![]() “That doesn’t mean I’m not going to stand up for you and fight for you,” DeBose says of why Graziella made the empowered decision to help Anita. DeBose adds, “I was really hoping would make the final edit, and it did.” The fact that Garcia-Lee and DeBose are portraying characters on opposing sides of a turf war between Puerto Rican and white residents, unable to peacefully coexist in the same neighborhood-despite facing the same problems of gentrification and poverty-makes the scene that much more powerful. “It’s such a beautiful thing to see women fighting for each other,” says Garcia-Lee. It’s not until Valentina (Rita Moreno), Doc’s widow and a new character in West Side Story, comes up from the basement and intervenes that Anita is freed. As the Jets pin Anita down, the three girls futilely and furiously bang the window outside the store to try and stop the attack. But in Spielberg’s adaptation, three girls associated with the Jets-including Graziella-warn Anita to leave. In the original 1961 film, no one rushes to save Anita during the harrowing sequence. It wasn’t until the movie was in production in 2019 that they fully celebrated the feat of their casting.Īriana DeBose in West Side Story. After West Side Story auditions, both DeBose and Garcia-Lee cryptically messaged each other about the film, coyly trying to figure out if the other had been cast, since they were both told to keep their roles a secret. Spielberg’s West Side Story posed a major opportunity for Broadway performers like DeBose and Garcia-Lee to make the transition to Hollywood roles. Sometimes there are generational differences as well-nobody wants to feel like someone’s coming up and taking their gig,” she says. There’s not a lot of female bonds and friendships of deep support that I have found in this industry,” Garcia-Lee says.ĭeBose nods firmly in agreement and replies, “I think it’s rare, unfortunately, because there is an overwhelming sense that there’s only ‘one spot.’ It makes it hard for women to connect. ![]() ![]() “When there’s so much talent in the room and so few parts, it can get competitive. Professional theater is a notoriously cutthroat industry-which means it’s not necessarily fertile soil for mutually supportive friendships like theirs. Garcia-Lee was in Phantom of the Opera, Nice Work If You Can Get It, On the Town, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and most recently, Moulin Rouge! DeBose appeared in the choruses of Bring It On: The Musical, Motown the Musical, Pippin, and Hamilton (she played the dreaded Bullet). Niko TaverniseĪs peers on Broadway, they honed their dance skills together in class and while performing separately in the ensembles of a handful of Broadway shows. ![]() “We both recognized we wanted to make big art, tell big stories and make an impact on the world in a very visible and important way.”įrom left: Paloma Garcia-Lee, Mike Faist, David Alvarez, and Ariana DeBose. “We are very different performers, but we both approach the work with passion, intensity, and integrity that is instantly compatible,” says Garcia-Lee over Zoom from Los Angeles, with DeBose calling in from New York. DeBose grew up in Raleigh, and Garcia-Lee, who’s from Pennsylvania, went to high school at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem. The two actresses, both 30, met about 13 years ago in a dance class at Steps on Broadway soon after they’d each moved to New York City from North Carolina. DeBose and Garcia-Lee’s off-screen friendship is testament to the importance of supportive relationships, especially ones formed in the unlikeliest of environments. Late in the movie, Graziella supports Anita in a way women characters confined to tropes like this are rarely allowed (more on that later-consider this a spoiler alert if you have yet to see the film). Everything You Need to Know About West Side Story.What to Know About West Side Story's Rachel Zegler.Why Gayle King Says She Loved "West Side Story".
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