“Steven Spielberg has assembled an award-winning group of music veterans to revive Leonard Bernstein’s iconic score for his adaptation of West Side Story,” writes Mia Galuppo in Friday’s (5/17) Hollywood Reporter. “Gustavo Dudamel will conduct the recording of the score. The Venezuelan-born conductor [is] the music director of the L.A. Philharmonic…. Oscar nominee David Newman (Anastasia) will arrange the score for the new adaptation, while Tony Award winner Jeanine Tesori (Broadway’s Thoroughly Modern Millie) will be working with the cast on vocals. Rounding out the team is Grammy-nominated music supervisor Matt Sullivan (Chicago), who will serve as executive music producer for the film…. Spielberg will direct West Side Story from a script by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner. Newcomer Rachel Zegler will play Maria opposite … actor Ansel Elgort as Tony. West Side Story is slated for a Dec. 18, 2020 release.” In the article Dudamel describes West Side Story as “one of the most beautiful and beloved scores in the history of musical theatre and I can’t wait for the chance to conduct some of the most magnificent songs that Leonard Bernstein ever wrote.”
Posted May 20, 2019
