NickAndNora34 Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 Spielberg has now found his Tony for his upcoming "West Side Story" film remake (which is unsettling to me, to say the least, but oh well). 24 year old actor Ansel Elgort (of "Fault in Our Stars" and "Divergent" fame) will be playing the coveted role. http://www.playbill.com/article/ansel-elgort-to-star-in-west-side-story-remake-from-steven-spielberg I don't quite know how to feel about this... I know Elgort has a great voice for pop/jazz music, but I'm unsure about whether or not he can pull off such a difficult role to sing. I believe Tony is traditionally played by a tenor. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamradio Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 Just hope the Tony Awards keep politics out of it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricJ Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 Well, Spielberg has handled horror before, but apart from that scene in Ready Player One, he's never really taken on anything on the level of the zombie scares of the original 1960 version: ? 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedracer5 Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 He can’t be worse than Richard Beymer right? I like “West Side Story,” but mostly for the supporting cast. Between Natalie Wood’s affected Latina accent and Richard Beymer’s weak singing, the leads are the weakest part of the film. I love Rita Moreno and Russ Tamblyn though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagebrush Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 Interesting... I'll give him a shot, especially since I don't have anyone else in mind whom I would personally like to see. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 I didn't know Beymer did his own singing in that flick. And while trying to find out for sure, learned producers early on approached ELVIS for Tony, and the Colonel told them no. THAT would have been interesting! Sepiatone 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedracer5 Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 If Beymer didn't do his own singing, then I'll retract what I said about Beymer himself... but his singing voice (whomever it might be) is terrible. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickAndNora34 Posted October 2, 2018 Author Share Posted October 2, 2018 9 hours ago, speedracer5 said: He can’t be worse than Richard Beymer right? I like “West Side Story,” but mostly for the supporting cast. Between Natalie Wood’s affected Latina accent and Richard Beymer’s weak singing, the leads are the weakest part of the film. I love Rita Moreno and Russ Tamblyn though. A singer named Jim Bryant sang for Richard Beymer in this film... But I agree: his voice wasn't that good. Beymer, Wood, Moreno, and Tamblyn were all dubbed in this. *Apparently Moreno's dubber, Betty Wand, was sick one day, so Marni Nixon had to record both the parts for Maria and for Anita at the end of the Quintet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hibi Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 Moreno did sing some of the songs. I think it may have been one song of hers that was dubbed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedracer5 Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 9 minutes ago, NickAndNora34 said: A singer named Jim Bryant sang for Richard Beymer in this film... But I agree: his voice wasn't that good. Beymer, Wood, Moreno, and Tamblyn were all dubbed in this. *Apparently Moreno's dubber, Betty Wand, was sick one day, so Marni Nixon had to record both the parts for Maria and for Anita at the end of the Quintet. With all due respect to Nixon, her voice sounds very out of place in many of the films that she sings in. I'm thinking especially of Natalie Wood's Maria in West Side Story and Audrey Hepburn's Eliza in My Fair Lady. Re: Tony's voice. It just isn't strong enough for the songs he sings. I'm especially thinking of songs like "Tonight" and "Somewhere." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickAndNora34 Posted October 2, 2018 Author Share Posted October 2, 2018 6 hours ago, speedracer5 said: With all due respect to Nixon, her voice sounds very out of place in many of the films that she sings in. I'm thinking especially of Natalie Wood's Maria in West Side Story and Audrey Hepburn's Eliza in My Fair Lady. Re: Tony's voice. It just isn't strong enough for the songs he sings. I'm especially thinking of songs like "Tonight" and "Somewhere." I feel like Nixon did a fantastic job dubbing for Deborah Kerr in "The King and I." The voices seem to match almost perfectly. Yeah, they really should have gotten a stronger singer for dubbing Tony. His voice gets really weak around the higher notes. Oh, well. We can't exactly go back in time and re-cast the film (unfortunately). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BagelOnAPlateOfOnionRolls Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 11 hours ago, Hibi said: Moreno did sing some of the songs. I think it may have been one song of hers that was dubbed. Rita Moreno did her own singing on "America" but her singing was dubbed on "A Boy Like That" and most of the "Tonight" Quintet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drednm Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 Elgort looks a lot like a young John Inman from Are You Being Served? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drednm Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 I can hear it now: "There's a play-yay-yay-yay-yay-yay-ce for u-u-u-u-u-u-s 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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