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Synopsis. Inspired by the timeless story of Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story takes Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers, and places them in the vibrant battleground of New York City’s West Side in the 1950s.
- Plot Summary
Plot. Act One. The play opens with a balletic prologue,...
- Plot Summary
West Side Story is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, the story is set in the mid-1950s in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, then a multiracial, blue-collar neighborhood.
PROLOGUE. The opening is a carefully choreographed, half-danced/half-mimed ballet of sorts. It shows the growing tensions between the Sharks, a Puerto Rican gang, and the Jets, a gang made up of "American" boys. An incident between the Jets and Shark leader, Bernardo, escalates into an all out fight between the two gangs.
Plot. Act One. The play opens with a balletic prologue, half-danced, and half-mimed, showing the growing resentment between the Jets, a gang of white “American” boys, and the Sharks, a Puerto Rican gang.
Synopsis. A fight set to music between an American gang, the Jets, and a rival gang, the Sharks, who have moved into the Jets' territory from Puerto Rico. We are introduced to the leader of the Jets, Riff (Russ Tamblyn), and the leader of the Sharks, Bernardo (George Chakiris).
West Side Story shows how racism and xenophobia create a system that dooms the youths of working class families. And unlike the typical Broadway musical of the 1950s and before, West Side Story does not offer audiences a happy ending.
Watch our plot summary for the musical, #WestSideStory. In less than 2 minutes, you will learn about the inspiration, story, and major characters in West Side Story.
