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spidey-strange · 6 months ago

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Romeo, Romeo...

I am now living in a post Romeo & Juliet world. It might well be the only time I get to see it, but honestly what I saw on Saturday is going to stay with me forever. I wanted to put it down into words - my review of this play.

The first part of the experience is the music. We were in the bar and this repetitive rumble sound played over the tannoy, signalling that we were being called to Verona. We took our seats and we waited, all while more and more haze appeared across the sparsely-set stage and the music bore deep into my soul, gnarling and industrial, giving a sense of dystopian doom and foreboding. By the time the lights went out and the video screen showed 1597 in bright red lettering, I was already feeling a nervous nausea and an elevated heart rate.

This play is asking you to pretend, as much as they are. There is no set. There are no props. The actors stand like statues, dotted around, sometimes deep into the back of the stage as if ghostly apparitions. Sometimes the actors talk freely, other times they take their place behind mic stands as if part of a debating society. What happens on stage is coupled with video footage of other actors scattered around the bowels of the theatre, in the narrow backstage corridors, or even the theatre bar (and, of course, the roof). The fourth-wall breaks that often punctuate the end of these short video pieces eally pierce into your soul, looming over you, much like the mood of this whole production.

An example - as Mercutio lay dying, the camera is right in his face so you get the full pain and rage of him as he screams "a plague upon both your houses" and takes his final breaths. All the while, Romeo stands metres away, covered in blood, seething with unbridled rage, tears mixing with the blood of his friend.

The interval moment that follows literally made everyone gasp, a jumpscare that absolutely warrants the gravity of the moment. I won't say more because if there's even a 0.1% chance of you seeing it I don't want it ruined.

The second act of this play is decidedly quieter than the first. Clandestine conversations, whispers between characters, the comedy, gone. The deaths of Thibault and Mercutio loom large as the reality of the consequences kick in. Juliet remains defiant to the last - this is a Juliet who really knows what she wants (supported by Nurse, who is more like an older sister character full of kindness and friendly age-appropriate advice). As the end draws near, and the inevitability of what's about to happen (let's face it, we've all studied it at school, we know what happens!) becomes apparent, the silence in the theatre speaks volumes.

This production challenges you to see the traditional story through a far darker lens, and the blank spaces leave room for the oppressive mood and music to thrive and grow. It asks you to find answers in the quiet as much as the loud. It might be the best known love story of all time but the added weight of the staging proves everything hangs on the final line: "For never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo."

Now. Acting. And oh boy was there acting. I'm going to start with Mercutio (Joshua-Alexander Williams) and Paris (Daniel Quinn-Toye) - two actors who are in their first professional production. What pressure, and how they dealt with it. Particularly Joshua-Alexander! I thought Tomiwa Edun, who played Capulet, Juliet's father, was immense - so sinister in his delivery, he had me convinced he was head of a family and of a gang empire. And Freema Agyeman as Nurse was wonderful, as I said earlier, giving this big sister energy and providing delighful lighter moments against the shade. HUGE mention to Nima Taleghani who not only was an excellent Benvolio but also edited the original text to make it a 1hr 45 version that was powerful and punchy.

Now, our main stars. Francesca Amewudah-Rivers as Juliet was incredible. She was headstrong, she was poised, she was dynamic and still at the same time. She portrayed a Juliet desperate to be free from the confines of her family, but clear that she knew what she wanted from the love (and escape) she sought. The second act belonged to her, her stillness lingering.

And the reason I fought for a ticket, Tom Holland. I've seen him at film premieres and press events, and twice playing golf, but the opportunity to see him do what (as fans) we all know to be his true calling, was irresistible. And oh my God. Honestly I was blown away by his portrayal. Brooding, emotional, at times so quiet you had to strain to hear his lament. And then rage, euphoria, shyness, a fumbling lovesick idiot. Throughout the production he provides so much range, but also so much depth, it's impossible not to feel everything he does.

To see him, clearly in his element, providing a soul to Romeo that I've never felt before - I couldn't be prouder as a fan. For too long he has been tarred with the brush that he is not a "serious actor". As fans we know that The Devil all the Time, Cherry, and The Crowded Room are proof otherwise. This should be the moment the world realises he is INCREDIBLE, to be taken seriously, to be given the respect he is long overdue.

I wish beyond words that I get to see this play again. I hope at the very least it gets an NT live screening so that fans around the world get to witness this amazing, unique, innovative production.

Violent delights indeed have violent ends.

#tom holland #spoilers #romeo and juliet #romeo montague #jamie lloyd #theatre #west end #shakespeare #francesca amewudah rivers #freema agyeman

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davidtennantgenderenvy · 2 years ago

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HERE IS A COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF PROBABLY MOST OF THE STUFF I LIKE! Feel free to ask me about any of it

PERSONALITY TYPING: INFP 4w3 (471)

BOOKS: Grishaverse, Lord of the Rings, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Song of Achilles, The Prince of Tides, The House in the Cerulean Sea, Harry Potter (unfortunately), Gone With the Wind, His Dark Materials, A Far Wilder Magic, The Hate U Give, The Outsiders, The Devil and the Dark Water, They Both Die At The End, Riordanverse, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Warriors

MOVIES: Titanic, Dead Poets Society, It’s A Wonderful Life, Little Women 2019, NOPE, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Sixth Sense, Terminator (especially 2), Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Addams Family (1991) The Shawshank Redemption, Parasite, Knives Out/Glass Onion, Tar, Harriet, Romeo and Juliet (1968), Interstellar, Forrest Gump, Schindler’s List, The Princess Bride, Get Out, Lady Bird, Silence of the Lambs, The Truman Show, The Wall, 12 Angry Men, Recovery, so so many animated movies (especially WALL-E, The Prince of Egypt, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Howl’s Moving Castle!), SOME Marvel movies (mostly guardians and spidey)

TV SHOWS (live action): LOST, Breaking Bad, Doctor Who, Person of Interest, Good Omens, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Downton Abbey, Ted Lasso, My So Called Life, Stranger Things, Broadchurch, Alias, Sherlock, Maid, The Last of Us, Dark, Happy Valley, Takin’ Over The Asylum, Our Flag Means Death, The Sandman, Heartstopper, Jessica Jones, Andi Mack, The Queen’s Gambit, Derry Girls, Rivals, The Office, A Series of Unfortunate Events, 1899, Mare of Easttown, Around the World in 80 Days, Time

ANIME AND CARTOONS: Fullmetal Alchemist (both versions), Avatar, Steven Universe, Phineas and Ferb, Death Note, Assassination Classroom, Demon Slayer, Attack on Titan, Monster, Bluey, Spy X Family, Ouran High School Host Club, My Hero Academia, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Toradora, Gravity Falls, Bluey, The Owl House, Cowboy Bebop, Erased, Mob Psycho 100, Kotaro Lives Alone, Ducktales

MUSIC: Queen, Taylor Swift, Will Wood, My Chemical Romance, Fiona Apple, Adele, Jeff Buckley, Olivia Rodrigo, Hozier, Billy Joel, The Beatles, Brandi Carlile, Mitski, The Proclaimers, Janelle Monáe, Florence + the Machine, Sinead O'Connor, Nina Simone, Kelly Clarkson, Beyonce, Pink Floyd, Kendrick Lamar, Billie Eilish, Muse, Alanis Morrissette, The Chicks, Chappell Roan, David Bowie, BTS, Stray Kids, Day-6, Gang of Youths, The Crane Wives, Pulp, Lana Del Rey, Radiohead, Fefe Dobson, FKA Twigs, Eminem, Heart…

MUSICALS: Les Miserables, Great Comet, Ragtime, Phantom of the Opera, Hadestown, Hamilton, Wicked, Come From Away, Matilda, Falsettos, Jesus Christ Superstar, Anastasia, Evita, The Last Five Years, The Sound of Music, West Side Story, The Clockmaker’s Daughter, Ride the Cyclone, Sweeney Todd, Parade, Little Shop of Horrors, Cats, In The Heights, Into the Woods, She Loves Me, Sunday in the Park with George, Lizzie, Newsies, Bonnie and Clyde, The Secret Garden, The Wild Party, Cabaret, Putnam County Spelling Bee…(I also love Shakespeare!)

VIDEO GAMES: basically just Super Mario Bros and Undertale but boy do I love Super Mario Bros and Undertale

YOUTUBERS: Schaffrillas Productions, Cinema Therapy, The Authentic Observer, Matt Rose, PMSeymour, Katherine Steele, The Swiftologist, FilmCooper, Sideways, Anthony Fantano and too many others to mention

FAVE ROLES I’VE PLAYED: Elsa in Frozen, Morticia in The Addams Family, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Iolanthe in Iolanthe, Juror #8 in 12 Angry Jurors

#not bothering with tags this is just literally for my followers/anyone who visits my page #also I didn’t want to duplicate titles by medium #Like putting LOTR in both the books and movies section #for space ya know #so if there’s a good adaptation of something on this list assume it’s on here too in spirit #LOTR are literally my favorite movies of all time but there’s more space in the book section #Same with PnP Harry Potter etc

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nitrateglow · 7 months ago

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Scattered thoughts on the West Side Story remake

In general, I really enjoyed the film, largely on the strength of the performances. Everyone ranged from pretty good to amazing, with Rachel Ziegler and Ariana DeBose being the standouts. And Rita Moreno's supporting part was brilliant-- I like how she was given a substantial role and not just a lame ass cameo.

