sondheim died last month. He said Robbins was the true genius that he had ever known. He was also an exaggerator who shouted at actors in rehearsals and made fun of their families. He was worse if he did not want to cast someone.
Before Natalie Wood landed the female lead — as Maria, the Puerto Rican girl whose brother Bernardo leads the Sharks, and who falls hopelessly in love with Tony, one of the Jets — one of the contenders was petite Italian soprano Anna Maria Alberghetti. Wise liked her, but Robbins didn’t. He bullied and derided her, calling her ‘Annamariaspaghetti’.
The remake by Steven Spielberg: Steven Spielberg’s new reimagined version will be in cinemas soon. It is the first West Side Story to hit the big screen in 60 years.
The casting process, as everyone knew, was critical to the movie’s success. It took several months. He was keen to portray the role of Elvis, but Colonel Tom Parker (his formidable manager) didn’t want him playing his protege as a knife-carrying hoodlum that ends up dead.
Elvis also had unhelpful relationships with Rita Moreno and Natalie Wood (cast as Anita Bernardo, Bernardo’s lover).
Moreno (now 89) is an executive producer of Spielberg’s film. In her autobiography she later revealed that she had only gone out with Elvis in order to make her ex-boyfriend jealous.
Marlon Brando was that actress. After she had completed West Side Story, Moreno attempted suicide. Brando had also long to be Tony, but was considered too senior.
Warren Beatty (23 years) was in the running. He had first auditioned to play Tony in the Broadway show, with Bernstein noting ‘good voice — charming as hell — can’t open jaw’. Although he wasn’t hired for the film or that Broadway show, his relationship with Wood, in Splendour In The Grass (1961), was soon a part of real life.
After filming began on West Side Story about her first marriage to Robert Wagner, the couple became a big deal. Wagner was also considered a possible Tony.
Wise had other potential leads on his list, including Tony Curtis (Paul Newman), Robert Redford and Anthony Perkins. Burt Reynolds and Richard Chamberlain were also included. Singer Bobby Darin was also listed as possible candidates. George Hamilton was perma-tanned and turned down by Wise because he thought it was too dark.
Richard Beymer was the little-known actor who played Tony in this event. George Chakiris was also chosen from relative insignificance to portray Bernardo. Russ Tamblyn was the only one of the three main actors in the movie. He played Riff the leader of the Jets. He was not a superstar, however.
Maria was an entirely different story. Audrey Hepburn was rumored to have been her first choice up until she fell pregnant. Anne Bancroft, as well as Mary Moore (an obscure actress) were both considered. Moore became a TV superstar and later added Tyler.
Robbins and Wise ended up picking a box-office hit in Wood.
Before Natalie Wood (pictured above with Richard Beymer) landed the female lead — as Maria, the Puerto Rican girl whose brother Bernardo leads the Sharks, and who falls hopelessly in love with Tony, one of the Jets — one of the contenders was petite Italian soprano Anna Maria Alberghetti. Wise liked her, but Robbins didn’t
Unfortunately she was very gregarious and treated Beymer, her co-star, as an annoying little extra. It is possible she was disappointed in him because he got the part that she had hoped to be cast by Wagner.
Whatever his motives, she was horrible towards him. Behind his back, he complained about his talent and demanded his dismissal.
She had made a list of people that she hated, which she kept in a pint-sized form in her dressing room. Beymer was the most prominent. It was amazing that these star-crossed lovers showed any signs of chemistry.
Wood seemed almost reserved on-set, however, behind her imperious demeanour she was incredibly insecure. She spent many lunch breaks talking to her analyst over the telephone.
Beymer was lambasted by her, but she could not nail a Puerto Rican accent. She also knew she wasn’t a good dancer.
But she believed she was able to sing with a decent voice. Marni Nixon had performed great singing Deborah Kerr songs in The King And I five year prior.
Instead, they praised her at the end each take and then discretly winked at Nixon, who Wood was lead to believe was there to tune a few high notes.
