Background to West Side Story

West Side Story A musical by  Dancer and choreographer Jerome Robbins,  Composer Leonard Bernstein  Writer Arthur Laurents,  Lyricist Stephen Sonheim

Background to West Side Story  West Side Story is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.  Think of Romeo and Juliet set to music and dancing!  It was produced as a Broadway musical in 1957 and later made into a motion picture.

Partial list of Awards:

ACADEMY AWARDS · Best Picture, West Side Story · Best Supporting Actor, George Chakiris · Best Supporting Actress, Rita Moreno · Best Direction, Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins · Best Cinematography, Color, Daniel L. Fapp · Best Art Direction, Color, Boris Leven (Art Direction), Victor Gangelin (Set Decoration) · Best Sound, Fred Hynes, Gordon Sawyer · Best Scoring of a Musical, Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Sid Ramin, Irwin Kostal · Best Editing, Thomas Stanford · Best Costumes, Color, Irene Sharaff · Special Award, Jerome Robbins for his brilliant achievement in the art of choreography Also nominated: Best Screenplay, Ernest Lehman GRAMMY AWARDS · Best Soundtrack - West Side Story, Johnny Green, Saul Chaplin, Sid Ramin, Irwin Kostal

Setting for West Side Story  Instead of Verona, Italy, this story is set in New York City in the 1950’s

Instead of feuding families like the Montagues and the Capulets

West Side Story features warring gangs:  The Sharks – Puerto Rican Gang

 The Jets – Second and third generation American Gang

The Conflict The Jets are from Manhattan. They have ruled their "turf" for years, after defeating the Emeralds. The Sharks are from Puerto Rico. They have just recently come to NY, and want a "turf" of their own.

The theme of prejudice in this musical is directly related to the issue of immigration. The Jets resent the Sharks not just because they have “invaded” the neighborhood, but also because they have “invaded” their country. The Sharks are foreigners with a language and customs that are strange to the “Americanized” Jets.

Shakespearean Counterparts Some of the characters in West Side Story have counterparts in Romeo and Juliet.

Tony / Romeo

Maria / Juliet

•Doc / Friar Laurence •Riff / Mercutio •Chino / Paris •Bernardo / Tybalt •Anita / Nurse

Who are the Puerto Ricans? Where is Puerto Rico?

Puerto Rico is a Caribbean Island

Brief History of Puerto Rico  Originally inhabited by two Native American tribes, the Arawak and the Caribe, Spain conquered the island in 1493 and ruled it for 400 years.

• The native inhabitants became slaves, and as their population dwindled; black slaves were also imported. Frequent intermarriage took place among the Spanish, the Indians and the blacks so that race became less emphasized over time.

•Puerto Rico became a United States possession in 1898 after the Spanish-American War. It was then an island of poor farmers and their families, who mainly grew sugarcane.

•During World War I, the unemployment rate in Puerto Rico was a staggering 40%.

escape the poverty and unemployment on the island, thousands of Puerto Ricans immigrated to the United States.” “To

•“The majority of Puerto Rican immigration to the United States has occurred since the end of the World War II. •After the war, the great employment opportunities drew large numbers of Puerto Ricans to New York and other U.S. industrial centers.”

 Today, there are more than 2.5 million people of Puerto Rican ancestry living in the United States.  Almost one million of these are living in New York City. Nearly 40% of all Puerto Ricans live in the United States.”

 In 1917, Puerto Ricans were granted U.S. citizenship and were able to travel freely between the mainland and the island. Yet, they did not have voting rights or political representation in Congress.

Famous Puerto Ricans

Jennifer Lopez Geraldo Rivera

Roberto Clemente

Puerto Rico Today

Sources  http://www.westsidestory.com/site/level2/ archives/fact/faq.html  http://www.rzuser.uniheidelberg.de/~el6/presentations/Latino_A mericans_S1_WS2003/puerto.html  http://www.pcs.org/_images/study_guides/ 2006_07/WestSideStoryGuide.pdf