Wednesday 1 September 2021

Musical Interlude - September:"When do you kids stop? You make this world lousy!"

It's another from my 'Soundtrack Retrospective', and of course it's the incomparable 'West Side Story'.

The Bernstein version of course, accept no substitutes, and yes, I'm giving you the stink eye, Spielberg! Oh, I'll see it, there's no doubt about that. But it'll mainly be to try and answer the question 'Why...?'.

With a musical as great as this one, it was hard to select a favourite. But the hopeful longing and exuberance of this track contrast so nicely with what you know is going to be the unhappy ending it's my pick:

 

Update: Last night I watched the new version on Disney+ and...it's a masterpirece! The choreography and sets (actual New York streets) are superb, the leads are engaging, Rita Moreno's turn as Dov's widow is inprired. I take it all back, Spielberg - take a bow.

2 comments:

Stonyground said...

That Mr. Bernstein was very rude about Mr. Emerson's version of Amereeka. Mr. Copeland was much more appreciative but then he must have made an awful lot of dosh out of Fanfare for the Common Man.

JuliaM said...

"Mr. Copeland was much more appreciative..."

Heh! True 😉