West Side Story (1961):

· Music: Leonard Bernstein

· Book: Arthur Laurents

· Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim

· Choreography: Jerome Robbins

· Takes place on Upper West Side, NYC in 1950s.

· Musical

· Won 10 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Actress (George Chakiris as Bernardo and Rita Moreno as Anita), Best Color Cinematography, Best Color Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Sound, Best Scoring of a Musical Picture, Best Film Editing, and Best Color Costume Design.

STUDY GUIDE

(Adapted from work by Professor Paul Brian, Washington State University Department of English, http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/love-in-the-arts/west.html)

Some definitions:

· JD = juvenile delinquent

· DTs = delirium tremens, symptoms of extreme alcoholism

· Tea = pot

· Social Disease = a polite term for a sexually transmitted disease (STD)

· Zip Gun = a home-made device for shooting projectiles, powered by strong rubber bands. It could be lethal under the right conditions. Real guns were much harder to get hold of then, so these were common weapons of the street.

If a musical is not an opera, neither is it a play. It is necessary to accept the fact that characters are constantly bursting into either song or dance or both. It is in these songs and dances that the very essence of the musical exists.

At the time this was written, Bernstein, then the leader of the New York Philharmonic, was the most famous conductor in the world and a fan of a wide range of classical and popular music. At this time, popular dance music was not yet only rock and roll, and he based the musical style for the show on big band jazz and Latin-based music like the mambo.

While West Side Story is based loosely on the story of Romeo & Juliet, like Shakespeare’s play, this play (and later movie) had another objective. The underlying subject of West Side Story is the growing threat of gang warfare (or "juvenile delinquency" as it was known then), and the racial tensions between whites who were born here and newly arrived Puerto Rican immigrants. In the late 50s the civil rights movement was starting to gain traction as many whites began to look for ways to end racism, and Bernstein, a life-long liberal, wanted to present a clear look at the issue and its consequences.

The subject is treated in a fairly complex fashion. The song "I Want to Live in America," expresses the ambiguous feelings of the immigrants about their homeland while clearly condemning American (white) racism. Some people feel this number reinforces stereotypes about Latinos. What do you think?

Throughout the play, the Jets display their ignorance and/or hostility by consistently mispronouncing "Puerto Rico" as "Porto Rico." The Sharks always pronounce it properly.

Originally the script was to have dealt with a Christian/Jewish romance (called "East Side Story"), but Bernstein decided to choose a more immediately relevant theme. Ironically, neither Broadway nor Hollywood was able to rise above its own institutionalized racism to cast a Latina actress as Maria. (Where else do you see this happening?)

The gangs of that time were much less well armed than today's, and the morals and censorship of the time required very censored language (somewhat dated now, but fairly hip then). As a result a modern viewer may be tempted to look at this story of gang warfare as innocent or even “gentle” as compared to the level of violence seen in current movies. However, if you look more closely, the hatreds and frustrations illustrated are authentic reflections of an ongoing American tragedy.

Questions to Consider:

How does the musical reflect the same values as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet? In what ways is it different?

What aspects of the action seem to relate specifically to gangs in the 50s and which seem relevant to gang violence and racism today?

When you consider the ending of the musical, keep the following in mind. The 1950s marked a new phenomenon: a youth culture largely independent of adult influence. In Shakespeare's day the Prince could stand for the authority of the state (in his case, Queen Elizabeth, who hated dueling). The end of the play resolves the conflict by reinstating traditional authority. But the creators of West Side Story identified more with the developing youth culture in its rebellion against adult society. Notice how parents are kept offstage, with only one good but actually powerless adult (Doc) to be seen. The recreation center leader is a clueless idiot and the cops are corrupt racist thugs. In the world of West Side Story hope for the future lives only in the next generation. It can't end like Shakespeare's play because its creators don't share his values. The conclusion is meant to place responsibility for ending the conflict with its young leaders and the young people who are the intended audience.

A BRIEFSUMMARY OF WEST SIDE STORY

· The Montagues are the Jets (second generation Americans whose parents are mainly from Europe), led by Riff.

· The Capulets are the Sharks (all new Puerto Rican immigrants), led by Bernardo.

· Maria (sister to leader of the Sharks, only in America a month) and Tony (former leader of the Jets who has grown up some and gotten a respectable job at the local drugstore) meet at a school dance and fall in love.

· The killing of Riff by Bernardo parallels the killing of Romeo's friend Mercutio by Juliet's cousin Tybalt, and the retaliatory murder of Bernardo by Tony parallels Romeo's killing of Tybalt.