The music and dancing were great too. Ziegler's voice is just gorgeous. One trend I don't like in some modern musicals is casting famous people who cannot sing (Russell Crowe in Les Mis and Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan in Mamma Mia still haunt my nightmares). While not everyone here is a 100% unknown, I like that everyone seems to have been hired because they can actually hit the notes.

I thought the beefed up backstories for some of the characters were really interesting. (Chino's buffed up personality and background were my favorite of these new touches. He goes from being a breathing plot device to a truly tragic figure in this version.) I know some people don't like how Tony was made into an ex-con, but I appreciate that this time around they wanted to make him feel more like a credible ex-gang member. That's something I never bought in the 1961 film.

Speaking of the 1961 version, I haven't seen it in a few years, so I can't compare the two in more detail, though I do remember enough to where I can say I preferred the staging and direction in certain scenes in the older film. A lot of it has to do with my personal aesthetic preferences though.

Like, I'm not as crazy about Spielberg's staging of Tony and Maria's first encounter at the dance. The dancing between the rival groups is spectacular, but there's so much going on that the lovers get overwhelmed by it. The blocking of the scene has them retreat behind the bleachers to have their first dance (a parallel to showing Romeo and Juliet's instant chemistry through a conversation in sonnet form). However, I much prefer the 1961 film's dreamy approach, where time slows and only the lovers remain in focus. I get not wanting to repeat such an iconic moment or it coming off as corny in the 2020s, but I don't think it was replaced by anything of equal inspiration.

Actually, this brings me to a general issue I had with the remake's more pronounced "gritty and realistic" approach. One on hand, it makes sense-- the original show and 1961 film were noted for their realism, or at least, their very expressionist-tinged realism. It's meant to contrast with the romanticism of the lovers, who like Romeo and Juliet, want to go "Somewhere" their love won't be poisoned by divided loyalties and violence.

However, the more pronounced sense of unvarnished reality has two drawbacks in Spielberg's version. One, it makes the "falling in honestly and truly love in less than 48 hours" thing a bit harder to swallow. I can buy love at first sight in heightened, operatic reality-- less so in a setting that wants to resemble everyday reality.

Second, there are a hell of a lot of moments where characters break into song and the extras around them give them "wtf" looks. It's like the gag in Enchanted where Giselle starts singing in the park and Robert's like, "what now," only that movie's a meta-parody of animated musicals and WSS wants me to invest in this world and these characters. Having other people go "0_0" when someone sings takes me out the movie. You can't have your old-fashioned musical and your 21st century "lol irony take nothing seriously" schtick in the same film.

But overall, I really enjoyed this one. It's a remake that isn't just a rehash of a beloved film and it makes decisions that distinguish it completely. I plan on rewatching the 60s version, actually, just to reintroduce myself to it, since it has been over half a decade now.

#thoughts

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byneddiedingo · 1 year ago

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Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey in Romeo and Juliet (Franco Zeffirelli, 1968)

Cast: Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey, John McEnery, Milo O'Shea, Pat Haywood, Robert Stephens, Michael York, Bruce Robinson. Screenplay: Franco Brusati, Masolino D'Amico, Franco Zeffirelli, based on a play by William Shakespeare. Cinematography: Pasqualino De Santis. Production design: Lorenzo Mongiardino. Film editing: Reginald Mills. Music: Nino Rota.

This is prime Zeffirelli, when he was attracting attention for not only movies but also operas with lavish sets and traditional costumes. His style has fallen out of favor now: Both moviegoers and opera lovers now want a fresh point of view on the classics. His 1998 production of La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera was replaced in 2011 by the minimalist Willy Decker production whose action took place on a large clock face. And in 1996, Baz Luhrmann's movie Romeo + Juliet set the story of the star-crossed lovers in the fictional, gang warfare-riddled town of Verona Beach. But Zeffirelli's 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet remains fresh, largely because it is one of the few Shakespeare plays that lend themselves to movies: It has as much passionate romance and lively action as a moviegoer could want, and if you throw in a little discreet nudity, as Zeffirelli did, what's not to like?* Well, it could be a little more respectful to Shakespeare's verse, large chunks of which are cut for the sake of lively, breathtaking swordfights. Gone, for example, is Juliet's rapturous soliloquy in Act III, Scene II:

Come, gentle night, come, loving black-brow'd night, Give me my Romeo, and, when he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night And pay no worship to the garish sun.

And when Juliet is preparing to drink the potion that will simulate death, we get none of her terrors of being sealed in the Capulet tomb. Zeffirelli's version is a safe compromise between the too-reverent George Cukor production for MGM in 1936, and Luhrmann's souped up modern version, but Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey are preferable to the aging Norma Shearer and Leslie Howard, and they handle the verse better than Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes did in Luhrmann's film. One thing the Zeffirelli film also has going for it is Nino Rota's score, which grew over-familiar when it became a best-selling LP but is still evocative today. And there are some good actors in the cast, including Michael York's Tybalt, Pat Heywood's Nurse, and Milo O'Shea's Friar Lawrence, not to mention Laurence Olivier's uncredited narrator. (Olivier also supplied the voice for the Italian actor playing Montague.)

*Whiting and Hussey later found something not to like about the nudity, and filed suit in 2022, saying that they were underage at the time of the filming and had been tricked by Zeffirelli into the nude scene. The suit was dismissed, but they have said they would appeal the decision.

#Romeo and Juliet #Franco Zeffirelli #Leonard Whiting #Olivia Hussey

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octoberwitchsblog · 2 years ago

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Okay, I just rewatched the 2021 version of West Side Story for the 500th time and I need to talk about this only detail that makes the while version superior to the 1962 version (no shade, the two movies are great)

What I like about the Spielberg version is that it constantly reminds the audience that we’re dealing with kids there. Let’s take Riff for example : he’s playing the leader but he’s just a kid whose life was spoiled. He was abandoned and hurt so many times that the only thing left to do for him is take care of the Jets and of what is left of his neighborhood. Because the Jets are the only family he has ever known and because he really doesn’t have anything else to do than protecting what remains of the place he grew up in.

Riff believes that he will die young because he doesn’t have any other purpose than protecting the Jets and he knows that gang fights do not end in happiness. He was prepared for that but is still reluctant when the ramble becomes dangerous because deep down, he’s just a kid. That’s why he cries so hard when he gets stabbed and Bernardo doesn’t (Bernardo has always been more mature than Riff ).

The only thing that Riff and Bernardo have in common (without realizing it) is their loss of hope. None of them believe that they can escape the neighborhood anymore. Because of racism, because of their social condition, because of the whole society against them for who they are and where they come from. “Bernardo let the gringos tell him that there was nothing more to the world than this barrio”, it’s true, but how could Bernardo hope for more in such a racist society ? How could Riff hope for more when he was treated like garbage since he was born ?

West Side Story is about the leftovers of the American Dream, the ones that society ignores and wants to erase because they don’t represent the ideal of American society. That’s why, like Romeo and Juliet, Tony and Maria’s story was doomed from the beginning : because of the discriminations that created divisions. At the end, it’s maybe one of the most defeatist stories in musical theater : there isn’t a happy ending for any of the characters because they’re all victims from the start.

Or maybe I'm just obsessed with Rachel Zegler idk

#west side story #rachel zegler #steven spielberg #riff west side story #bernardo west side story #west side story 2021 #musical #cinema #movies #mike faist #ariana debose

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stewblog · 3 years ago

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WEST SIDE STORY (2021)

Steven Spielberg’s take on the Broadway classic West Side Story is one of the best movies of the year and it makes me slightly angry.

Angry not at any aspect of the production itself, but rather at the fact that it’s taken so long for Spielberg to finally make a musical. In a career that has given audiences no shortage of definitive, iconic films this still manages to stand out as one of the director’s best films. It may be relatively familiar territory thanks to the ubiquity of Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway musical and Robert Wise’s equally iconic 1961 film adaptation, but the style, energy and substance Spielberg infuses his version with makes it an equally worthy take on the material that sits comfortably alongside its predecessors.

For anyone unfamiliar, West Side Story is a loose adaptation of Romeo & Juliet, set during the 1950s in the upper west side of Manhattan. Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria (Rachel Zegler) are star-crossed lovers pulled between their (almost assuredly doomed) romance and the respective gangs that make up their family, the Jets and the Sharks. The two gangs are determined to duke it out until only one side is left standing all in a futile effort to maintain supremacy over a sliver of the island that is slowly being demolished in the name of “progress.”

The love story between Tony and Maria, as it has been with every version of Romeo & Juliet I’ve ever watched, is the least interesting aspect of the film. Even taking into account that this is only a few steps removed from a fairy tale, it’s still far too rushed for me to capably invest myself in its obviously doomed trajectory. I’m not sure how you amend that without drastically altering things so it is what it is. That said, Elgort and Zegler sell it as well as possible. Elgort is fine enough though he never quite reached a pitch that convinced me he should have necessarily beaten out any other qualified actor for the part. He can at least sing better than I expected. Zegler, on the other hand, is a remarkable find. Pulled from obscurity with zero screen or professional stage credits to her name, Zegler answered an open casting call and caught Spielberg’s eye and it’s not hard at all to see why. She has a poise, presence and, perhaps most importantly, a voice that immediately screams “I’m going to be a star.”

