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Who is the counterpart for Romeo in West Side Story?
Just change the feuding Montagues and Capulets to Jets and Sharks. Tony is Romeo, Maria’s Juliet, Riff’s the best friend Mercutio, Bernardo is Tybalt… it goes on and on.
Who is the prince in West Side Story?
Harold Prince
Harold Prince on West Side Story | Legends of Broadway Video Series – The Official Masterworks Broadway Site.
What equally famous story is West Side Story based on?
Romeo and Juliet
It is widely known that West Side Story (WSS) is based directly on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (R&J). Far less well known is the fact that Shakespeare based his play (1594) on other material, particularly a narrative poem by Arthur Brooke entitled The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet (1562).
What two characters are at the center of West Side Story?
Two rival teenage gangs, the Jets (White Americans) and the Sharks (Puerto Ricans), struggle for control of their neighborhood on the Upper West Side of New York City (Prologue). They are warned by police officers Krupke and Lt. Schrank to stop fighting on their beat.
How is Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story similar?
Yet, there are similarities, as well, between West Side Story and Romeo & Juliet: A) Forbidden love that develops amid feuding and tribal/familial loyalties, with resulting violence, a showdown (a duel by sword), deaths on both sides, and finally, reconciliation, after recognizing that hatred makes no sense.
How are Tony and Romeo similar?
A social similarity they both have is their recent absence from their usual social life. Tony has been missing from the gang life of the Jets for a month, while Romeo has been moping around, too love-sick for Rosaline to engage with his friends and family.
Who is Bernardo girlfriend in West Side Story?
Anita
Anita was portrayed by (Cynthia Acevedo) in the 1961 rendition of West Side Story. She is a Puerto Rican immigrant and the girlfriend of Bernardo. She is a close friend and confidante to his sister Maria.
Is West Side Story based on Romeo and Juliet?
West Side Story was based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet – but its depiction of violence between New York street gangs meant the show was a long way from the typical Broadway fare of the ’50s.
Is Lin Manuel Miranda in West Side Story?
Miranda was intimately familiar with “West Side Story.” He played Bernardo, the leader of the Puerto Rican gang, in a production of the musical when he was in the sixth grade and directed a version of it in high school. He wanted “In the Heights” to portray Latinos radically differently.
What Shakespeare inspired West Side Story?
Why do the Jets hate the Sharks?
The Jets hate the Sharks because the Sharks are trying to take the Jets’ land. The Sharks hate the Jets because of racial insults and profiling. It wasn’t uncommon back then for different races to hate each other. Riff sings it, because everyone wants to be in the Jets and the jets are the best.
Who is the protagonist and antagonist in West Side Story?
Despite Bernardo (The leader of the Sharks) being the equivalent of Tybalt (the original antagonist of Romeo and Juliet), Riff is the villain of the story as it was his actions that began his feud with Bernardo.