Maria Sharapova: 'I Feel Pretty'

Take a world-ranking, tough-as-nails female tennis champion and match her up with one of the most beloved show tunes of all time and what do you get? A fabulous grand slam.

NIKE has hit another ace with their new ad campaign, this time featuring super gorgeous superstar Maria Sharapova. As she travels from her hotel to the tennis stadium, Sharapova maintains a focused demeanor. She's very much in her own head, and is completely oblivious to the chorus of hotel staff, gawkers and others who are singing 'I Feel Pretty' to her.

You have to see the punchline to really appreciate it (and you get to, below), but essentially the commercial's message is that, yes, you can be pretty AND strong.

The impact of the piece is fun, even if the message is sort of duh! for those of us who already admire strong (and pretty) women. Still, it's nice to see it packaged up and sent out to the world to reinforce girl power and empowerment for all women.

Especially when the packaging is so, well, pretty.  And I'm not talking about Maria (though of course she is) as much as I am about the song, which only happens to be a camp anthem that gays adopted long ago. Naturally, I love it.

'I Feel Pretty' was originally sung by another Maria -- Maria from 'West Side Story.' With a book by the ingenious Arthur Laurents (gay), music by the incredible Leonard Bernstein (bi/gay), and lyrics by the incomparable Stephen Sondheim (gay, gay, gay), 'West Side Story' is one of the greatest musicals of all time.

In 1957, 'West Side Story' had its world premiere onstage in my now-hometown of Washington, D.C. It was later made into a movie, which premiered in 1961 starring the beautiful Natalie Wood as Maria.

What many don't realize is that the lyrics for 'I Feel Pretty' changed slightly when it moved from stage to the silver screen. The movie lyrics, which are the ones most people know, most especially every gay boy who ever sang this into a mirror (you know who you are), go like this:

I feel pretty,
Oh, so pretty,
I feel pretty, and witty and gay,
And I pity
Any girl who isn’t me today.

In the original libretto for the stage, the lyrics read:

I feel pretty,
Oh, so pretty,
I feel pretty and witty and bright!
And I pity
Any girl who isn't me tonight.

It's the latter that appear in the NIKE commercial.

The meet-up of of the strong and pretty Sharapova and the beloved Bernstein/Sondheim masterpiece is worth a peek. It's great to keep this music alive this way, and pairing it with the Russian belle seems a perfect match. Way better than -- what? Some ol' Paris Hilton song, right?

Click Play Icon Below to Watch: 'I Feel Pretty'


Also available at NIKE.com

 

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