The classic Broadway story has long been scrutinised for its lack of nuance in portraying Puerto Rican culture. While issues remain, the latest adaptation is about as good as it gets.
Musicals do not persist in our cultural consciousness because they are flawless. Even the greatest musicals are not perfect.
The symphonic, romantic music gives the show its heart. It toys with timing and expectation to gesture at the youth and complexities of its characters; it incorporates Broadway jazz and pan-Latin riffs to create its own self-contained language. It inspired a new, dirtied-up, transcendent tradition of street ballet for the stage and screen.But the story, featuring rival gangs – the white Jets and Puerto Rican Sharks – has not aged as well as its musical heartbeat.
The result is a gorgeous, often disarmicentrngly gritty film that offers the best and strongest view of a story that is slowly and rightfully fading from the cultural firmament.
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