West Side Story (2021 soundtrack)

West Side Story is the soundtrack album to Steven Spielberg's 2021 film adaptation of the musical of the same name, produced by 20th Century Studios and Amblin Entertainment. The album features music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, with vocals from the film's ensemble cast including Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Mike Faist and Rita Moreno, who played Anita in the 1961 film adaptation and plays Valentina (a reworked version of the character Doc) in this film.

West Side Story (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Soundtrack album by Various artists
Released	December 3, 2021
Recorded	2019–2021
Studio	Manhattan Center Newman Scoring Stage Jungle City Studios
Genre	Film soundtrack
Label	Hollywood
Producer	David Newman Matt Sullivan Jeanine Tesori
Singles from West Side Story (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
"Balcony Scene (Tonight)" Released: December 1, 2021

The soundtrack was released digitally in Dolby Atmos by Hollywood Records on December 3, 2021 and subsequently released on physical CD on December 10, the same day the film was released in theaters.^[1][2]

Background

Composer David Newman arranged and adapted Bernstein's original score for the film, incorporating a number of alterations originally made to Bernstein's Broadway score by Johnny Green for the 1961 film (e.g., interpolation of the "Cool" fugue motif into the "Prologue" and the extended trumpet solo in "Mambo"). Gustavo Dudamel conducted the New York Philharmonic during the film's recording sessions in 2019, with additional recording by the Los Angeles Philharmonic done during the COVID-19 pandemic the following year.^[3] Jeanine Tesori served as vocal coach, while frequent Spielberg collaborator John Williams served as music consultant.^[4][3] The film's version of "Tonight", sung by Rachel Zegler and Ansel Elgort, was released as a digital download single on December 1, 2021.^[5][6]

Alongside the soundtrack, "re-imagined" pop covers were also produced, including "Another Day in America" by Kali Uchis and Ozuna, which was released as a single on November 26 by Interscope Records.^[7]

Reception

Like the film, the soundtrack received acclaim from critics and was nominated for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, except where noted

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Performer(s)	Length
1.	"Prologue"	Leonard Bernstein	Orchestra	5:54
2.	"La Borinqueña (Sharks Version)"	Fèlix Astol i Artés Lola Rodríguez de Tió	David Alvarez Sharks	1:06
3.	"Jet Song"	Bernstein Stephen Sondheim	Mike Faist Kyle Coffman Kevin Csolak John Michael Fiumara Patrick Higgins Ben Cook Jets	2:11
4.	"Something's Coming"	Bernstein Sondheim	Ansel Elgort	2:30
5.	"The Dance at the Gym: Blues, Promenade"	Bernstein	Orchestra	2:11
6.	"The Dance at the Gym: Mambo"	Bernstein	Orchestra	3:19
7.	"The Dance at the Gym: Cha-Cha, Meeting Scene, Jump"	Bernstein	Orchestra	3:28
8.	"Maria"	Bernstein Sondheim	Elgort	3:05
9.	"Balcony Scene (Tonight)"	Bernstein Sondheim	Rachel Zegler Elgort	5:24
10.	"Transition to Scherzo / Scherzo"	Bernstein	Orchestra	2:14
11.	"America"	Bernstein Sondheim	Ariana DeBose Alvarez Ana Isabelle Sharks Shark Girls	4:57
12.	"Gee, Officer Krupke"	Bernstein Sondheim	Kevin Csolak Fiumara Jess LeProtto Ben Cook Myles Erlick Patrick Higgins Kyle Allen	4:20
13.	"One Hand, One Heart"	Bernstein Sondheim	Elgort Zegler	3:45
14.	"Cool"	Bernstein Sondheim	Elgort Faist	4:03
15.	"Tonight Quintet"	Bernstein Sondheim	Faist Alvarez DeBose Elgort Zegler Jets Sharks	3:28
16.	"The Rumble"	Bernstein	Orchestra	3:10
17.	"I Feel Pretty"	Bernstein Sondheim	Zegler Ilda Mason Isabelle Andréa Burns Tanairi Sade Vazquez Yassmin Alers Jamila Velazquez Annelise Cepero	2:58
18.	"Somewhere"	Bernstein Sondheim	Rita Moreno	3:10
19.	"A Boy like That / I Have a Love"	Bernstein Sondheim	DeBose Zegler	5:25
20.	"Finale"	Bernstein	Orchestra	3:36
21.	"End Credits"	Bernstein	Orchestra	9:03
Total length:				79:00

Source:^[8]

Personnel

Leonard Bernstein with Irwin Kostal and Sid Ramin – original orchestrations Garth Sunderland – additional orchestrations Matt Sullivan – music supervisor/soundtrack producer Gustavo Dudamel – conductor Joe E. Rand – music editor Ramiro Belgardt – music editor

Peter Rotter – music contractor Steven Spielberg – executive soundtrack producer Kristie Macosko Krieger – executive soundtrack producer David Newman – arrangements Jeanine Tesori – supervising vocal producer John Williams – music consultant

Charts

Chart performance for West Side Story

Chart (2021–2022)	Peak position
Japanese Albums (Oricon)^[9]	40
Japanese Hot Albums (Billboard Japan)^[10]	45
US Independent Albums (Billboard)^[11]	31
US Soundtrack Albums (Billboard)^[12]	10
US Top Album Sales (Billboard)^[13]	38

References

1. Newman, Melinda (May 13, 2021). "Like the Stars It Launched, Hollywood Records Has Grown Up, Too". Billboard Magazine. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
2. "The West Side Story Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Set for Digital & Dolby Atmos Music Release on December 3". Business Wire. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
3. Bouzereau, Laurent (2021). West Side Story the Making of the Steven Spielberg Film. Abrams, Incorporated. ISBN 9781419750632.
4. Culwell-Block, Logan (May 24, 2019). "Jeanine Tesori and Gustavo Dudamel Join Music Staff of Spielberg-Helmed West Side Story Movie". Playbill. New York City: Playbill, Inc.
5. "Balcony Scene (Tonight) - from "West Side Story"/Soundtrack Version". Spotify. December 2021.
6. "First Track from 'West Side Story' Soundtrack Released | Film Music Reporter".
7. "Kali Uchis and Ozuna join forces on new song "Another Day in America"".
8. "West Side Story (2021) Press Kit" (PDF).
9. "Oricon Top 50 Albums: 2022-02-21/p/4" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved February 16, 2022.
10. "Billboard Japan Hot Albums [2022/02/16 公開]". Billboard Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved February 16, 2022.
11. "soundtrack Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
12. "soundtrack Chart History (Soundtrack Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
13. "soundtrack Chart History (Top Album Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved March 5, 2022.