David Newman discusses Steven Spielberg's new West Side Story Film, Part 1

David Newman has written music for over 100 films. But in addition, he is a conductor and has conducted West Side Story with major orchestras around the world 40-50 times. So it makes sense that John Williams would recommend him to Steven Spielberg to oversee the music for his recent West Side Story film (and produce the album). I already interviewed David about the aspects of writing music for film, so this time we focused on West Side Story and what it was like to collaborate with some of the most revered people in the history of film and theater.I first ask David how he first came to know West Side Story, how he was contacted to work on the film, and what exactly that work entailed. Of particular interest was the order of how things are put together for a film such as West Side Story, and how he and his collaborators needed to be flexible. Always remaining faithful to the score of Leonard Bernstein, David at times had to take the material from either the musical version, the 1961 movie, or Bernstein's Symphonic Dances. Since a lot of the post production occurred during the beginning of Covid, he explains why most of the recording was done with the New York Philharmonic, but also with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.