ENTERTAINMENT
How to watch Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’ at home
We feel happy, oh so happy that we can finally stream the musical
Tonight, tonight (or at any time), you can now stream West Side Story at home. Steven Spielberg’s critically acclaimed take on the musical has arrived on Disney+. The movie, which debuted on Disney’s streaming service on March 2, is also available to stream on HBO Max.
The award-winning film starring Ansel Elgort (Tony), Rachel Zegler (María), Ariana DeBose (Anita), David Alvarez (Bernardo), Mike Faist (Riff) and Rita Moreno was released in theaters back in December 2021.
“‘West Side Story’ is for all the generations, one-- you know, two generations at a time,” Spielberg told ABC News ahead of the film’s premiere. “And I just felt that-- that most people who go to see this movie will not have seen ‘West Side Story’ in a theater.”
During the interview, the director said that they “never attempted to remake” the original 1961 film. “We took all of our inspiration, and everything based on the original source material, which was the 1957 Broadway musical,” he said.
Spielberg’s West Side Story won three Golden Globes earlier this year and is nominated for seven Academy Awards: Best Picture, Actress in a Supporting Role, Directing, Costume Design, Sound, Cinematography, and Production Design.
On Feb. 27, Ariana took home her first Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance as Anita in West Side Story. In the SAG Awards pressroom, the actress said (via Deadline), “The legacy of Anita means a great deal to me, for many different reasons.”
“I’m a Broadway girl at heart. We speak so frequently about Rita Moreno, as we should, she’s legendary. But the OG Anita on stage is Chita Rivera, and I have looked up to Chita for such a long time,” Ariana continued. “She [paved the] way for me on the stage for me to be able to do what I do in that facet of the industry. So, to be able to be a part of the legacy of Anita that includes both Chita and Rita—and now Ariana— it’s really special to me. And we’re all very different types of Latinas, that’s beautiful and important too. There’s no one way to be Latina or Hispanic. There are many beautiful ways. I think each one of us is a testament to that.”
