Academy Award winner Steven Spielberg directs the thrilling new movie version of classic musical WEST SIDE STORY, now on Disney Plus.
With a screenplay by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Tony Kushner, West Side Story tells the classic tale of fierce rivalries and young love in 1957 New York City.
This reimagining of the beloved musical stars Ansel Elgort (Tony), Ariana DeBose (Anita) – who has won best supporting BAFTA and Golden Globe Awards for her role in West Side Story, David Alvarez (Bernardo), Mike Faist (Riff), Brian d’Arcy James (Officer Krupke), Corey Stoll (Lieutenant Schrank), Josh Andrés Rivera (Chino), with Rita Moreno (as Valentina, who owns the corner store where Tony works), and introducing Rachel Zegler (Maria).
Moreno – one of only three artists to be honoured with an EGOT + P- Academy, Emmy, Grammy, Tony and Peabody Awards – is also one of the film’s executive producers.
Bringing together the best of both Broadway and Hollywood, the film’s creative team includes Kushner, who is also an executive producer, Tony Award winner Justin Peck, who choreographed the musical numbers in the film, renowned Los Angeles Philharmonic conductor and Grammy Award winner Gustavo Dudamel, who conducted the recording of the iconic score, Academy Award-nominated composer and conductor David Newman (‘Anastasia’), who arranged the score, Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori (‘Fun Home’, ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’), who supervised the cast on vocals, and Grammy-nominated music supervisor Matt Sullivan (‘Beauty and the Beast’, ‘Chicago’), who was executive music producer for the film.
The film is produced by Spielberg, Academy Award-nominated producer Kristie Macosko Krieger and Tony Award®-winning producer Kevin McCollum. ‘West Side Story’ has been adapted for the screen from the original 1957 Broadway show, based on the stage play and book by Arthur Laurents, play conceived, directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, music by Leonard Bernstein.