West Side Story

West Side Story

Observe these documents which inspired the film.

West Side Story: Broadway musical programme (1957)

Romeo & Juliet was first performed around 1594.

Observe the 1961 movie poster and analyse it, taking into account : - the characters - the colours - the typography - the layout

In 1917 Puerto Rico became a U.S. territory. In the 1950s, because of the need for labour in the US and the poor living conditions on that island, thousands of Puerto Ricans left their island to settle in the US, essentially in NYC. They would work in factories or as seamstresses, and settled in poor areas where former Jewish Russian, Polish and Italian immigrants had settled before them.

the West Side

Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare Prologue

Two households, both alike in dignity In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life; Whose misadvantaged piteous overthrows Doth with their death bury their parents' strife. The fearful passage of their death-marked love, And the continuance of their parents' rage, Which, but their children's end, naught could remove, Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

Focus on... tragedy and hubris

Tragedy is characterised by characters dying in the story. Very often, their death is caused by hubris, which means excessive pride and vanity. In Greek tragedy, hubris meant the defiance of the god, leading to the character's downfall. More generally, in tragedies, including in Shakespeare, characters' hubris leads to a tragic turning point in the story. For example, in Romeo & Juliet, ...

a) According to Curtiss Crook, what was lacking in the 1961 West Side Story? Why was it unfair? b) Which role did Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner finally give Curtiss Crook? c) What is special with Ariana DeBose in Anita’s role? How does she feel about it? What does Rita Moreno think of it? d) According to the three testimonies, what does it change to have black characters in the new West Side Story? e) What does Curtiss Crook mean when he says “I do have the responsibility of knowing the history that was going on at that time.”?