Dancing Adaptation?

I have never seen the movie West Side Story before (but surely I’ve heard of it…?). Honestly, it was actually a pretty interesting movie, a good experience to have for Romeo and Juliet adaptations. I wouldn’t say it’s a favorite movie of mine, though, but knowing the film was released in 1961 lowered my expectations of it (compared to movies nowadays, I mean). This idea of forming new adaptations from original content (whether it be for movies, TV shows, music, or books) have always interested me; liking that new adaptation is another story. For example, large deviations from the original content’s prime basis and meaning are the main red flags for me.

            West Side Story revolved a lot around singing and choreography. And while I won’t focus my blog post around these two points, I will make one comment about it. The choreography, specifically during the dance segment, really showed how music and dancing can bring people together. Yes, there were still times where one could feel the tension between the two gangs (like having two separate dance circles), but it was limited. This is a great reflection of real life. Beyond the inevitable language barriers and culture differences, music provides a gateway between people, per se… basically another form of shared interest that in addition can be sung and grooved to. The point I’m trying to make is that this portion of the adaptation effectively acts as a breather, or comedic value, amongst the hatred. And in addition to knowing what the two sides were fighting about, it makes them more “human”.

            Going back to the idea of adaptations, I felt like something was missing. Yes, it did follow a basic outline of the plot of Romeo and Juliet, and yes, if the dialogue kept the original Shakespearian language, it probably wouldn’t have turned out as popular. But I kind of felt the movie getting lost in its music and choreography. The abundance of songs to portray what was going on or what characters were thinking rivaled that of Disney movies (not exactly to that extent, but you get the gist). At times, though, it did start reminiscing of The Phantom of the Opera. I’m not sure if it was the songs sharing similar chords or, as I thought more about it, similar plots via a love interest and plot songs… I can’t pinpoint it, nor should I compare the two else I might get raged for doing so…