The West Side Story is one of Broadway’s most famous musicals. The first production was in 1957 and ran until 1959 totaling 732 performances.
The original Broadway production was praised for its choreography, music, plot, and dark themes, and for some critics, it marked a turning point in musical theater. The show earned two Tony Awards in 1958: Best Choreography and Best Scenic Design. It has four Broadway revivals), with total performances of more than a thousand.
The show was so popular that it was made into a film in 1961 starring Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris, and many others. The film ranked as the highest-grossing film for that year and was the highest-grossing musical movie of all-time until 1965 when The Sound of Music was released. It earned lots of awards, too, and is considered one of the best musicals ever.
West Side Story was again adapted into a film in 2021 by Steven Spielberg (his first musical) and starred Ansel Elgort of Baby Driver and Rachel Zegler, who debuted with West Side Story. Spielberg said the film was the "most daunting" of his career. The movie was praised for its new take on the classic musical and is considered one of Spielberg’s best movies.
Did West Side Story Cast Actual Singers?
For the 1961 film, the production employed ghost singers for Wood (Marni Nixon), Beymer (Jimmy Bryant), Moreno (Betty Wand), and Tamblyn (Tucker Smith). Ghost singers were common during that era, and it was only after Nixon’s insistence that she be paid royalties for her singing that they started to be part of the credits and be recognized for the service.
During that era, having ghost singers was not frowned upon. Take note that musical scores were created with professional singers in mind. When a musical is turned into a film, some actors can’t always deliver because they are not good vocalists. Enter the ghost singers.
Nowadays, ghost singers are uncommon, but when it comes to the 2021 film, did the cast use their true voices? The Latina actress is still a newbie, while Elgort is not that known as a musician, so some were curious about their singing prowess.
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Ansel Elgort Is A Musician
It might be surprising to learn that Elgort is actually a musician. Even before his breakout role in The Fault in Our Stars, success in Baby Driver, and impressive parts in Carrie and The Divergent Series, he has been active in making music. His DJ name is 'Alonso' and is part of record labels Staar Traxx and Size Records.
Some of his singles as Alonso include Unite, Totem, The Right Stuff, To Life, and Yin Yang. He has credits for songs Home Alone, Thief, You Can Count on Me, All I Think About Is You, and Supernova. All that plus his remixes and collaborations with other musicians (Logic and Don Diablo) make him an adept singer. So yes, he indeed belted it out in the West Side Story.
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Rachel Zegler As A Singer
West Side Story is Zegler’s film debut, making her virtually unknown to most viewers. She’s not new to theater, though, because she has starred in musicals such as Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, 42nd Street, and Shrek.
She was still 16 years old when casting calls for West Side Story started in 2018. She responded to it by sending videos of herself singing I Feel Pretty and Tonight. Incidentally, she has experience in playing Maria because she had done it a year before at the Bergen Performing Arts Centre.
There were 30,000 submissions for the role, and Zegler was the perfect one, rightly so because the character is a Latina and she has Colombian blood. It can be remembered that Spielberg made sure to hire Latinas for the Latina roles.
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“West Side Story was the first musical I encountered with a Latina lead character. As a Colombian-American, I am humbled by the opportunity to play a role that means so much to the Hispanic community,” Zegler said, per Business Standard.
She discovered musical theater when she was 12 and from then on made it her passion. At a young age, she was certain of what she wanted: a Tony Award. With all that, the answer is yes, she actually sang when she was Maria.
In conclusion: Elgort can hit some notes, and Zegler is a talented singer, even earning an award for West Side Story. WSS might be the start of something new for the two actors: more music projects and maybe some new songs.
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