Could NC’s Ariana DeBose get an Oscar nod for ‘West Side Story’? What the critics say
Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” just made its much anticipated premiere and has been earning praise and awards chatter ever since.
The film has rated 97% “fresh” on rottentomatoes.com, which aggregates critics’ reviews, with 64 reviews as of Nov. 2.
Included in the conversation is Raleigh’s Ariana DeBose, who plays Anita, the role that earned Rita Moreno an Oscar in the original, beloved 1961 film. (That film won 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.)
Critics are gushing over DeBose’s performance as a standout, alongside newcomer Rachel Zegler and Moreno herself.
“Ariana DeBose is bonkers good, and Rita Moreno just might be in that Oscar race with her,” tweeted Kevin Fallon, an entertainment reporter for The Daily Beast.
“Her Anita is a pure dopamine rush on the dance floor and a small revelation off of it, dimensional and fiercely tender beneath her brash exterior,” wrote Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly.
It’s high praise for DeBose, who grew up in Raleigh and Wake Forest and whose career has been steadily rising since she was a finalist on Fox TV’s “So You Think You Can Dance” reality competition at the age of 18.
The Broadway and film star is a triple threat; she sings, dances and acts. She has played “The Bullet” in the original Broadway cast of “Hamilton”; performed on stage in “A Bronx Tale” and “Bring It On: The Musical”; and starred in the 2020 Netflix film “The Prom” with Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman.
She already has earned a Tony nomination for her performance as Disco Donna in “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical.”
With the way critics are talking about her and the film, there could be more awards in her future.
The film opens in theaters on Dec. 10. Here’s a look at some of the reviews.
Kevin Fallon, The Daily Beast
“Ariana DeBose is a force as Anita. That’s not just because by the time she’s finished “America,” her cyclone of vitality threatens to demolish the rafters and leave nothing but astonished wreckage in its wake. It’s that the humanity she brings to the role is just as potent, and just as brittle.
“As a series of ‘unthinkables’ happen, falling like dominoes, each one bruising her and what she knows about her life harder and deeper, she becomes a vessel of seismic activity. The emotion quakes out of her — have there been more expressive eyes on screen? — until it shakes you, too.”
Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly
“The best acting often happens off to the side: The wiry, fine-boned Faist, best known for his Tony-nominated turn on Broadway in ‘Dear Evan Hansen,’ is a standout, and so is ‘Hamilton’’s Ariana DeBose, who has the unenviable task of appearing in the role Moreno originated on-screen and famously won an Oscar for.
“Her Anita is a pure dopamine rush on the dance floor and a small revelation off of it, dimensional and fiercely tender beneath her brash exterior. (When she and Moreno share a brief late scene, they’re both electric.)”
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
“Standouts in the supporting cast include DeBose, who practically jumps off the screen with commanding sensuality as Anita, a whirling, skirt-tossing tornado in her dance numbers but also a level-headed voice of reason, ready to shoot down Bernardo’s macho aggression with a well-chosen word or two and a withering glance. Watching Anita appear to age before our eyes as she absorbs devastating news is a moment of piercing sorrow.”
Rebecca Ford, Vanity Fair
“I think we’ve got a lot of standouts in the acting (awards) races. My favorite is Ariana DeBose, whose Anita is so mesmerizing. Of course, Rita Moreno won the Oscar for the role in the original film, and it feels like it’s very possible for DeBose to follow in her footsteps.
“I would say DeBose is the performance that almost everyone I’ve spoken to is gushing over the most. Close behind, however, is Rachel Zegler’s work as Maria.”
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Kyle Wilson, Awards Watch
“When the camera follows her off the dance floor, DeBose is allowed to create an Anita that is uniquely hers, foregrounding her own Afro-Latino heritage and giving the firebrand scene-stealer of a character a raw human center that crumbles in a shattering eleventh hour scene, one which allows her to walk away from a traumatizing encounter with her dignity (and cultural pride) intact.”
Brent Lang, Variety
“It’s hard to overpraise Ariana DeBose, whose Anita is the wounded soul of the film. She has the best lines, dances and sings with so much passion that the screen can hardly contain her.”
This story was originally published December 3, 2021 at 11:57 AM.