After realizing that she would not be singing the songs she was led to an exaggerated rage.
Robbins had to be fired after she threw a tantrum in October 1961. Wood loved Robbins, even though they were both martinets. Wood was completely enchanted by their work together, even though he wasn’t a good dancer.
Richard Barrios (the writer) ties this to Robbins’s sexuality. He was not only a gay lover, but he also proposed to several female dancers, falling into the category of a neurotic man looking for the perfect woman to save him from homosexuality.
Barrios says Wood was aware of and used this knowledge, however, he genuinely loved Robbins, and was shocked when three Mirisch brothers decided to end the film after speaking with Wise. They were fed up by Wood’s control freakiness and temperament.
Robert Relyea was the assistant director and described his firing as an act of ‘assassination. . . planning to the finest detail.
George Chakiris and Rita Moreno at the 1962 Oscars
Because Robbins was feared by everyone, including the men who fired Robbins. Walter Mirisch, now 100 years old, asked his agent for information. The agent declined. Walter then drove to Robbins’s Beverly Hills home to announce the good news. He recalled a terrible scene in the aftermath, as he wrote in his memoirs.
Robbins’ departure was not a sign of the end for this troubled production. It ran smoothly over budget and time, but it was extremely demanding. Practical jokes and pranks were common ways to let off steam.
One occasion saw the Jets (or Sharks) stage races through the streets of West Hollywood using three-wheeled lights stands to drive chariots. Director Billy Wilder complained about the sound and the fun ended.
The Sharks and Jets were actually the Jets’ counterparts. However, the reality of life was imitating art when they shot on location in New York. When the cast felt threatened by the real Gangsters who showed up to observe, it became a nightmare. They were not asked to go, but rather hired as security. The problem was gone.
On October 18, 1961, the West Side Story premiered at Broadway’s Rivoli Theatre. Even though Pauline Kael (a freelance film critic who would later become the master of her craft) called it a’masterpiece’, the film was a huge success. . . mawkish . . frenzied hokum’.
Richard Beymer was also in agreement. His performance as Tony was a deep embarrassment for him. His performance as Tony was embarrassing. He wanted to be a more tough, rougher and stronger character. Even though he was raised in rural Iowa, his spirituality wasn’t far from the Upper West Side. He knew he had needed direction, which he never got.
The movie, though, was far from his best work. He saw his name under lights. Marni Nixon had a lot more right to feel disgruntled.
Deborah Kerr secured a credit for her work on The King And I. Wood refused Nixon any such assistance, and she was still furious at the fact that she had been dubbed. But, worse, Nixon found out she wouldn’t be receiving royalties for her best-selling West Side Story soundtrack recording. Leonard Bernstein gave some of his percentage to her, disgusted at her actions.
Tamblyn nor Beymer had much more success than Tamblyn (in 1969 Tamblyn was promoted as ‘his greatest role ever since West Side Story’ in a B-list movie called Satan’s Sadists). They were finally reunited for Twin Peaks.
Chakiris was a better actor and had a role as Chakiris in the 1980s TV soap Dallas. However, it wasn’t enough to play the charismatic Sharks leader (who won an Oscar) on screen. His last dramatic screen appearance, however, was as a random character on a 1996 BBC episode.
Beymer Tamblyn, Chakiris, and Tamblyn still live sixty-years after their film. Natalie Wood is not so lucky. Star Natalie Zacharenko, a Russian-immigrant mother, was born to Russian parents in Ukraine. She remarried Wagner in 1972 and was discovered floating in the Pacific Ocean at age 43.
Wagner was with Christopher Walken (her friend), who was on the boat where she fell. However, the circumstances of the accident have never been fully explained. Lana, her sister, has written a memoir titled Little Sister: My Investigation into the Mysterious Demise Of Natalie Wood for the 40th anniversary.
It didn’t matter what happened, but it was tragic and unfair for the woman who brought star power to West Side Story, regardless of her mistakes. Some people will never see a film like it.
Spielberg’s West Side Story will be shown in UK cinemas today.