(upbeat music plays)
- The Broadway Show is back with another stellar episode.
I'm Tamsen Fadal.
[Woman singing] ♪ Tonight, tonight
♪ It all began tonight ♪
♪ I saw you and the world went away ♪
(singing continues in background)
- [Tamsen] This is a must-see movie
musical event of the year.
The re-imagining of West Side Story.
From master director, Steven Spielberg.
The film features a star-making performance
from Rachel Ziegler, in her very first movie.
I had a chance to talk with both the actress
and the filmmaker.
So Rachel, let me start with you.
How, how does this feel- for you?
- Oh my gosh, loaded question.
It's surreal. It's overwhelming.
It's a huge honor. I can't believe that this
little group project we made two and a half years ago
(Steven chuckles)
is finally coming out. It's amazing.
- You know, you're at the center of the frame right now.
Talk a little bit about that.
Talk about you and musicals that you've done
in the past before and how it all ended up here.
- Yeah, you know, much like Steven,
I was raised with a love of music
and a love for classic musical theater.
I was very fortunate enough to live
in a close proximity to Manhattan,
and therefore I got to see Broadway shows all the time
and it really started with the Disney Theatrical Company,
to see all of their musicals.
I saw Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid,
Lion King, Mary Poppins,
I saw all of those before I was introduced
to the classics live on stage,
like Phantom of the Opera and Les Miz.
And West Side Story was just a huge part of my upbringing
and I, you know, now it's come full circle in a way.
But onstage, you know, I didn't do professional theater.
I, you know, unlike a lot of our cast,
this was my first professional gig.
And so, I really credit my learning curve
to my experience on stage and you know,
I started in Fiddler on the Roof and then I,
you know, all the way to doing Maria on stage and I was 16.
And now, that legacy is immortalized forever
in a Steven Spielberg film.
- I feel like you've got a good teacher there
sitting next to you. - Yeah, he's pretty good.
(both women laugh)
- Oh yeah, I was, you know, because I was- listen,
I was also on learning curves because this may have,
been Rachel's first professional job,
the first time she was in front of a camera,
but this is my first musical.
So I had a very steep learning curve.
You know, I've been a fan of musicals my entire life,
but you can't be a fan and a director of musicals
just because you're a fan.
I know, I've seen every Arthur Freed production
of every single MGM musical ever made.
And it still, it doesn't prepare you
to be a director of musicals.
I surrounded myself with some of
the best people from Broadway,
instead of bringing Broadway to Hollywood
and making them do it my way,
I basically had them adopt me.
And I came and found Tony Kushner,
Tony-winning Tony Kushner,
and Paul Tazewell,
who did the costumes for Hamilton,
and Justin Peck, the associate director
of the New York City Ballet Company.
And, certainly Jeanine Tesori, you know,
with all of her Broadway work.
And, I picked the best
and the brightest to help me acclimate to this sort of
new genre that I'm so happy
I've had a chance to sample
and retire on.
(Rachel laughs)
I'm not making anymore musicals.
I'm not making anymore musicals-
- No more musicals. - after this.
- We're done. - This satisfied me.
(Rachel laughs)
- Never say never. Never say never.
- No, no, never say never, but in terms of,
I don't know, maybe I'll do a stage play someday,
but that's another frontier I've never imagined doing.
But, the making of this-
the re-imagining of West Side Story,
is one of the greatest dreams I've ever had
come true in my entire career.
- What were the challenges though,
of remaking a cultural icon,
like the original West Side Story.
Where do you begin?
- Well, you begin with the integrity
of the source material by four geniuses
who put this thing on the boards in 1957.
Every decision I made was based
on the original Broadway play,
not the 1961 movie directed by my friend, Robert Wise.
This was something that I really wanted to honor,
the original bones of the original story.
And its own obligation to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet,
which they were very
certainly upfront about, Jerome Robbins was.
And, I just wanted this story to be for this generation.
Sadly, not oddly, more sadly than oddly,
the generation this film's intended to be,
that we designed for, never saw West Side Story
on television or in a movie theater.
And they probably haven't heard the songs
and they haven't, they don't know the story.
This'll be something new for all of them,
which was the reason I made this movie now.
(slow music plays and fades)