Ever since Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno won the 1962 Oscar for "Best Supporting Actress" in West Side Story, viewers have long anticipated seeing a Latina revive the widely successful tragic love story. After months of many rumors, it's now officially true. 21-year-old Josefina Scaglione was chosen by 90-year-old Tony Award-winning playwright Arthur Laurents himself to portray leading lady Maria in the 2009 musical. Scaglione, a trained opera singer, has been in a South American production of Hairspray. She even gave up the role of Christine in The Phantom of the Opera to accept the role of a young Puerto Rican who falls in love with Tony, a member of an all-white rival street gang. Scaglione told Argentina's La Nacion that she has only seen the film adaptation on YouTube. A spokesman for the show gave no comment.
The landmark American musical will be directed by Laurents and begin its New York City previews on February 23rd. As a special treat for viewers, many of its dialogue will be spoken and sung in Spanish. "The scenes with the Spanish are wildly exciting because they are much less inhibited," he announced. "I don't think many eyes are going to stray to the translation." The story, inspired by William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, takes place in 1950's Manhattan where two star-crossed lovers struggle to live in a society ruled by violence and racism, only to suffer the heartbreaking consequences for their passionate romance. West Side Story premiered at the Winter Garden Theatre on September 26, 1957 and it's still recognized as one of Broadway's greatest masterpieces.