What lands hardest this time is the rivalry between the Sharks and Jets and the way Spielberg manages to draw a stark contrast between them while still illuminating the ways in which they are equally failed by a system and society that is more than happy to pass them by. The Jets, led by Riff (Mike Faist giving my favorite performance in the film), are practically nihilists. Emaciated and aimless, they fight tooth and nail to maintain the illusion of control. The Sharks, led by Bernardo (David Alvarez), just want their slice of the American pie. They came to New York City just like countless other immigrants and, like them, work to the bone to earn their way yet are still shunned and demeaned simply because of their skin color.

These gangs are perpetually at each other’s throats in a rivalry that culminates with deadly consequences. Yet Spielberg takes care to emphasize that they’re fighting against the wrong forces. At minimum, each side should be empathetic to the other’s plight given proximity and similarity. And yet they can’t look past their own petty rivalry to realize the city and society’s apathy toward them is far more important than who “controls” a few blocks of a neighborhood. Their meaningless feud has never felt more heartbreaking than it does here.

Part of what makes the depiction of these gangs work is the casting. I mentioned above that Faist gives my favorite performance of the film and it really can’t be overstated just how wonderfully cast he and the rest of the Sharks and Jets are. They inhabit and embody a specific sensibility, as though Spielberg managed to pluck them right off a 1950s sidewalk and herded them right onto the set in 2019. Modern actors simply do not look or sound like their contemporaries from decades ago and yet somehow Spielberg managed to have them embody a manner of being that simply no longer exists. Feist embodies this perhaps moreso than anyone else with a wiry, tightly wound demeanor and physicality that feels precisely like the Bruce Davidson photos he apparently studied in preparation. Riff is one of the more tragic characters in the film and Feist delivers a performance that feels worn and weary in a way that’s rare for a musical and yet is never at odds with the more heightened tone of the genre.

Speaking of heightened, there are simply not enough superlatives to throw around in praise of what Spielberg pulls off with West Side Story’s musical numbers. For anyone wondering what the point of remaking an already iconic film (especially one with music and lyrics as beloved as those in West Side Story), this is why. Spielberg infuses a style and energy into these numbers that simply didn’t exist in Wise’s version. That’s not a cut on the original film, this version exists perfectly alongside it but with a stamp placed on it by its director that is unmistakable. Take “America,” for example. In Wise’s version it feels much more stagebound, even conversational between the characters. Spielberg keeps the back and forth nature of the song but has it unfold throughout the neighborhood. It becomes a sprawling number bursting with color and energy. The new version of “Mambo!” is nothing short of breathtaking. It’s a little difficult to pick a favorite because they’re all just so good.

This is Spielberg working at the height of his powers, which is perhaps an odd realization to come to given the rumors of his possible impending retirement. But whether he’s got one more movie left in him or a half dozen, this will still stand strong among the best work he’s ever made. There is a command of craft on display here that most directors could only dream of. Spielberg’s desire to make a musical has been evident ever since the dance hall brawl from his infamous World War II-set flop, 1941 and his Busby Berkeley tribute in the opening of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I wish we’d gotten West Side Story sooner. But regardless of when it arrived, it’s more than worth the wait.

#west side story #sondheim #stephen sondheim #musicals #steven spielberg #movies

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is-it-mungojerry-or-rumpelteazer · 3 years ago

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@ponyboy-curtains answered to my post about West Side Story 2021, and I wanted to answer back, but that post was getting long as hell, and also it started with some comments on the treatment of racism that I feel don’t have much to do with this conversation, so I’m going to answer here.

Their post:

Anyway, one of my biggest issues which kind of isn’t Spielberg’s fault seeing as this was his first time directing a musical was that it didn’t really feel like a musical. In the 1961 version, it felt like a sequence of dances and songs with small snippets of dialogue in between however the 2021 version seemed like just a normal film with the occasional song. The generic rule for musicals is ‘if you feel too much, you start singing, and if you feel too much while singing then you dance’. Well there is so much emotion in West Side Story, from the passionate love to the hatred of someone who is different from you which is why in the original, it was mainly dance and song. It wasn’t just a dance musical for shits and giggles. It’s like getting Cats and making it all about the dialogue. Exactly, you can’t do it.

Also this is probably going to piss off 99% of the fandom more than this rant already has but I don’t really like Mike Faist as Riff. Like is-it-mungojerry-or-rumpelteazer said, Riff’s character is based on Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet. I know they were trying to flesh out the character a bit more but this character doesn’t need to be fleshed out. He is a comedy relief that gets stabbed for the plot to progress. Nothing more. Russ Tamblyn’s version of Riff was stupid and ignorant and silly; the reason you didn’t sob the entire way through. Riff is the only character that isn’t a victim of something and the only character that can make jokes that you laugh at because he isn’t suffering from racism or not being able to love someone. So by making Riff a victim as well, it’s all sad. You sympathise with the Jets rather than laugh at them. But this is not saying I dislike Mike Faist; I think he was amazing in Dear Evan Hansen and I can see how he deserved a large role in such a large project. I just don’t think it was the right role for him.

First off, I completely agree with you on the fact that the new WSS doesn’t feel like a musical. That was kind of what I was going for when I said that I felt like Spielberg just wanted to make a movie about gangs, and also that there was too much plot. The song and dance numbers felt like an afterthought. I’m actually really curious: are they actually shorter? Because I seem to remember them being more plot-oriented and less-dance oriented (the rumble and the opening sequence in particular being choreographed like a fight scene and not a dance number), but I didn’t get the feeling that they were short (which begs the question, where did they find the time for all the extra plot?? This movie defies physics!)... Just, you know, unimportant. Like you could take them out and keep a functional movie. And that’s a bad sign, when you can cut the music out of a musical and still get a functional product.

I’ll admit I’m less lenient than you are about Spielberg not being a musical director by trade. It would be unfair to compare him with Robert Wise or Vicente Minnelli, who were raised in a world where musicals were everywhere, but he’s not the only one in that position. You know who also was a first-time musical director? Dexter Fletcher when he directed ‘Sunshine on Leith’. Randal Kleiser when he directed ‘Grease’. Norman Jewison when he directed ‘Fiddler on the Roof’. And they still feel like musicals. Even Fiddler, who is “dirty”, and “realistic”, and “grounded”. So it’s not impossible. And if he felt incapable of making a musical and wanted to make one... he could always ask for help. There might not be as many people who know how to make a movie musical anymore, but they exist. Use them.

And about Riff... I agree with you, and also not exactly. I agree that 2021!Riff is frustrating to watch if you like the 1961 version, because it’s basically a completely different character. I agree that it doesn’t work as well, and that the movie suffers from not having a comic relief to make it not a complete tragedy. I do not think it was a Mike Faist problem, though (if that wasn’t your point, sorry for misunderstanding), I think nobody could have made anything better with that script. He was just written to be a tragic antagonist too hardened by gang violence and racism to see anything else. Mike Faist did an amazing job with what he was given, in my opinion. That scene where he puts his forehead on the barrel of a gun gave me chills.

As for “He is a comedy relief that gets stabbed for the plot to progress. Nothing more. [...]Riff is the only character that isn’t a victim of something“ I don’t agree, not exactly. I do think you could give him a backstory if you wanted to, and I think there is tragedy to this character. But that tragedy, for me, is that he hasn’t fully grasped the danger of the situation. 2021!Riff says he’s not going to get to adulthood. 1961!Riff hasn’t realised that yet. Russ Tumblyn was much more of a dancer than an actor, but his face as he’s pressed against the fence, unarmed, at the Rumble, is burned in my mind since I was twelve. That’s the moment when he realises this is not a game. Someone can actually die here, and it’s probably going to be him. But it’s too late. That, for me, is the tragedy of his character.

And that applies to the other Jets as well, and, to a point, to the audience. The Rumble is a turning point for all of them, a traumatic experience. The moment we go from “when you’re a Jet you’re the top cat in town” to “you wanna live in this lousy world? Play it cool” (yes, I’m going with the movie order because I think it works way better). When we go from happy-go-lucky Riff to cold-and-calculating Ice. The Jets in the new version have already gone through that, both literally (Tony has apparently killed a kid??) and characterization-wise. They are already battle-hardened. So their turning point is a lot less impactful. There is way less of a separation between pre-Rumble and post-Rumble. And I think the movie suffers from it.

... Why am I incapable of writing short things about this.

If you want the full version of this discussion, here and here are the other two posts I’ve written about it.

#west side story #text posts #long posts #My Opinions #West Side Story (2021)#riff #Tony (West Side Story)#adaptations #mentions of death

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cto10121 · 3 years ago

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Top R&J Adaptation Pet Peeves

Adaptation is hard. Really, really hard. Shakespeare especially knew it; he was one of the best adapters for theater ever, and he himself adapted R&J from Arthur Brooke’s Tragedie of Romeus and Juliet. Since then Shakespeare’s play itself has been given the adaptation treatment and hooo boy, are there doozies, misses, and fascinating failures. Most are published fanfic flops, like the ones I reviewed for my blog, but others tend to be more complicated than that. So without further ado, let’s dive into the Top Adaptation Pet Peeves I’ve personally encountered, or simply tropes and patterns I find annoying.