· Anita (Bernardo’s long-time girlfriend and Maria’s friend) takes the place of the Nurse.

· Doc (the owner of the neighborhood drugstore/candy store) takes the place of Friar Lawrence, although he doesn’t perform a wedding, he does try to help the young couple.

The opening dance sequence is the Jets getting ready for a gang fight. They gradually break into a dance and then burst into pirouettes, vigorous athletic moves, and running jumps that symbolize their dominance and energy.

Two of the Jets face off against Bernardo (leader of the Sharks). He is joined by his gang members, and they pick up the beat by clicking their fingers. The gangs are vying for control of the streets, alternating between dominance and submission. Two of the members provoke each other, and after an extended confrontation, a full-scale brawl breaks out when the Jets come to rescue Baby John (Eliot Feld), the youngest member of their gang, from an assault by the Sharks.

Uniformed Officer Krupke and bigoted, plainclothesman Lieutenant Schrank show up and break it up. They have stopped similar fights many times before.

This all mirrors the opening of R&J, the two gangs getting into it and the prince breaking it up. No one else tries to keep the peace here though, there’s no Benvolio/Tybalt-type face off.

Riff riles up his gang about the Puerto Ricans taking over their turf (hood). Convinced of the Jets' strength, he wants to fight the Sharks to keep them from getting more powerful in the neighborhood while still avoiding a life-threatening rumble with blades or zip guns. However, would consider battling with weapons if necessary:

Riff: Now we fought hard for this turf and we ain't just gonna give it up...The Emeralds claimed it. We shut 'em out. The Hawks, remember, they tried to take it away, and we knocked 'em down to the cellar.
Members: Yeah, but these PRs are different. They multiply. They keep comin'. Like cockroaches. Close the windows. Shut the doors. They're eatin' our food. They're breathin' all the air. The end to free enterprise...
Riff: Hey, you heard what that Lieutenant Schrank said, eh? We gotta make nice with them Puerto Ricans or else. We gotta let 'em move in right under our noses and take it all away from us, or else.
Gang: No!
Riff: You're damned right NO. So what are we gonna do buddy-boys? I'll tell ya what we're gonna do. We're gonna speed fast. We're gonna move like lightnin'. And we're gonna clean them Sharks up once and for all so they ain't never gonna set foot on our turf again. And we're gonna do it in one, all-out fight...The Sharks want a piece of this world too. And they're real down boys. They might ask for blades, zip guns...I say this turf is small, but it's all we got, huh? Now I want to hold it like we always held it, with skin. But if they say blades, I say blades. If they say guns, I say guns. I say I want that just to be the number one - to sail, to hold the sky...OK cats, we rumble. Now, protocol calls for a war council between us and the Sharks, to set the whole thing up. So I would personally give the bad news to Bernardo.

Riff proposes getting help from Tony: "We need Tony. He's got a rep that's bigger than the whole West Side...He always came through for us and he always will." He wants Tony to serve as the Jets' lieutenant for the impending showdown.

Tony resists Riff's invitation to the dance, to confront the Sharks that "walk bad" and "fight hard" on neutral turf. Riff pleads for one last favor from his idealistic best friend who has left his past behind and dreams of moving on to something "just around the corner"

Tony: Every single night for the last month, I wake up. And I'm reachin' out. (Similar to Romeo and Mercutio’s discussion about dreams just before they go to the party.)
Riff: For what?
Tony: I don't know.
Riff: A dame?
Tony: It's right outside the door. Just around the corner. But it's comin'.
Riff: What is?
Tony: I don't know. It's like the kick I used to get from bein' a Jet, you know?
Riff: Oh, well now you're talkin'. Oh man, without a gang, you're an orphan. With a gang, you walk in twos, threes, fours. And when your crew is the best, when you're a Jet, you're out in the sun, buddy-boy. You're home free home.
Tony: Riff, I've had it.
Riff: Tony, Tony, look at me, will ya? Come on, look at me... Now, I never asked the time of day from a clock, did I? I never asked nothin' from nobody. But I'm askin' you, 'Come to the dance tonight.'
Tony: I promised Doc I'd clean up the store tonight.
Riff: Then do it after the dance. Tony, I already told the guys you'd be there. If you don't show up, I'll be marked lousy.
Tony: What time'd ya tell 'em?
Riff: Ten. For me Tony, for Riff!
Tony: Ten it is. (They shake)
Riff: Womb to tomb!
Tony: Birth to Earth. And I'll live to regret this.
Riff: Who knows? Maybe what you're waitin' for will be twitchin' at the dance tonight?

