"It seemed absolutely right."ĭeBose, 30, said she is drawing from both her professional and personal experiences to provide “a fresh take” on Anita’s character. This is partly why Moreno "loved that an Afro Latina was going to play Anita," she said. "I couldn’t even think of an answer," Moreno, 90, said. She said he replied, "What are you, racist?" The veteran actor recalled a time when she complained about being in brownface to a makeup artist on the 1961 film set. The scene serves as a stark contrast to the fact that Moreno was forced to wear brown makeup to darken her skin in the first “West Side Story” film - even though she was the only Puerto Rican member of the original movie cast. “By virtue of being a Black woman, that makes it a different portrayal, because my physical manifestation has to inform this particular version.” “I was very adamant that whatever interpretation I delivered for this performance was going to be massively different,” DeBose, who is Afro Latina, said. Anita calls him out in Spanish, asking if he said that because she is “prieta,” Puerto Rican slang for dark-skinned or Black. In one scene, Bernardo suggests that Anita is not really part of his family, even though they all live under the same roof and she pays rent. In the remake, Anita doesn’t shy away from bringing up issues of colorism and racism within her own Latino community - and how it affects her perception of the world. In every iteration, including Spielberg's film remake, the role of Anita continues, withstanding the test of time. Now, “West Side Story” is an iconic period piece that has been revived countless times on stages worldwide. She has agency, and she does speak up,” DeBose said. “Anita is inherently a woman who knows her own mind. She stands out for her assertiveness and captivating dance skills. Their rivalry intensifies when Tony, a Jet, falls in love with Maria, the young sister of Sharks leader Bernardo.Īnita, Bernardo’s girlfriend and Maria’s friend, is Puerto Rican like the rest of the Sharks. The story of the original 1957 Broadway musical was created as a modern version of the William Shakespeare classic “Romeo and Juliet.” Set in the 1950s, “West Side Story” centers on the rivalry between two teenage street gangs - the Jets, a white gang, and the Sharks, a Puerto Rican gang - as their communities faced displacement during New York City’s urban renewal period.
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