Shakespeare musicals

Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria (Rachel Zegler), with the Jets (left) and the Sharks (right). West Side Story, 2021. ©Disney Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story isn’t a mere remake of the 1961 film or a filmic version of the 1957…

Sixty years old this week, the 1961 movie West Side Story, based on the acclaimed Broadway musical inspired by Romeo and Juliet, also became a de facto representation of US Latinx in musicals for many years.

While Shakespeare musicals borrowed plots, characters, and situations from England’s best-known poet, they remained essentially “American.”