The unsinkable Rita Moreno won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her sensational musical/dramatic performance in the multi-Oscar winning 1961 film adaptation of the Broadway hit, WEST SIDE STORY. Music by Leonard Bernstein. Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Moreno was unforgettable as the resilient Anita.
After she won the Oscar, she did not have film work for 8 years. Hollywood had no good script opportunities for the talented, versatile Puerto Rican actress. As my mother used to say, "That is just a sin and a shame." Rita Moreno worked on TV and on stage. The revered playwright, Terrence McNally, wrote a comedy for Rita Moreno to star in on Broadway. She did and won a Tony for her performance. She played singer Googie Gomez, a Puerto Rican Broadway hopeful, a no-nonsense entertainer who has enormous confidence and no talent whatsoever. She's a headliner in a deluxe gay men's bathhouse. The 1975 play was THE RITZ. Rita Moreno reprised her role in the 1976 film version directed by Richard Lester. Lester directed The Beatles in A HARD DAY'S NIGHT and HELP! He also directed A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM (1966) and THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1973). Here is Rita Moreno as Googie performing "Everything's Coming Up Roses" from GYPSY. Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.
Rita Moreno can now be seen in Steven Spielberg's new version of WEST SIDE STORY. She plays Valentina, the shopkeeper. She's like Doc in the 1961 version. Here is Moreno singing a rendition of a Sondheim classic from the famed WEST SIDE STORY score.
I want to remind you that the excellent documentary about her, RITA MORENO: JUST A GIRL WHO DECIDED TO GO FOR IT, is currently on Netflix. Here's a trailer.
In closing, I repeat: My wish is that Rita Moreno's role in the Spielberg's new version of WEST SIDE STORY is so significant and so good that she makes Hollywood history by getting a second Oscar nomination for acting in WEST SIDE STORY. I can't wait to see it. Viva, Rita Moreno!
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