FAQ

Justin Peck, a former dancer with New York City Ballet and the company's second Resident Choreographer as of 2014, created the choreography for the film. Jerome Robbins was one of NYCB's founding co-choreographers (with George Balanchine) in 1948.

yes

The first trailer premiered during the 93rd Academy Awards Ceremony. The second trailer premiered on ABC's Good Morning America in September 2021.

It will be based primarily on the original stage libretto used for the 1957 stage musical that the 1961 film was based on. Certain scenes and song orders were changed for the original film (a notable example is swapping the order of "Cool" and "Gee, Officer Krupke," for that was the order in the stage show, and in the 1961 film they were swapped around at the request of lyricist Stephen Sondheim). For the 2021 film, both songs are performed in the first half; "One Hand, One Heart" appears in between the two.

The locations where some of the songs take place, as well as some of their contexts, are also changed for this version. As shown in behind-the-scenes photos and footage, as well as in the film's trailers, "America" now takes place the day after the neighborhood dance, on the streets of the Sharks' community in New York City, rather than on the rooftop of Maria and Bernardo's apartment on the same night of the dance, as seen in the stage show and 1961 film.

"I Feel Pretty," as confirmed in the trailer, takes place at the Gimbels department store in this version, instead of Maria's bedroom in the stage show and the bridal shop in the 1961 film. In addition, this song will appear after the rumble, like in the stage show, whereas in the 1961 film, it is sung before the rumble. The rumble itself takes place in a salt warehouse in this version instead of under a highway.

Instead of the streets as in the stage show and 1961 film, "Gee, Officer Krupke" will be sung in the 21st Precinct of the New York Police Department, with the Jets mocking the police and wrecking the place up during the song. Instead of the bridal shop, Maria and Tony sing "One Hand, One Heart" in the Church of the Intercession, as part of their date, which also involves visiting The Cloisters.

"Cool" and its context are changed, with Tony now singing it to Riff to get the Jets to wait to fight at the rumble that evening, instead of Riff singing it to encourage the Jets to stay cool during the war council at Doc's Drug Store. This may also have been done in order to showcase more of Ansel Elgort's singing and dancing abilities, as his character does very little dancing in the stage show and 1961 film, most notably the "Cha-cha" in "Dance at the Gym."

The context of "Something's Coming" is slightly changed to reflect the character background change for Tony. In the stage show and 1961 film, Tony has the feeling that "something great" is just around the corner, like he tells Riff. In the 2021 film, Valentina tries to get Tony to pick himself up and start again after a hard and damaging life he had prior to the start of the story. She gives him the confidence that launches him into singing the song.

Another change that will appear in this film involves Rita Moreno's character, Valentina, who is a gender-swapped, Puerto Rican version of Doc, the white male owner of the drug store in which Tony works. Her character will be expanded upon for this film as a mentor to the teenage characters, as well as a kindly mother-like figure to Tony. Another change for this film is that Bernardo and Maria, who are siblings in the musical and original film, are given a surname: Vasquez.

In addition, based on the trailers, screenwriter Tony Kushner has re-written a lot of the dialogue for this version, in order to distance it away from the 1961 film's script.

The film will run 156 minutes (2hrs. 36 min.) in length, including end credits. This makes this version of "West Side Story" four minutes longer than the original 1961 film, which ran 152 minutes (including the 4 minute opening overture and end credits sequence).

In an early interview in 2019, Tony Kushner said that the score will remain "untouched." In November 4, 2021, the film's "making-of" book confirmed that all of the songs and dance numbers will be in the film, with the ballet associated with "Somewhere" once again cut. The song itself will still be in the film, sung on-screen by Rita Moreno as Valentina, as confirmed by the teaser trailer.

This is not a remake of the 1961 film, but a re-adaptation of the original musical.