'West Side Story' By Jerome Robbins

Aralina Solis

Professor Atkinson

History 121

February 13, 2017

Love Conquers All

The successful and melodramatic musical “West Side Story” by Jerome Robbins essentially represents a contemporary tragedy inspired by William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”. The story of two lovers with conflicting social backgrounds somehow manages to bring to attention a brutal reflection of social issues that are still relevant in modern day, all the while creating a heart-wrenching adventure of an unquenchable thirst between two star-crossed lovers. The curtain rises after 15 minutes of nearly no dialogue to the late 1950’s in the Upper West Side of New York City. It eventually moves to a shot of a gang who quickly breaks into dance/song, who will later

Bernardo and his girlfriend, Anita, are gathered on the roof of their building with their friends discussing the animosity between the Jets and the Sharks. However, this soon turns into animosity between cultures. Anita, on one hand, is very optimistic about her new and potentially improved life in America. Whereas Bernardo, a proud Puerto Rican who strongly advocates the disadvantages of coming to the states as an immigrant, is quick to discourage any glimpse of positivity. Ultimately, they break into song. “America” is meant to illustrate the ideal “American Dream” that not only citizens aspire to reach, but the predominant reason immigrants risk their lives coming to this country in the first place. The two groups of boys and girls go back and forth, with Anita and her female friends quick to list the hopefulness of the future and the confidence of immigrating to New York City, with the line “Everything free in America!” Essentially saying that compared to other countries, America could easily be considered not only the land of the free, but the land of opportunity. The boys, however, somewhat pessimistic and eager to win the debate, respond with “For a small fee in America!” which, as negative as it sounds, has some truth. Immigrants especially struggle with making ends meet simply because of the fact they have to “work under the table.” Even to this day, while

The cop sirens are heard in the background, and everyone scatters. Except Tony. Tony takes a minute to fully realize what he’s done and even then, cannot force himself to leave his mistake of the night behind. He is fiercely convinced by another Jet to leave the crime scene, and does so, backing away from the bodies in terror until finally coming to his senses and fleeing entirely. He makes his way to Maria’s house, who has already heard the news, only to be confronted with her anger that soon turned into cries. Tony and Maria make plans to elope and “start over”. This scene in particular was very confusing. Why did Robbins allow Tony to be forgiven by Maria, after just murdering her brother? Was it truly a matter of “love conquers all” or was it just simpler for the play to continue without the hassle of a grudge? Despite unanswered question, Anita is sent to deliver a message to Tony when Maria is detained by Detective Schrank. She encounters the Jets on her way, and is harassed verbally and physically until defended by another character. This only goes to show that despite immigration and racial issues, being both those and a woman was a deadly combination, if anything. Out of spite, she tells the Jets that Maria was shot and killed. Defeated by the news of Maria, Tony goes across town asking to die, and is shot by Maria’s Puerto Rican suiter, Chino. But not before seeing Maria