West Side Story Screening

It’s time for a remake of a classic!

And this time it’s Steven Spielberg’s 2021 version of the Leonard Bernstein musical West Side Story, based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Yes, the star-crossed lovers!

“Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story 2.0 is an ecstatic act of ancestor-worship: a vividly dreamed, cunningly modified and visually staggering revival. No one but Spielberg could have brought it off”, declares Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian.

In his review on www.rogerebert.com, Brian Tallerico writes: “[A] production that’s often mesmerizing. The camera doesn’t just capture action on a set—it glides with the performers, and we glide along with them.”

If you don’t trust the critics, then maybe the public reaction on www.rottentomatoes.com, where the film currently has a 91% Tomatometer and a 93% Audience Score, may be more persuasive: “The acting, singing, and dancing are terrific. Steven Spielberg's West Side Story […] lives up to its beloved forebear – and in some respects might even surpass it.”

Montagu Music Society, with the generous collaboration of Montagu Film Society, will screen this “triumphantly hyperreal” remake on Saturday 23 July, at 17h30 for 18h00, at the Odeon movie theatre in the KWV Building, corner of Kohler and Long Street in Montagu. Tickets at R100 per person can be bought from Friday 1 July at The Montagu Bookshop (+27 (0)23 614 2772). We’ll serve glühwein to ward off the possible July chills before the movie starts.

If you want to glide along to the passion and the restlessness of the Jets and the Sharks, to the tunes of “Something’s Coming”, “Maria”, “Tonight”, “America”, “One Hand, One Heart”, “I Feel Pretty”, and “Somewhere” – then book your tickets asap!