The two families/groups not being alike in dignity. Yes, I’m looking at all the productions and adaptations that decide to switch the whole rival houses dynamic for a race or class one. The ones who pit a marginalized group against another marginalized group, like Romiette and Julio (Black/Hispanic respectively) are fine-ish. West Side Story also does this, but unfortunately the whole “white ethnic” gang is no longer a thing now, as most non-WASP ethnic white groups are considered functionally white nowadays, so it does become a problem re: the Puerto Ricans being the underdogs to the white ethnics. Some have done a poor/rich, privileged/marginalized dynamic, but you just can’t do it with R&J; it breaks the equality of the pairing. By far the worst of these is the anime Romeo X Juliet, which had the evil Montagues be the corrupt ruling power who usurped the throne from the Capulets (????). Look, the whole point is that the two groups’ differences are superficial and stupid, and that they are more alike than different. This doesn’t work if one group is favored/discriminated against over another. It also leads to disturbing implications—namely, justifying a dangerous and destructive feud and intergroup violence and hatred in general. Another side effect is that it ruins the mutuality of the lovers by bringing in unequal power dynamics where it isn’t needed.

Juliet as a #girlboss/badass/“strong female protagonist”. Many adaptations do some measure of this by having Juliet resist even the first mention of Paris, talk back to her parents and the Nurse, and, for Gong’s These Violent Delights (Juliette Cai as the dagger-wielding daughter of a gang) and the anime Romeo X Juliet, (Juliet crossdressing as the vigilante the Red Whirlwind) actually kick ass and generally “strong female protagonist”-it up. I think this is largely a reaction to Juliet’s canonically marginalized position as a sheltered 16th century maid, mistaking the passivity and lack of agency of her status as a character trait. As a result, we get CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon!Juliet. Just no. The original Juliet, as everyone should know like their own name, was no shrinking violet, but neither was she a YA/anime shonen dominatrix either, and I feel she wouldn’t be even in an AU. Also, by this point it’s so cliché. Juliet is so well-written as she is; why stuff her into this Katniss Everdeen peg?

Juliet as an immature ~bby. Not so much adaptation!dumb, thank goodness, but I’ve seen this small trend in play productions that take the “Juliet-is-thirteen” thing waaaaaay too seriously and either have a tween-looking actress or make the actress play Juliet a facsimile of what a thirteen-year-old is supposed to be like. I especially will never forget the Orlando Bloom production that had poor Juliet deliver her “Gallop apace” on a swing. Awful.

Mercutio being turned into either 1) wacky, comic relief gay or 2) a mystical/sad tragic gay. Mercutio occasionally gets done dirty in either of those two ways and it’s sad. That French Canadian film Roméo et Juliette is by far the most damning offender of the latter take. I don’t like either trope, and I certainly don’t like it for Mercutio, for whom it doesn’t really fit. Also, I feel it’s important to note that as the Prince’s kinsman Mercutio is the most higher ranked and privileged of the three, his being forced into a “sad, tragic gay” mold feels ludicrous. Even his death comes about because he wanted to avenge Romeo’s honor (or, well, more like he really wanted a fight), not because he was Bury Your Gay’ed. Cocciante’s Giulietta e Romeo musical does something unique and has him as an omnipotent narrator, which works a little better than it should, but overall it’s also a miss. Mercutio is Romeo’s foil and a fun side character; outside of that, it’s hard to make him work without changing his character entirely.

Romeo being turned into 1) an immature woobie/“cinnamon roll,” 2) bumbling hero, 3) a himbo/idiot, or 4) evil (!!). My poor boi has been done the dirtiest in so many different ways, it’s hard to quantify or even name them. They range from flattening his character a little to “romantic idiot” to full-on Ron the Death Eater-ing him (yes, that’s a thing, twice!! See Juliet Immortal et al. Or rather not). The last two are mostly in the realms of salty fanfic, thankfully, but the himbo idiot and woobie still inform some actors’ performances. Needless to say, I hate all of this. Romeo is no idiot, himbo or not, and he is as mature as the rest of the youths (he is at least praised by Capulet as a “portly gentleman”). Canonically he is shown to best Mercutio in a game of wits and explicitly restrains himself from revealing himself at Juliet’s balcony. Act 5 shows him coldly but effectively convincing an apothecary in less than a dozen lines to break the law and sell him poison. I don’t exactly know from what stems this woobification of Romeo. Actually, no, I do. Romeo may be climb high orchard walls, playfully roast his friends, talk about how chastity vows are stupid and hope Juliet would cast off that pesky virginity of hers, and kill two characters all he likes, but as soon as he weeps immoderately over being banished/separated from Juliet and the possibility of her not loving him anymore, he renounces his Man(tm) card. Hello, gender roles-based sexism! God, I hate you so much. Please die.

“It’s a dark, ~crazy world!!! Verona is a violent, crass, tacky, dangerous hellhole!!!” Okay, so this is mostly shade thrown at Baz Lurhmann and the Hungarian version of Presgurvic’s RetJ, (the latter more fondly than the former) but it still disappoints me. The whole “fair Verona” thing aside, I think it’s clear that Shakespeare’s Verona is supposed to be a violent, steamy clusterfuck, but with the veneer of wealth and prosperity and genteel good taste that papers over the cracks. It’s the whole appearance vs. reality thing. I still think French RetJ does Verona best, and fortunately most productions and versions get it as a “quaint pretty small town is actually a hellhole” thing (hell, I think even that Gnomeo and Juliet movie made the suburban lawns nice). I just like the contrast, what can I say?

“Benvolio, Mercutio, Tybalt are more interesting than R&J, let’s make it all about them instead!!!1” This is the weirdest thing, but I think there were some web series (at least one, and no, not Jules and Monty) that literally did this, a weird modern Tycutio AU. But in general, adaptations that overdevelop the feud and the whole Benvolio-Mercutio-Tybalt thing at the expense of R&J are a no-go for me. I like the three and they all have their little crannies of character nuance, but they are less developed and the feud drama less interesting overall than R&J. I also don’t like the ships with any of the three, Bencutio and Tycutio being the most popular set-up. Canonically Mercutio and Benvolio spend most of their time either searching for Romeo or talking about him and how much he’s changed. As for Tycutio, Mercutio disdains Tybalt’s dueling skills and overall they don’t seem to know each other well personally. Both ships have no chemistry with each other and are firmly into fanon territory.

“R&J’s love was like a cinnamon roll, too good, too pure for this world…” Some adaptations, uncomfortable with some of the high-scale eroticism of the lovers, tend towards this. They’re teen sweethearts, high school, if you will, so let’s make them as cute and chaste and ~uwu as possible. Romeo X Juliet tends sickeningly towards this, but that just might be the demure Japanese culture informing the text. But I don’t know. R&J are not exactly horndogs, but they’re not dead either (horny bird metaphor, anyone? Also Juliet’s whole famous I-wanna-bang monologue). It’s secretly condescending too, in that it tries to put down and dismiss R&J as puppy love…puppy love that leads them to an uncompromising position and a double suicide, but okay. Sounds fake, but okay.

“R&J was just lust and it’s kinda their fault, actually—” Nothing will make me loathe your adaptation quicker than this. Fortunately most adaptations know enough not to go that far, but Baz Luhrmann’s version definitely has some of this vibe, along with some forced comedy. Kill it with fire.

#romeo and juliet #cristina metas #rj meta #r&j meta #this is so many decades’ worth of salt #i’ll probably remember others i didn’t talk about

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aion-rsa · 3 years ago

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West Side Story (2021) vs. West Side Story (1961): What Are the Differences?

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This article contains spoilers for both screen versions of West Side Story.

For most of his career, Steven Spielberg has spoken of his desire to make a musical. It turned out to be well worth the wait. Despite harboring serious reservations about a remake of one of the finest movie musicals ever made—Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins’ West Side Story movie from 1961—I was entirely won over by Spielberg’s sparkling and passionate reimagining of the original 1957 Broadway show. As if by magic, it returned to the Oscar winning director some of the irresistible exuberance of youth.

A sweeping and majestic reimagining of Romeo and Juliet, the original West Side Story musical, with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, was a staple of Spielberg’s childhood, reportedly more so due to the Original Broadway Cast album his mother bought him than the previous movie. Perhaps it’s for that reason one of the greatest living American filmmakers felt he had the ability (or audacity) to remake one of the great American musicals for a new generation. And, indeed, with its themes of bigotry and xenophobia, patriotism and cultural divides, it’s arguable the material feels more potent in 2021 than when the previous movie came out 60 years ago.

It’s also those elements which helped convince Spielberg’s long-time collaborator, the playwright Tony Kushner, to similarly abandon his initial skepticisms toward a remake—“He’s lost his mind,” Kushner recalled saying after Spielberg first pitched the project—and drastically retool it for modern audiences. And that includes more than just white viewers who can turn a blind eye to the original movie’s depiction of Puerto Rican culture.

Below we have attempted to contrast and explore the sometimes subtle, and at other times drastic, differences between the two films, and why we think Spielberg’s version is ultimately an improvement on the 1961 film.

The Actual Upper West Side

One of the most significant contrasts between the ’61 film version of West Side Story and Spielberg’s remake is the titular neighborhood itself. When the original movie came out, it was less than five years after the Broadway musical opened at the Winter Garden Theatre in Midtown—and at a time when the Upper West Side was still synonymous with working and lower class incomes, and the crime that came with it. Indeed, Bernstein and Arthur Laurents, the playwright who wrote the original book for the stage version of West Side Story, were inspired by stories in the newspaper about what then seemed to be the recent phenomenon of gang culture emerging among America’s youth. “Kids these days.”

