LOS ANGELES —  Steven Spielberg has been remaking classic musical West Side Story in his head for decades but says that finally taking it on was his riskiest challenge in a career that has spanned 50 years.

Half a century after the musical written by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim won 10 Oscars, Mr. Spielberg has reimagined the love story set among rival street gangs for a new generation but with the reverence of a true fan.

“The lyrics have been part of my life for 65 years,” he said. “All my kids memorized the album and I have home videos of my children performing West Side Story in our living room.”

Mr. Sondheim, who wrote the lyrics for the musical, died at age 91 three days before the world premiere of the new film.

West Side Story, Mr. Spielberg’s first shot at directing a musical, opens in movie theaters worldwide this week with all the Latino characters played by Latinx actors and choreography that gives an affectionate nod to the ground-breaking original without directly reproducing it.

“No-one playing a Shark, girl or boy, is not of Latino or Latinx descent… We didn’t want to have to put make up on anyone’s face to convince an audience that they were Puerto Rican,” Mr. Spielberg said.

Based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the new movie puts more emphasis on issues of race, immigration, poverty and marginalization that dominate life in a 1950s slum neighborhood of New York.

“Even though we still set our film in 1957, it was very important to put it in the vernacular of the way this generation speaks and interacts with each other today,” Mr. Spielberg said.

“We needed to update the play to make it acceptable to the complexities that people have with each other in today’s society, from school campuses to politics to the ideological divide.”

Mr. Spielberg said it was an intimidating task, but he needn’t have worried. The film, which sees original Puerto Rican star Rita Moreno, now 89, bridging the generations by taking on a different role, has won rave reviews.

Britain’s Daily Telegraph called it “Spielberg’s finest film in 20 years” while the Los Angeles Times said it was “both glorious throwback and gentle corrective.”

Newcomer Rachel Zegler, 20, plays Maria with a rare feistiness.

“I think she’s usually been portrayed as very black and white, virginal ingénue, and this is just not your Momma’s Maria,” said Ms. Zegler. “She’s very different, very nuanced.”

Ms. Moreno, who in 1962 became the first Latina to win an Oscar for her role as the fiery Anita, said she had mixed feelings about returning to the story that launched her career.

“I’m not gonna say I wasn’t envious. I wished I could be that young again and do it again, obviously. But that wasn’t going to be, and I get this beautifully written part,” she said. — Reuters

LOS ANGELES — Canadian rapper Drake withdrew on Monday from the Grammy Awards, removing his two nominations for music’s highest honors, sources close to the musician said.

Drake, 35, got two Grammy nominations last month in the rap field — best rap album for Certified Lover Boy and best rap performance for his song “Way 2 Sexy.”

The sources said the request to pull out of consideration was made by the rapper and his management but gave no reasons for the move. The Recording Academy website was being updated on Monday to remove Drake’s nominations from the Grammy list, the sources said.

Drake, whose Certified Lover Boy was one of the top-selling albums of 2021, has a contentious relationship with the Grammys.

Last year, he criticized the Grammys for entirely shutting out fellow Canadian The Weeknd from its nominations list. In 2019 Drake declined to perform at the ceremony then criticized the awards show from the stage.

“I wanna let you know we’re playing in an opinion-based sport not a factual-based sport,” he said while accepting the Grammy for his single “God’s Plan.”

“This is a business where sometimes it’s up to a bunch of people who might not understand what a mixed-race kid from Canada has to say or a fly Spanish girl from New York or anybody else,” Drake added.

Grammy nominations are chosen by members of the Recording Academy and voted on by members. Jazz musician Jon Batiste led nominations this year with 11 nods, followed by Justin Bieber, Doja Cat and H.E.R.

Winners will be announced at a ceremony in Los Angeles on Jan. 31. — Reuters