An Inside Look at New, Thrilling 'West Side Story'​

Is it better to have actual Puerto Ricans and Spanish speakers in the film? The original was criticized for inauthenticity.​​

Kushner: Our film has a cast that’s as diverse as the characters in the story, and these amazing actors-singers-dancers brought their lives and their histories to the project. We hope that the film will do Puerto Rico proud!

​West Side Story was originally the inspired idea of the actor Montgomery Clift, the lover of choreographer-director Jerome Robbins. In 1948, Clift suggested an update of Romeo and Juliet, like Cole Porter’s reboot of The Taming of the Shrew as Kiss Me, Kate. It was going to be about feuding modern Catholic and Jewish families, but a 1955 Los Angeles street-gang riot made them change it to Puerto Rican and white gangs. But Clift felt Richard Beymer [cast as Tony in the 1961 film version] was way too passive as Maria’s swain, and even Beymer thought he was wrong for the part. What would Clift think about your Tony, Ansel Elgort (The Fault in Our Stars, Baby Driver)?​​

Kushner: I feel very sure that Montgomery Clift would have been absolutely wild about Ansel Elgort’s Tony.​

Rita Moreno, the standout in the original West Side Story, plays Valentina — an updated, reconceived version of Doc, owner of the candy store where the Jets and Sharks mingle. She’s Doc’s widow. Another big change: Instead of the teen lovers singing “There’s a Place for Us,” Moreno sings it solo, transforming it into an anthem for Puerto Ricans and immigrants in America. What does Moreno bring to the party? She turns 90 the day after West Side Story opens. Does a genius actor get better with age? Frankly, we worship her.

​​Don’t miss this: 8 reasons why Rita Moreno is the GOAT in entertainment

​Kushner: Everyone worships Rita, who doesn’t want to be worshipped. She wants to work, and she wants to do work that might make the world a better, more welcoming, more understanding place. And that’s why, in addition to her astounding talents, she’s made such an immense contribution to the world, as an actress and an activist.​​ Rita has lived through a lot of history, and, as our talented lyricist [Stephen Sondheim] once wrote, she’s “still here!” It’s hard to talk about her age, since she seems sort of immortal. But as actors get older, something fierce and pure and essential starts to blaze forth from deep within — the soul, maybe? I think they become incandescent. You’ll see that when you see Rita in the film. We created the role of Valentina for her, and she’s made Valentina a blazing torch of a human being — small, quiet, smart, witty, ferociously loving, immensely strong, heartbroken and hopeful, in some ways the true moral center of Steven’s film.​