So when Wise rolled cameras on Hollywood’s West Side Story, it felt like a contemporary story about a crisis in modern teenage culture. The movie thus begins with a god’s eye view of a bustling and orderly Midtown and downtown before flying to the implicitly disorderly and dangerous Upper West Side. These are actual aerial images of the neighborhood during that time (some of the few in the film’s otherwise largely backlot-focused sets), and yet perhaps because the filmmakers didn’t have the benefit of hindsight or the freedom from worrying about 1960s censors, they couldn’t really visualize the actual seeds that would lead angry young white men to want to “rumble” with angry young brown men.

Conversely, Spielberg and Kushner attempt to highlight the anxiety and resentment which can fester into hate and racism. West Side Story ’21 also largely relies on backlots, however they look like a demilitarized zone in post-war Europe as much as the more glistening vision of New York City during the Kennedy years. The first shot is of a house that’s collapsed, and the next is of another that’s been demolished—the Jets have commandeered its bulldozer.

Kushner recently told The New York Times he wanted to frame the story around gentrification and economic striving as much as intragroup hatred. After all, “San Juan Hill,” the largely Puerto Rican neighborhood mentioned extensively in Kushner’s reimagined West Side Story screenplay, was torn down shortly after the original 1961 movie was made—literally paving the way for the shimmering Lincoln Center complex, the jewel of modern NYC’s most elite (and mostly white) culture.

Kushner’s script also pinpoints how both the Sharks and Jets are about to be left out of this impending paradise. Corey Stoll’s Lt. Schrank is rewritten to be a slightly more rounded character. He expresses thinly veiled racism toward the Sharks, the Puerto Rican gang in the movie, but he also mocks the Jets, the largely white gang of lower income kids. He calls them the children of “whites who couldn’t make it.” Both are about to be pushed out of the city while at least the Puerto Rican immigrants can work as doormen at the fancy condominiums that will replace their slums.

It’s a strikingly different context, which provides at least a little more understanding for their hatred—although make no mistake, the hate is also given a more visceral and uncomfortable quality. Whereas the 1961 movie introduces the Jets and Sharks as almost absurdly insular in their little rivalry, snapping their fingers on a playground while kids at the basketball court watch from a distance confused, Spielberg’s West Side Story opens with the Jets committing a hate crime by vandalizing a mural of the Puerto Rican flag.

We similarly see how in their escape, the Jets can terrorize and abuse the local Puerto Rican businesses who have nothing to do with gang grievances, and are as equally disgusted as the Sharks who respond not with pirouettes but by putting a nail through the ear of Baby John. But that’s because the Sharks and Jets have a much more brutal dynamic here…

Tony and the Jets

In the original ’61 film, the Jets are largely presented as, if not the good guys, then the general protagonists of the story. They’re far more developed than their Puerto Rican counterparts, and we see the impending “Rumble” largely from their point-of-view. When Riff (Russ Tamblyn) sings “When You’re a Jet,” he seems like a swell alpha kind of guy who’s being an upright pal to his other friends and Tony (Richard Beymar), the ostensible Romeo of this story who’s sworn off being a Jet.

Conversely, Mike Faist’s Riff in West Side Story (2021) is a charismatic but ultimately toxic hard case who appears doomed to a violent end. Faist gives a terrific performance that’s easy to imagine as compelling when amongst teenagers. But the friendliness in the eyes belies an angry, broken piece deep within. It drives him toward violence against the Sharks’ leader Bernardo (David Alvarez), and toward trying to drag Tony down with him. Returning to Kushner’s desire to underline the role of economic and generational desperation in fermenting crime and violence, Riff dismisses the idea of thinking about adulthood and, in a new scene where he buys the fateful gun he brings to the Rumble, he’s told by a bartender he looks like his out-of-the-picture old man.

Meanwhile, Ansel Elgort’s Tony shows promise. It’s why Rita Moreno’s wonderful new character Valentina (more on her in the below sections) tells Tony to stay away from Riff. The Jets are heading toward an inevitable dead-end, and Tony shows such promise and sensitivity. He’s also a much better developed character in the 2021 movie. In ’61, Beymer’s Tony left the Jets simply because he seemed bored with all their joshing around and wanted to grow up. He’s all giggles and smiles when he sees Riff later though, and talks about how the rest of the boys should get jobs like he did at Doc’s Drugstore. Be a good member of society, kids.

Elgort’s Tony is clinging to his job at Doc’s as his last hope. We learn that this Tony was really the Jets’ muscle, with Elgort’s tall-frame proving useful in a fight… including the last one he had with a gang which led to him beating another kid half-to-death. Tony spent a year in prison for almost murdering someone, and after getting out he’s tried to steer clear of the Jets, of Riff’s toxicity, and generally clung to the only paternal figure he has in Moreno’s Valentina. Unlike the ’61 film, this Tony has no off-screen parents who Riff fondly talks about. He’s an orphan who’s hidden from the world in shame for the last several years… until the night he meets a girl named María.

María and the Sharks

Perhaps where Spielberg and Kushner wanted to most surpass the previous West Side Story is in the depiction of María and the life she lives as an immigrant who came for the seeming promise of America. There are of course significant homages to the ’61 film in this regard too, from the casting of Rita Moreno as Valentina to duplicating the white dress and red belt Natalie Wood wore in the iconic sequence where she meets Tony at a dance.

However, just by the simple casting of Colombian-American Rachel Zegler as María, this is obviously going to be handled with much more respect and thoughtfulness. Indeed, as was common custom in mid-20th century Hollywood, white stars were asked to wear make-up when playing non-white “ethnic” characters, as Wood did in the original film. This is not to discredit Wood’s famous performance, which was quite glowing in its own right. But Zegler eminently makes the part her own in an even more youthful (she was 18 when she played María) and multifaceted turn.

But more than just casting a Latina actress to play a Latina role, the new West Side Story takes great pains to better develop the immigrant side of the story. In the new film, Bernardo’s leadership of the Sharks is somewhat treated as a misguided necessity as opposed to pure boyish foolishness. The cops are not protecting their shops and businesses from vandalism and hate crimes, and Bernardo would initially rather be fighting as an amateur boxer in the local gym. He also doesn’t want this kind of lifestyle for his little sister María.

With their mother dead and father still in Puerto Rico in the new film (instead of inexplicably being off-screen and never mattering in the original movie), Bernardo feels responsibility toward his sister and is urging her toward a relationship with Chino (Josh Andrés Rivera).

In the original film and show, Chino is just a background player—a darker skinned stand-in for the Paris character in Romeo and Juliet. But as played in the new film, he’s introduced as an academic and bookish type who despite wanting to be a member of the Sharks is kept at arm’s length by Bernardo. He sees Chino as one of the smartest boys in the neighborhood with a future that doesn’t involve violence. Which makes it all the darker when, after Beranrdo is killed, Chino picks up a gun to kill the white boy who murdered his alpha male idol.

“The gringos will kill you if you shoot one of them,” his friends warn. He forlornly replies, “The gringos kill everything, eventually.”

But more than the violence, the new West Side Story tries to explore how the Shark characters live. Much of the dialogue in scenes between María, Bernardo, and Anita (Ariana DeBose) are spoken in Spanish, and never once with a subtitled caption. Firstly, this emphasizes the acting and Spielberg’s visual storytelling, trusting audiences will understand what is happening even if many viewers won’t know the language. It also reduces the distance between the white and Latinx characters in the film, not even othering the latter by insisting they need subtitles to be comprehended.

Among them, there is also a greater emphasis on warmth. We’re introduced to this Anita by her giving María her iconic red belt off her own dress, and being much more sisterly to Bernardo’s sibling. Of course Moreno’s Anita was one of the best parts of the 1961 movie too, winning Moreno an Oscar (a first for a Latina woman), but little shifts like the belt, or having Anita and Bernardo discuss María’s future in Spanish, go a long way to developing the family dynamics among the three characters.

There is also, of course, Moreno herself who is still present in the new movie and an executive producer on the film. In a major change designed to make room for the 90-year-old actress, the Doc character has been written out of the film, revealed to have died of a heart attack some years ago. Moreno’s Valentina is his widow and heir to the drugstore. This also allows Spielberg and Kushner to develop an originally tertiary role into a much more dynamic presence.

Valentina is genuinely motherly and compassionate about Tony’s future, attempting to steer him away from the Sharks, but her role as a Latina character who married a white man during a more openly segregated era also causes her to be stuck in No Man’s Land. When the third act tragedies come, Anita—Moreno’s most famous role—calls Moreno’s Valentina a traitor to Puerto Ricans in Spanish.

It adds an uncomfortable context. It also provides the film’s diverse and rich book of musical numbers to more fully hit their high notes. Mostly.

Musical Numbers and Rumbles

As the aspect which folks are likely most interested in comparing when it comes to a musical remake, the musical numbers are the cornerstone of both films. And frankly, with two glaring exceptions, they’re generally done far better in the 2021 film.

If Spielberg waited his whole life to do a musical, he shows all that pent up dexterity here. Nearly every scene reveals a kinetic virtuosity for blocking and camera placement. This is probably most notable in the “Tonight” sequence, the first duet between Tony and María. In the original film, the pair largely sit next to each other on a fire escape in a two-shot, proclaiming their love for each other. It’s sweet and a great movie moment, but Spielberg’s camera rarely ever stops save for extreme close-ups on both Zegler and Elgort’s faces in states of complete longing. Otherwise, the filmmaker is always moving and capturing the unbreakable barriers between the pair, such as when he places the actual grating of the fire escape between their faces like a wall, or later the stairs.