This parallels the way Benvolio talks Romeo into going to the Capulet’s party to see some girls. Even though Tony isn’t in love with someone else, he’s looking toward his future and moving away from the gang life when Riff pulls him back in, bringing him to the dance where he will meet Maria and fall in love.

His song about “something coming” is about his dreams, but it also foreshadows his meeting of Maria that night. It is intercut with scenes of Maria and Anita getting ready for the dance at the Bridal shop where they work. Bernardo, who is very protective of his sister, has brought Maria over to marry his lieutenant, Chino, but Maria feels no attraction other than family affection for him. While there are parents talked about in this version, we never meet any of them. It seems that Maria and Bernardo’s work all the time to make it in a prejudiced and difficult America and don’t speak a lot of English, so they let Bernardo, who is more Americanized, make the decisions we’d usually expect them to make. The Jets parents are hardly ever mentioned at all.

The dance is run by a social worker who wants everyone to just get along and play nice. He makes them get into two circle, boys on the outside, girls on the inside, and when the music stops, you dance with the person opposite you. It is meant to make friends but fails when each gang refuses to dance with the girls from the other gang.

The Jets wear lighter colors, the Sharks more black. The dancing is competitive, but there is no actual fighting.

Tony and Maria meet and dance together while everyone else is busy competing for dominance of the dance floor. Just as they are about to kiss, Bernardo jumps between them:

Bernardo: Get your hands off, American...Stay away from my sister.
Tony: Sister?
Bernardo: (to Maria) Couldn't you see he's one of them?
Maria: No. I saw only him.
Bernardo: There's only one thing they want from a Puerto Rican girl.
Tony: That's a lie!
Riff: (restraining him) Later, Tony.
Chino: (to Tony) Get away.
Tony: Stay out of this, Chino. (To Maria) Don't listen.
Bernardo: (to Tony) She will listen to her brother before she listens to you.

Maria must listen to her brother—that is the way she was brought up (just as Juliet was raised to listen to her parents). Bernardo orders Chino to take Maria home and they both leave.

Riff uses the incident as an opportunity to call a "war-council." Bernardo agrees meet him at midnight at Doc's candy-store.

Tony walks home from the dance in a love-sick daze singing about "Maria," his newly-found love while Maria gets a lecture on staying away from American boys from her brother. Anita tells Bernardo that everyone is using this little dance as an excuse to start a big war.

This is an entry into a song that explains the differences between the way the girls and the boys see their new life in America. Both are disappointed that they have met with prejudice, but the girls see Puerto Rico as having been even harder and the boys have a rose-colored memory of the island they left.

That night, Tony and Maria talk on her fire escape (this is like the balcony scene in Romeo & Juliet). They discuss the differences in their backgrounds, the danger of their friends and family finding out about them, and their great love for each other. They make a plan to see each other tomorrow when Maria gets off from work.

Meanwhile, the Jets are hanging around waiting for midnight when Officer Krupke finds them and tells them he knows something’s going on and they’d better behave themselves. The next song is a spoof on all the reasons a kid gets into a gang: poor parenting and role modeling, child abuse, drug addiction, alcoholism, and people having unwanted children. The kid is then pushed from one social institution to another: the police department, a judge, a therapist or shrink, and a social worker. The "punk" is labeled as "no good," "psychologically disturbed," "depraved," and "sociologically sick."

Tony shows up while Riff and Bernardo are discussing weapons. He basically says real men fight with their fists and convinces everyone to have a “fair fight” with just the best man from each gang slugging it out to determine the winner. Bernardo assumes his opponent will be Tony.

The prejudiced cop bursts in and is surprised to find the two gangs hanging out together. He throws the Puerto Rican kids out. They leave whistling My Country ‘Tis of Thee. When they leave he tries to find out from the Jets where the rumble will be, but they keep quiet. He insults them too, as the children of immigrants.

The next evening Maria says she will close up shop so Anita can get ready for her date with Bernardo, after the rumble. She explains:

Maria: What rumble?
Anita: Oh, well, uh, 'Nardo's Sharks and those boys at the dance.
Maria: They fight each other tonight?
Anita: They don't play patsy.
Maria: Why must they always fight?
Anita: Well, you saw how they dance, like they got to get rid of something quick. That's how they fight.
Maria: To get rid of what?
Anita: Too much feeling, and they do get rid of it. Boy, after a fight, that brother of yours is so healthy.

