Though musicals are second nature to Stockhausen, the dance numbers still proved challenging. The mambo dance at the gym involved finding the perfect venue with the right period details and size. “It had to have a stage and basketball hoops. I love those hoops that would get cranked up for a play, and it was really important for me,” the designer says. One hundred fifty dancers, complicated choreography, and the replacement of a kelly green floor represented the multiple moving parts for the film’s largest dance number.
The iconic dance sequence, “America,” spans several locations in Queens and Paterson, where the designs of period store façades were created physically and digitally. The scene ends with a classic pachanga (Caribbean dance) style block party on one of Washington Heights’ biggest intersections, depicting Puerto Rican street life.
Stockhausen created a retail setting of the famed Gimbels department store in an old bank building in Newark.
Photo: Niko Tavernise / 2021 290th Century Studios. All rights reserved.The ultimate resource for design industry professionals, brought to you by the editors of Architectural Digest
Another key set was Gimbels department store, where Maria and her friends work as the late-night cleaning crew and perform the song “I Feel Pretty.” Stockhausen, whose mother worked at Gimbels when he was growing up, designed a ready-to-wear, bridal, and cosmetics area that showcased the styles of the late ’50s. Set decorator Rena DeAngelo looked to Newel Antiques for period pieces, such as a ’20s gilt-wood dressing table and a pair of channel-tufted midcentury sofas.
In contrast to the desaturated color palette, Maria’s world is one of bright color. Making the best of the tenement digs she shares with her brother Bernardo (David Alvarez) and his girlfriend Anita (Ariana DeBose), the rooms are painted in shades of light green and soft coral, with an array of fabrics (Anita is a seamstress) on display for a pop of color.
In the end, purists of the original West Side Story will note several key changes, but the vibrant production pays homage and does not disappoint.