But that is just one example of how Spielberg has reimagined and revitalized musical sequences. Robert Wise, a brilliant director in his own right, was able to create many an iconic image in the ’61 film. They’ve lived on in the public imagination for six decades and almost as many generations. However, one aspect of the classic film which never quite worked for me was the emphasis on transporting all (or most) of the elaborate dance choreography from the stage show to the screen. This is likely due to Robbins, the director and choreographer of the Broadway show, being the choreographer and credited co-director of the 1961 movie. Although he might’ve been most focused on just photographing his elaborate choreography on-screen.

There is no denying much of the dancing in the original film is beautiful, but there are times where it frequently appears to overreach and be “extra,” to use modern youth lingo. To put it nicely, seeing gang members so insistent on doing ballet during the film’s opening moments on an outdoor basketball court, or later bring the movie to a screeching halt for an extended freestyle jazz number after the Rumble where their leader, Riff, has been killed, has always been kitschy.

The latter sequence, “Cool,” was also inexplicably moved in ‘61 from its first act placement in the stage show to appearing on-screen after Riff and Bernardo have died in the second act of the film—and yes, given the original film included an overture and intermission, it was divided like a two-act play. Spielberg wisely returns the song closely to the beginning of the film, so audiences are not impatient about getting back to the plight of Tony and María, and he and Kushner also light on the idea that the song is about Tony trying to prevent Riff from bringing a gun he bought to the Rumble. So the entire sequence keeps much of the jazzy movements but recontextualizes them as a fight between two old friends over a weapon that will eventually get one of them killed later that night. It’s just a much more engaging scene, daddio!

Similarly, Spielberg returns “I Feel Pretty” to immediately after the Rumble, with María’s happiness having an added air of tragedy since we know it’s already been damned. It also allows the film to bring back the original lyric of “I feel pretty, and witty, and bright, and I pity any girl who isn’t me tonight!” Which, for reasons beyond the film’s control, has aged better than the new lyric invented for the ‘61 movie: “I feel pretty, and witty, and gay, and I pity any girl who isn’t me today!”

The actual dynamics between María and the other characters are largely heightened by the new film as well. María and Tony’s wordless courtship at the dance in the new film occurs in private, behind the gym’s bleachers, allowing the pair to share an enchanted moment and an actual flirtatious conversation, as opposed to it happening in front of everyone, a la the ’61 film, and being immediately interrupted by Bernardo. And, in fact, Bernardo’s fly-off-the-handle rage in this regard is much more understandable, and not only because he discovered his little sister coming out from behind the bleachers with a white boy.

Continuing with its desire to better develop the Puerto Rican characters’ perspective, the ‘21 movie’s Bernardo is enraged not just because Tony is a white man, but by the perceived arrogance of a white man taking what he wants from his little sister because he thinks it might absolve him of his own sins of once indulging in racism. The condescension and entitlement Bernardo sees is what drives him into a rage—and why he and Riff discuss the terms of the Rumble at that very dance (which moves the plot along faster on-screen).

The Rumble likewise is given new immediacy, and not just because of the choice to set it inside of a salt warehouse instead of under a highway overpass. For starters, Kushner throws out the element from the original show about Tony getting the Sharks and Jets to let this be decided by “our best versus your best.” Instead it’s going to be an all-out brawl. Initially, María wants Tony to stop it in the 2021 film, but he convinces her it’s a lost cause, and she ultimately expresses gratitude when she thinks he has been able to avoid it. Of course Tony doesn’t and when he’s there, it escalates from a brawl into full-scale murder as Bernardo eventually stabs Riff (although he wanted to kill Tony).

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Again, emphasizing the benefit of making changes appropriate for cinema instead of theater, having Riff’s death rattle not be visualized as a free-style dance move, nor having both gangs move in rhythm to the music as they run from the cops, is a smart change. To put it mildly.

However, one of the two numbers I believe to be superior in the original is the iconic “America” sequence where Anita and her friends argue a glass half full vision of being an immigrant in New York City against Bernardo and his pals’ glass half-empty cynicism. Yes, it’s also stagey with it being a big ensemble number, but since it is also a party on a rooftop it plays more naturally, and the choreography is electric when Moreno takes center stage–although DeBose’s Anita makes a hell of a charismatic presence too in her version of the song, which is done as more of a cinematic montage of Anita and Bernardo commenting on the sights they’re seeing on the street of their neighborhood.

The other change I’ll tip toward the original comes near the end of the film, but only after the biggest musical change of the movie: Moreno’s Valentina singing “Somewhere” instead of Tony and María, who sing the song as a duet after deciding they still love each other even though he killed Bernardo. It’s a poignant addition, allowing Valentina to be the older generation who sees this whole tragedy playing out on a macro-level. She can also better lament the sorrow since her lifetime of striving in an interracial relationship with Doc—as heartbreakingly underlined with a photo of her dead husband on the wall at the beginning of the song—has not saved the next generation from the slings and arrows of bigotry and hate.

With that said, as poignant as the addition is, not having Valentina begin the song and then letting Tony and María carry it on when the edit cuts to their lovemaking is a missed opportunity because of what comes next…

The Ending

West Side Story (2021) ends in much the same manner as the 1961 picture. Tony hides at the drugstore, María is delayed by the cops, and fate intervenes. Anita is even forced to reluctantly help after bitterly discovering María and Tony’s affair. (Also props to how justifiably wrathful DeBose sings “A boy like that will kill your brother.)

Yet the execution of the ending moments are subtly, yet strikingly, different. This begins with how the near rape of Anita is handled much more honestly in the 2021 film. When Anita goes to Doc’s to begrudgingly tell Tony to wait a little longer for María, she is warned to “leave” by the Anybodys character. Still underdeveloped in the 2021 film, Kushner and Spielberg more openly imply that Anybodys (Iris Menas) is likely trans, and is indeed played by a nonbinary actor. In the 1961 film, Anybodys is presented on-screen as a tomboy who gets angry when she’s told a man would never marry her.

In the ’61 film, she also revels in her Jets buddies trying to rape Anita. When they see a brown woman come into their shop and ask to pass, they howl, “She’s too dark to pass!” in both versions, although in ’61 Anybodys unbelievably partakes in this violence against a woman. In the new film, Anybodys tries to get Anita to avoid the Jets inside the shop, and one of the Jets’ girlfriends is also there. She initially participates in the racist catcalls hurled at Anita, but then tries to prevent what is clearly about to become a gang rape. Spielberg also unsurprisingly avoids Robbins’ tone-deaf choice to include some mild dance choreography as one of the lads is carried into position to assault Anita.

When Valentina thankfully breaks up the incident, Anita still makes the choice to send Tony to his doom by lying that Chino has killed María and is still looking for him. She also insults Valentina for living among these hateful white devils. And to be fair, Valentina doesn’t sugarcoat it. While the ’61 film incredulously underplays this sequence with Doc finding the boys attempting a rape and just whining “why do you kids have to make the world such an ugly place?” (Kidz these days, amirite?), and then the picture sanctimoniously picks this moment for one of the Jets to make a moral stand by whining back, “We didn’t make it, Doc,” there is no hand-holding here. Valentina calls these kids she watched grow up rapists and drives them from her store.

Then, instead of taking her anger out about kidz on Tony like Doc did, she tries to give him money to get out of town and comfort him while revealing María’s “death.” It, sadly, doesn’t work and Tony goes looking for Chino.

The way Spielberg films the killing shot, with María holding a suitcase and seeing Tony and Chino in the same frame right before Chino pulls the trigger, is terrific. But ending on the pair reprising “I Have a Love” instead of “Somewhere” as Tony dies is objectively weaker than how the 1961 film ends because “Somewhere” is objectively a better song than “I Have a Love.” Admittedly, Spielberg is returning to how the original 1957 Broadway production of West Side Story ended. As initially conceived, “Somewhere” was to be sung by another actress as Tony and María danced in an overly long ballet (Robbins loved his ballet sequences). However, Wise sharply convinced Robbins to cut another momentum-killing dance sequence in the third act of the movie, and instead they had María and Tony sing “Somewhere” as a duet.

While the ’57 production didn’t do it that way, almost every production since 1961 has. The thwarted hopefulness of “Somewhere” makes it a more powerfully bittersweet song and having that be the music playing over María’s breakdown and choice to hold Chino’s gun in his face, as well as the face of all the Jets and all the Sharks, is thus a more powerful way to end the musical. Giving the beginning of “Somewhere” to Moreno earlier in the movie was poignant; not letting Tony and María have it at all (and thus removing it from the death scene) was a mistake.

Nonetheless, West Side Story ’21 still has a heart-rending ending, as the gangs agree to carry Tony’s dead body together and instead of Chino being left to be fed to the cops alone, is here at least accompanied by Valentina as he awaits his fate.

As with the ’61 movie, it’s a bitter end note—but also a beautiful one that’ll likely live on for years and years to come.

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eliana-dreams · 4 years ago

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Hey 👋 your trailer got me thinking. If they re-did newsies (for the screen, not stage), how would you like to see it portrayed? I feel like the two versions we have are very Disney-fied and I’m curious to know your thoughts. Also, thanks for the follow ❤️ Have a nice day!

Hi love! Imagining the different ways they could do this is one of my favorite pastimes. I like the movie format, but now I’m thinking a television series would be kind of cool. That way you can flush out all the details and historical elements, working in other subplots of the time.

