West Side Story

Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim updated Romeo and Juliet to address a 1950s audience. What themes from the Shakespeare play did they emphasize? How might West Side Story connect to a contemporary 21st-century audience? What themes and issues remain relevant and why? What seems irrelevant or doesn’t age well?

In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo, thinking Juliet is dead, swallows poison and dies. Juliet awakens, discovers that Romeo is dead, and kills herself with his dagger. How is the end of West Side Story different? How do these changes create meaning that differs from the Shakespeare original? 

Listen to the cast recording of West Side Story. Choose a song that particularly speaks to you and analyze it. How does the music sound? Upbeat? Sad? Sweet? Energetic? How does the music work with the lyrics to create meaning? How does the song reveal information about the characters who sing it? What is the context of the song within the play, and how does the song inform the context?

The Prologue of Romeo and Juliet refers to the pair as “star-crossed lovers,” meaning that they were fated to fall in love and then die. What is the role of fate in the play? Consider the event of Tony’s death at the end of the musical. What events in the play lead up to his death? Is his death inevitable–written in the stars? Which events seem like acts of fate and which seem like human choices? 

Consider the end of the musical. What statement do you think the ending sends? Write an alternate ending for the musical. It can be happy or tragic. How does your new ending change the play’s message? Which ending do you prefer and why?

Choose a character who you think changes over the course of the musical. What is he or she like at the beginning of the play? The end? What causes those changes? Do you think the character changes for the better? Why or why not? 

A common platitude is that love conquers all. In West Side Story, does love conquer all? Why or why not? If there are forces stronger than love in the play, what are they? What does love conquer? Use evidence from the text to support your response.

Consider the events at the end of the musical. What implications does the play offer as to what will happen next? What do you think will happen in terms of the gang violence on the Upper West Side of New York?