Tony arrives to see Maria and Anita immediately understands. She gives them a worried look and warns them about defying loyalties and breaking the rules of their respective societies: "You're out of your heads."

Maria urges Tony to go to the rumble as a peacemaker, to stop the fist fight between Bernardo and Ice:

Maria: You must go and stop it.
Tony: I have stopped it. It's only gonna be a fist fight now between two of 'em...
Maria: Any fight is no good for us.
Tony: Maria, everything is good for us. We got magic.
Maria: Listen and hear me. You must go and stop it.
Tony: It means that much to you?
Maria: Yes.
Tony: All right, I will then.
Maria: I believe you. You do have magic.
Tony: Of course, I've got you.

They playfully pantomime their engagement and wedding with mannequins that represent the in-laws and other members of their families. With a bridal veil on her head, and a black top hat on his, they walk down an imaginary aisle in the store and act out their wedding, kneeling and exchanging vows in parallel to the real secret wedding of Romeo & Juliet. In this case, they are only married in their hearts, not for real. Their soothing duet, "One Hand, One Heart," establishes their oneness as they exchange private vows.

The two gangs meet as planned. Bernardo doesn’t want to shake hands, "Look, every one of you hates every one of us, and we hate you right back. Let's get at it."

Tony interrupts the fight between Ice and Bernardo after it has just begun: "Hold it!" He steps between the two gang combatants to mediate and prevent senseless fighting. The leader of the Jets challenges and taunts Tony to fight in a warm-up bout: "Afraid pretty boy? Afraid gutless? Afraid chicken? You yellow-bellied chicken... Pollack."

During the elaborately-choreographed, action-oriented dance/fight, Riff defends Tony and punches Bernardo – they each pull out gleaming switchblades and escalate the conflict to deadly proportions. Riff is disarmed and stands defenseless in front of a chain-link fence, but is given another blade by a fellow gang member. Meanwhile, Tony is held back by the Sharks.

Bernardo accidentally kills Riff with a single plunge of the knife to his mid-section. As he falls, Riff passes his switchblade to Tony. In retaliation to counter Riff's death, Tony vengefully and passionately stabs and kills Bernardo.

The sounds of police sirens force the gangs to scatter. Two bodies are left at the scene. Despite his intentions, Tony (like Romeo) has caused further bloodshed. Horrified and anguished, Tony cries out: "Maria!" A spotlight catches Tony in its circular beam, pronouncing him guilty in the tragedy. A church bell tolls the time - a somber death knell.

Maria is waiting for Tony on the rooftop of her tenement building, expecting to hear of his peaceful intervention. In a short dance sequence, she expresses her inner happiness by dancing around by herself on the rooftop. Chino appears with a bloody bruise on his cheek, visible when he steps into the light. Dismayed, Maria realizes there's been a fight, although "nobody meant for it to happen."

Chino tries to tell her about the fight, but she is only interested in Tony's well-being. Finally he yells at her: "He killed your brother!" She is stunned to learn of her brother's death, and numbed by the tragic turn of events. Maria can't believe that her boyfriend has killed her own brother. She prays in her bedroom before the Virgin Mary: "Make it not be true! I will do anything. Make me die."

Tony climbs into her bedroom window - she pounds on his chest and collapses. He admits: "I tried to stop it. I did try. I don't know what went wrong. I didn't mean to hurt him. I didn't wanna. Riff- he was like my brother. When Bernardo killed him, Bernardo didn't mean it either...I thought you knew." Now that she knows he killed her brother in retaliation, she decides to forgive him (just as Juliet forgave Romeo for killing her cousin in retaliation) - she is incapable of hating him. She says, "Stay with me. Don't leave me...Hold me...Tighter."

Tony stays, believing and hoping that there is still "Somewhere" they can run away and find peace together for their forbidden love:

Tony: It'll be all right, I know it. We're really together now.
Maria: But it's not us. It's everything around us.
Tony: Then I'll take you away where nothing can get to us - not anyone or anything.

Some of the Jets are sorry about the killings, but some want more revenge. They remind each other to “stay cool” until the heat dies down and then they can decide what to do.

After sleeping together in her bedroom, Maria and Tony make plans to "go so far away they'll never find us," using "getaway money" Tony will borrow from Doc. They will escape the hatred and find a less violent, more loving world to live in.