While I’d love to see Newsies get made as a period drama, with all the grittiness of the time, I do like the comedic bits of the original. A Newsies’ era show with a modern twist would be interesting.

But since we’re exploring, here are some ideas:

Okay, a fever-dream gilded age piece scored in psychedelic rock opera, in the spirit of 60s counterculture and revolution. Newsboy strike demonstrations amidst the backdrop of “For What It’s Worth” or “Volunteers of America.” Bohemian hangouts at Medda’s theater (maybe some opium) to “White Rabbit.” Spreading the word of the strike to “Long, Cool Woman in a Black Dress.” Beatnik protest publishing of the Newsies Banner at Denton’s to “Fortunate Son.” Kloppman has an eccentric anthropology professor look. Shaggy hair, fringe vests, loose jewelry, glowing lights, typewriters, rawhide sofas, street art, The Jacobs’ women and Medda getting involved in women’s suffrage and garment worker strikes, Pulitzer and his newspaper men getting stoned at exec meetings.

A stunning period film in the way of a Les Mis musical and Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette with morose synthpop. Gritty protest scenes that demonstrate police brutality and corruption, fight sequences reminiscent of a barricade battle, flashy Renaissance-painting imagery against Billy Idol, Depeche Mode, and some Fleetwood Mac. Luminous lighting at Medda’s, Sarah’s smudged mascara, Spot’s various tattoos, loud dance halls, riding those giant bicycles, crazy Edwardian hair (moussed fluffy pompadours and bird’s nest Gibson girls).

A strange belle époque movie that’s half-animated, half-fantasy in an unconventional but unsettling style that has an important lesson but makes you think. Rollerblading/skateboarding to deliver papers, lots of suede, flower crowns, fireworks, reading banned books in Central Park, dancing barefoot in the rain on newspaper row, burning incense. All scored by whimsical yet tear-jerking instrumental pieces. Musical talents by Abba or Air and/or Enya.

A musical with a bombardment of Wes Anderson-style art-nouveau effects and an entire soundtrack by James Blake or Labrinth. Color-coordination to provoke psychological/emotional subtext, glitter, modern choreography (bring Kenny Ortega back for that), beautiful hazy imagery, oozing colors, sunsets over the city skyline silhouetting dances, alien feel, raves at Irving Hall, avant-garde. Think 1996 Romeo and Juliet, but gilded-age New York. Solo numbers for the Delancey brothers, each of the Jacobs’ siblings, a good villain ballad (Pulitzer, Weasel, or Snyder), maybe even Spot.

A Tarantinio-esque, iconoclastic turn-of-the-century television show that has a ton of stimulating special effects and tattoos/piercings and is scored in 90s grunge ‘f the system’ songs. Period accurate wardrobe but Jack Kelly wears Doc Martens, David has communist patches on his newspaper satchel, hemp necklaces, chain smoking, blasting gramophone records in the lodging house, Pulitzer and Hearst are yuppie-esque, middle fingers, crushed velvet. Nine Inch Nails accompany Brooklyn newsies, The Smashing Pumpkins punctuate Jack’s desire to get away, Collective Soul for romance, and some L7 for riots.

A strictly period-accurate drama draped in a colorful wardrobe/set scheme with a neo-classical, ragtime, and folksy soundtrack. Historical slang/dialect (like Gangs of New York), newsies with a variety of strong accents (reflective of the immigrant influx of the time), silk gloves, extravagant chandeliers, dry martinis, name-dropping (Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Astor, Nellie Bly, Ida B. Wells, Helen Keller, etc.), unrequited love, seedy dives, a hellscape of a Refuge, and blood spilling in City Hall Park. Soundtrack includes Scott Joplin, vaudeville rhymes, burlesque ditties, operatic pieces, eclectic folk ballads.

An over-the-top, large-scale Progressive-Era mini-series directed by Taika Waititi with a quirky-cool pop score told memoir-style through Jack Kelly’s writing. Contemporary music. Exaggerated facial expressions/gestures, wild party scenes, comedic with melancholic moments, modern dialogue and slang, pop-cultural references played with winks and nods to camera, vibrant colors, city never sleeps. Spot Conlon has distinct background music that precedes him before he steps on scene, Medda wears outlandish ensembles to match her shows (cirque-de-soleil style), Pulitzer comes off a bit more sympathetic than Hearst. It ends with Jack Kelly finishing his writing, sitting on a train, staring out the window into the vast desert of New Mexico, another suitcase on the seat opposite him, though it’s left ambiguous as to who it belongs to.

#newsies #newsies 1992 #newsies movie #1992sies

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365days365movies · 4 years ago

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February 28, 2021: West Side Story (1961) (Part 1)

It all began tonight...and with one story.

The fact of the matter is, love stories wouldn’t be anywhere near the same today if it weren’t for one seminal text: Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. It’s one of the most influential of Shakespeare’s plays, and that’s true no matter what you think of the original.

But above them all, this adaptation rises. It’s one of the most publicly acclaimed Shakespeare adaptations and musicals of all time, and I would presume that that’s for a good reason! And I hope so, especially considering...the last musical...

Ugh. OK, let’s finish off Ramance February with a bang, and let’s finally get this shindig underway! Romeo and Juliet, take two! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap (1/2)

Rather than Verona, 1961 New York City is where we set our scene. A title screen with bongos and other instrumentals set the musical tone for the film against a simple artistic background. Aerial shots of the city follow, and then...snap.

Oh, yeah, that’s the stuff. These are the Jets, a gang led by Riff (Russ Tamblyn), and our Montagues for the film. As their rest turns to amble, and their amble turns to dance, they run into Bernardo (George Chakiris), leader of the Puerto Rican gang known as the Sharks, our Capulets. Their amble also turns into a dance, as they cross into Jets territory.

To fully translate this, Riff would appear to be our Mercutio for the film, while Bernardo is almost certainly our Tybalt. And, as always, the two clash with their respective groups, and an initial dance-like fight between a couple of individuals soon escalates into a full-on brawl and dance battle.

Ah, but our Prince has arrived, in the form of Lt. Schrank (Simon Oakland), as well as his subordinate Sergeant Krupke (William Bramley). Schrank is not tolerant of the street fights between the two gangs, but he’s clearly far more reasonable to the white Jets, as opposed to the Puerto Rican Sharks.

See, if you look back this month, I mentioned that a lot of romance studies tend to take from Romeo and Juliet, specifically if there’s a conflict that separates the two leads. However, those films work to give a reason for the “old grudge” that breaks into new mutinies. And this adaptation of the original play decides to give a reason for that divide.

Race: an age-old struggle. And after the Prologue is done and the two gangs are warned, Riff brings his group together, and they pledge to prevent the Puerto Rican Sharks from taking over their territory. Riff brings up the idea to get their old co-founder involved. When the others note that he’s gone good and left the Jets, we get the first major song of the musical (”Jet Song”).

Riff goes to meet his friend, and co-founder of the Jets, Tony (Richard Beymer), to ask him to come to the dance hall tonight, where the Jets will meet the Sharks in a neutral space for both gangs. But Tony works for a living now, after having left the gang. Riff’s confused by this, and asks why exactly Tony refuses to come back. Tony explains that he feels something on the horizon. While he doesn’t know what that is, he knows that he doesn’t want to miss it.

Riff leaves, and Tony sings on the fact that he feels something coming soon (”Something Coming”). In case you weren’t sure, Tony is our Romeo of the film. And as he looks towards the future, we get a glimpse into the life of someone on the other wide of this struggle, Maria (Natalie Wood), our Juliet. Her friend Anita (Rita Moreno), Bernardo’s girlfriend and the Nurse of the film, is making her a dress for the dance tonight.

Maria is potentially engaged to marry Chino (Jose de Vega), our Paris of the film, and someone whom she isn’t a huge fan of. Bernardo tells him to watch her at the dance tonight, and she puts on her new dress in excitement.

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Time for the dance! Both the white kids and the Puerto Rican kids arrive, but tensions begin to rise, until Glad Hand (John Astin) steps in and sets up a sort of dance that’s meant to bring them together. And it’s time...TO MAMBO! And lemme tell you, if you want to good showcase of dance in this film, look no further than the mambo scene.

And as the two cultures clash in dance in their own way...two eyes meet from across the room. And our romance begins.

This romance between Romeo and Juliet is one of the most iconic in all literature and cinema, and one can say that it’s foolish or young or whatever, but it’s an iconic romance. And I’ll be DAMNED if I’ve ever seen a better version of that romance than this scene. Sorry, DiCaprio and Danes, this is much, MUCH better.

The two speak with each other and the world around them drops away. They speak as if they’ve met before, but they know that they haven’t. And as the grow gradually closer, physically and emotionally, they begin to kiss...and then Bernardo steps in. He takes his sister away, and the connection surprises Tony. Chino takes Maria out of the dance hall, and Tony starts to follow. Before Bernardo can stop him (by force), Riff gets in the way.

Riff offers to meet Bernardo that midnight at a local candy shop, Doc’s, for a war council. He agrees, and they all part ways to continue dancing. Except for Tony, of course. Having just learned Maria’s name, he fixates on it as it echoes in his head (”Maria”). And it’s wonderful, and it’s iconic, and it’s...great.

