West Side Story (1961) - Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise

West Side Story is a retelling of the story of Romeo and Juliet set in 1960s New York. The eponymous couple are renamed Tony and Maria and are separated through gangs and race instead of family hatred. The Montagues have been renamed the Jets, and the Capulets are now the Sharks. The Jets are a White-American gang that are fighting over territory on the Upper West Side of New York with the Sharks, who are a Puerto-Rican American gang. The ending to West Side Story is different to the original ending of Romeo and Juliet as only Tony (Romeo) dies with Maria left to mourn over him. The two gangs come together at the end as they realise the damage their feud has brought upon them and they carry Tony's body together out of the basketball courts. 

Political Context

During the 1960s, John F. Kennedy had just become President of the United States of America and was looking to make some major changes to the country in terms of equality and segregation. Problems with conditions in cities, the current Vietnam War and the rise of feminism caused violent protests across the country to emerge and more active police force to be aware. This could have been the reasoning behind Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise's decision to  make the character and peacekeeper of the story Prince Escalus a police officer (Officer Krupkee).

Social Context

The Jets are traditionally seen wearing straight jeans or chinos with coloured t-shirts, tanned skin and slicked brown or blonde hair. The Sharks are seen wearing more stylish bright dress shirts and trousers, brown coloured skin and thick combed, black hair. The slang term "Daddyo" is used numerous times throughout the film/production as American terminology. Religion is also played with when Tony first meets Maria,who is constantly wearing a cross around her neck, and expresses his love/lust for her through the song 'Maria', stating that saying her name softly is "almost like praying". In the song 'America' the Puerto-Rican women sing about how great America is and how it has made their lives easier and how it is a place of luxury, while the men sing about how life is hard in America - being in conflict with Americans all the time solely based on the colour of their skin.

Cultural Context

The film and stage productions of West Side Story were produced before the civil rights movements in America so racism and segregation  were major topics and major problems at the time. West Side Story clearly showcases these problems by exploring the conflict between the White Americans and the Puerto-Ricans: they live in very different housings with the Puerto-Ricans pretty much all living together, they are fighting over land to live on and are constantly getting into fights and trouble with the police.

Themes

• Race
• Love
• Loyalty
• Revenge
• Society and Class
• Youth

West Side Story was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won 10 of them including best picture. The stage production was nominated for 6 Tony awards. A remake of West Side Story directed by Steven Spielberg is set for a release in 2020.