They agree that Tony will hide out in the cellar of Doc's store until she can get word to him. Anita arrives and discovers that they remain lovers despite the fact that Tony killed Maria's brother. She is angry, convinced that Tony is like the other Jets. Maria tries to convince her that he’s different.

Lieutenant Schrank, in the midst of an investigation of the killings of Riff and Bernardo, arrives to ask Maria about the identity of the "wrong boy" she danced with in the gymnasium - an incident that stimulated conflict between the gangs. While talking to him, she uses disguised language to send Anita to Doc's store to take a warning message to Tony: "Tell him I have been detained and can't get there right away."

Anita enters Doc's store to deliver the important message, but when she arrives, she is mercilessly insulted and taunted by the vengeful Jets as a "greaseball." Smoke is blown in her face, and she is not permitted to pass because "she's too dark." She is angry and insulted by their ignorance, but keeps trying. She says "Don't you understand? I want to help."

They call her "Bernardo's tramp, Bernardo's pig, lyin' spic," and suspect she is trying to find Tony's whereabouts to help Chino locate him. They surround her, toss her around, taunt her like a wild bull in a bull-ring, and finally simulate a rapist's assault. Doc's return, with cash for Tony in his hands, ends their vicious teasing, but by now she is so furious that instead of giving Doc the message that Maria is waiting for him, she lies and tells them that Maria's ex-boyfriend Chino has killed Maria in anger:

Anita: Bernardo was right. If one of you was lying in the street bleeding, I'd walk by and spit on you.
Action: Go on and go. Don't tell Chino that Tony's hidin' in the cellar. (What a stupid thing for him to say!!)
Anita: Don't you touch me! I got a message for your American buddy. You tell that murderer that Maria's never going to meet him. You tell him that Chino found out about them and shot her. She's dead.
Doc: When do you kids stop? You make this world lousy.
Action: We didn't make it, Doc.
Doc: Get out of here.

In the cellar with Doc, Tony is wildly optimistic about his future with Maria, just like Romeo was in Manuta just before he got the news of Juliet’s death. "Do you know what we're going to do in the country, Maria and me? We're gonna have lots of kids. And we're gonna name 'em all after ya."

Doc is frustrated and angry. He slaps Tony, saying "Wake up!" and tells him "There is no Maria, Tony."

Not wanting to live without Maria, Tony bursts out of his hiding place to challenge Chino: "Come and get me too, Chino." He welcomes his own death as Romeo does, but not by taking poison but by looking for the one what wants to kill him to let him do it. Devastated, Tony races and roams through the desolate streets, crying out for Chino to kill him, "Come on Chino, get me too...There's nobody here but me...I'm waitin' for ya."

Maria is on the other side of the chain-fenced playground. She rushes joyfully toward him to embrace him, but he has already been spotted by Chino. Just before they reach each other's arms, he is shot by Chino as revenge for Bernardo's death (and as retribution for being thwarted in his love for Maria). The remaining members of both gangs gather after the single gunshot. Maria grieves as she holds the dying Tony in her arms:

Tony: I didn't believe hard enough.
Maria: Loving is enough.
Tony: Not here. They won't let us be.
Maria: Then we'll get away.
Tony: Yeah. We can?
Maria: Yes.
Tony: We will?
Maria: Yes. (singing) Hold my hand and we're halfway there. Hold my hand and I'll take you there. Somehow, someday, some...

She mourns his passing and commands the two gangs that threaten more violence: "Stay back!" Walking in between them waving Chino's gun, she accuses all of them of being responsible for Tony's senseless death and lectures them about how hate breeds more hate:

Maria: How many bullets are left, Chino? Enough for you, and you? All of you. You all killed him! And my brother, and Riff. Not with bullets and guns - with hate. Well, I can kill too because now I have hate! How many can I kill, Chino? How many and still have one bullet left for me?

She falls to her knees, weeping. A red light covers all of them from the approaching police car. She screams at Lieutenant Schrank as he walks toward her beloved's body: "Don't you touch him!" She tenderly kisses Tony’s lips one last time, and expresses her love for him in Spanish, “Te adoro, Anton.”

The struggle of Maria and Tony to love each other in the face of opposition ends on a hopeful note. The two gangs, confused, stunned, ashamed, and sobered by three unnecessary deaths finally make peace. As some of the Jets struggle to bear Tony's body away, a few of the Sharks assist them. Together, they solemnly carry him down the street, with Maria following. The opposing groups are united and reconciled, by the heart-breaking tragedy.

Synopsis adapted from synopsis by Tim Dirks, http://www.filmsite.org/wests.html.