Back at Bernardo’s and Maria’s place, Bernardo chides Maria for her dalliance with Tony. Anita scolds him, however, and the two make their way to find the others on a nearby rooftop. There, they speak on what it truly means to be an immigrant in America, especially in 1961 (”America”). And it’s depressing, truly depressing that this seems all too familiar today for so many. But, I digress, as this is a great song.

But once the boys leave for the war council, Tony finds Maria in the apartments, and they talk about their love for each other. Maria is afraid that their people won’t accept each other, and Tony says he doesn’t care. They pledge their love for each other with a duet, and another iconic song (”Tonight”).

It’s a gorgeous duet...but I need to acknowledge something: these two aren’t singing. Not on screen, anyway. The voices heard are Jimmy Bryant for Tony, and the ever-forgotten, ever-unerappreciated, late, great Marni Nixon for Maria. You have no idea how many times you’ve heard her voice, but you’ve heard it more than you think. The King and I, My Fair Lady, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, An Affair to Remember (YUP), The Sound of Music, oh, and MULAN. Marni Nixon overdubbed the voices for SO MANY people in Hollywood, and she wasn’t credited vary much back in the day. A lovely lady, and one who always deserved more credits than she got!

There’s one more person who overdubbed a voice: Tucker Smith for Riff, but only during the Jets Song. But now...now, it’s all Russ.

The Jets linger about, waiting around for the Sharks. As they do so, Sergeant Krupke pulls up in a cop car and interrogates the group for their doings. Once he leaves...we get my favorite song in the musical. The only one I know by heart, and my absolute favorite. This is “Gee Officer Krupke!”.

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It’s also this musical’s version of Queen Mab’s Song, cementing Riff’s role (and fate) as Mercutio, and I love it in every way. It’s just a fun song that also gives a lot of needed information about the time period’s treatment of teenagers judged to be delinquent. Also...I just fuckin’ love this song, AND how it’s performed in this film. I can never get tired of people bopping Russ Tamblyn on the head. I just love it.

At that point, they get into Doc’s Candy Shop, welcomed by Doc (Ned Glass), the kindly owner of the store and the Friar Laurence of the story. The Sharks also arrive shortly afterwards, and the parley begins. They set up a fight between the two hangs to settle things once and for all. However, as they start to bring weapons in, the newly-arrived Tony intervenes and gets them to use fisticuffs rather than weapons.

However, Schrank soon arrives to check in, and the group pretends to be getting along. However, the racist Schrank kicks out the Sharks, then attempts a peaceful discourse with the Jets. He also offers to help them with the upcoming fight that he suspects, saying that he’s on their side. Fuck Schrank, he’s genuinely a piece of shit.

Once the Jets and Schrank leave, Tony tells Doc about Maria, and he fears for both of their safety. Still, nothing can stop Tony’s exuberance, and he leaves that night with a smile on his face and a song in his heart.

Intermission! Let’s take a break, then start up Part 2! See you there!

#west side story #robert wise #jerome robbins #william shakespeare #romeo and juliet #natalie wood #richard beymer #rita moreno #george chakiris #russ tamblyn #romance february #user365 #365 movie challenge #365 movies 365 days #365 Days 365 Movies #365 movies a year #mygifs #my gifs

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brendanmccahey · 4 years ago

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Choosing Your Wedding Song To Walk Down The Aisle

The Choice is yours

Walking down the aisle is just one of the most unique parts of the big day. Anticipate a few tears as your partner sees you for the very first time in your dress as well as having your Father on your side only contributes to the emotion. We recommend taking a look below at our best wedding event songs of perpetuity as well as this curated list of tracks to walk down the aisle to find your motivation-- the track really has to talk to you.

A Sense Of Calm

You'll have 2 significant entrances throughout your big day: the bride's entrance and also your wedding reception entrance as couples (and also we have actually obtained plenty of wedding entrance songs to aid you choose that!) Yet the new bride's entry is the real start to the wedding day. While you'll have chosen prelude songs while your guests show up, as well as processional music as your bridesmaids stroll down ahead of you, the moment every person is waiting for is your arrival. All eyes on you can be fairly scary, as well as having wedding tracks or songs that you actually love can be calming-- along with aid you established the pace for your stroll!

Just how to Pick Your Bridal Entrance Song

Usually couples make a decision of the wedding entrance track with each other. There's a couple of key points to think about.First of all, the speed: you do not desire something too quickly as you wish to walk at a somewhat slower than normal pace. If your picked track is a little up-tempo, see if there's a slowed-down acoustic version offered. Secondly, make a decision whether you desire an item of classical music, a tune with lyrics or an important version of a tune. You'll need to work out when you desire the music to fade (if it's not a real-time band) so time your walk to stay clear of arriving at the front mid-verse or upsurge.

Something a little different ?

If you prefer to have the song you walk down the aisle to be a surprise, that can be a great idea. We know of bride that selected a crucial variation of the Marvel Movie Theme as it was her other half's favorite movies! Your guests will enjoy to see your partner's response, and it'll be a terrific shot for your photographer to catch.

We have actually got lots of ideas for tunes to stroll down the aisle to. Many of these bridal entry tracks you understand, but some will be brand-new to you. Take a pay attention to our playlist or scroll to the full listing as well as you could discover one you both love.

Songbird-- Fleetwood Mac

Here Comes The Sun-- The Beatles

Thinking Out Loud-- Ed Sheeran

Lucky-- Jason Mraz ft. Colbie Caillat

A Thousand Years-- Christina Perri

Canon in D Major (Pachelbel's Canon)-- J.S. Bach Orchestra

Your Song-- Ellie Goulding

I'm Kissing You-- Des' ree.

She Moved Through the fair - TRAD

Your song -- Elton John

From This Moment On-- Shania Twain

What A Wonderful World-- Louis Armstrong.

The Secret Wedding (From "Braveheart")-- David Arkenstone including Kathleen Fisher.

Marry You-- Bruno Mars.

Make You Feel My Love-- Adele.

Just the Way You Are-- Bruno Mars.

Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World-- Israel Kamakawiwo'ol

Glasgow Love Theme-- Craig Armstrong.

Air On the G String, from Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068-- J.S. Bach Orchestra.

Iris-- The Goo Dolls.

Wonderful Tonight-- Eric Clapton.

Arrival of the Queen of Sheba from "Solomon"-- Bela Banafalvi & Budapest Strings.

Paradise-- Coldplay.

Tale As Old As Time (Instrumental)-- Beauty and the Beast.

How Long Will I Love You-- Ellie Goulding.

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face-- Roberta Flack.

This I Promise You-- Ronan Keating.

Air-- Handel.

Kiss from a Rose-- Seal.

Amazing Day-- Coldplay.

You Had Me From Hello -- Bon Jovi.

Come Away With Me-- Norah Jones

A Whiter Shade of Pale-- Procol Harum.

Falling In Love With You Again-- Imelda May

I'll Be There-- Jackson 5.

Halo-- Beyoncé.

At Last-- Etta James

The Rose-- Bette Midler.

I'm Yours-- Jason Mraz

Chapel of Love-- The Dixie Cups.

Romeo & Juliet: Act I, Scene XVIII, Gavotte-- Valery Gergiev & London Symphony Orchestra.

Crazy Love-- Van Morrisson

Love Of My Life -- Queen

The One-- Kodaline.

La Vie En Rose-- Edith Piaf.

A Million Love Songs-- Take That.

Can You Feel the Love Tonight-- Elton John.

Celebration-- Kool & the Gang.

Could I Have This Dance-- Anne Murray.

(Everything I Do) I Do It For You-- Bryan Adams.

Gabriel's Oboe-- Ennio Morricone.

She-- Elvis Costello

Young Hearts Run Free-- Kym Mazelle.

Beneath Your Beautiful-- Labrinth & Emeli Sandé.

The Luckiest-- Ben Folds

Can't help Falling In Love-- Elvis Presley.

Chasing Cars-- Snow Patrol.

Latch-- Sam Smith.

Nothing's gonna to Stop Us Now-- Starship.

Wind Beneath My Wings-- Bette Midler.

Beautiful in White-- Shane Filan

Come Rain Or Come Shine-- Ray Charles.

Endless Love (From "The Endless Love" Soundtrack)-- Lionel Richie & Diana Ross.

Hey There Delilah-- Level White T's.

Love Me Like You Do-- Ellie Goulding.

The Book of Love-- Peter Gabriel.

And I Love Her-- Beatles

Songbird-- Oasis.

Earned It-- The Weeknd.

Here and Now-- Luther Vandross.

Linger-- The Cranberries.

Sweet Disposition-- The Temper Trap.

Till There Was You-- The Beatles.

Truly Madly Deeply-- Savage Garden.

Unchained Melody-- The Righteous Brothers.

All About That Bass-- Meghan Trainor.

Budapest-- George Ezra.

Have I Told You Lately?-- Van Morrisson

Isn't She Lovely-- Stevie Wonder.

Moon River-- Frank Sinatra.

One Day Like This-- Elbow.

Tenerife Sea-- Ed Sheeran.

Grow Old With Me-- Mary Chapin Carpenter.

Haven't Met You Yet-- Michael Bublé.

Here Comes the Bride (Wedding Version)-- Dannie Marie.

This Guy's In Love with You-- Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass.

Click Here to listen to all these songs on our spotify Playlist

for more information on choosing your wedding song contact

Brendan McCahey Band

#brendanmccahey #choosing your wedding song to walk down the aisle wedding song wedding ceremony wedding in ireland

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