West Side Story - the Theme Still Fits the Times

There's currently a Broadway revival of my favorite musical, West Side Story. Since its original stage presentations on Broadway in 1957 and in London in 1958, productions of West Side Story have been endless, from amateur high school drama to professional touring companies.

The 1961 movie version of West Side Story won 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor and Actress (George Chakiris, Rita Moreno), Best Score (Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim) and Best Director (team of Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins). Choreographer Jerome Robbins won both an Oscar and a Tony for the dancing. Songs like "Maria," "When You're a Jet," "America" and "There's a Place for Us" are unforgettable.

But enough about the credits; why does this story continue to be so powerful?
West Side Story is based on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Both stories challenge us to look at our own biases and prejudices. Instead of feuding Italian families, the setting for West Side Story is 1950's New York City. "Tony," a white young man of Polish descent, falls in love with "Maria," a Puerto Rican whose family has recently come to New York. To understand why their love is taboo, here's a bit of real history:

Puerto Ricans became automatic citizens of the U.S. in 1917. But Puerto Rico wasn't officially declared a Commonwealth of the United States, able to self-govern, until 1952. After this, thousands of Puerto Rican citizens came to the mainland seeking the American dream. Meanwhile, the streets of New York and its burroughs were seeing a renewed insurgence of territorial bullying by various gangs of hapless young men - some with dirt-poor or ne'er-do-well parents - others just trying to be cool by being "hoodlums." These gangs felt their territories were now threatened by the Puerto Rican arrivals, who formed their own gangs for protection.

In West Side Story, The Jets are the prevailing white gang and The Sharks are the Puerto Rican threat. Brawls, war councils, and "rumbles" to see who is the best and therefore worthy of ruling the territory are commonplace.

As with Romeo and Juliet, Tony and Maria fall in love at first sight and there is nothing but trouble from that point on. A rumble is already set to take place over territorial rights. So Tony tries to stop it. But Maria's brother Bernardo (a parallel to Tybalt, Juliet's cousin) kills Tony's best friend Riff (Romeo's best friend Mercutio) and Tony accidentally kills Bernardo. More tragedy ensues when Maria's intended husband Chino, a matchmaking set up by her brother and parents just as Juliet was betrothed to another, kills Tony.

In the touching last scene, members of both the Jets and Sharks unite to carry Tony's body off; drawing the conclusion that life is vulnerable when people don't get along for reasons of bias and prejudice.

Maria doesn't die, but she delivers the key closing line while waving a gun at the circle of young men: "You all killed Tony. And my brother, and Riff. Not with bullets, or guns, but with hate. Well now I can kill, too, because now I have hate."

Things hadn't changed much since Shakespeare wrote this in Romeo and Juliet centuries ago: "Where be these enemies? Capulet, Montague? See what a scourge is laid upon your hate...All are punished."

Bigotry and prejudice can last so long that we don't even know why we're fighting anymore. It can be generational; handed down because of past events or fable or lasting feelings translated to our children and our children's children because people refuse to hear what someone else has to say. Pretty soon, we think just because someone doesn't agree with us, they must "hate" us. Sound familiar?

At one point in West Side Story, Tony and Maria sing "One Hand, One Heart" in front of a stained glass window with bars resembling a cross. Some people blame all of the world's problems on organized religion which has been used to wield power and force. But it's not religion itself - it's a matter of the heart's condition. Whether it's Cain vs. Abel, the Montagues vs. Capulets, The Jets vs. Sharks, the North vs. South, the Hatfields vs. McCoys, conservative vs. liberal, black vs. white, Muslim vs. Jew or Christian, Crips vs. Bloods, white collar crime, or Congress vs. the President. Whether it's rich vs. poor, and sometimes even denomination against denomination within the same faith. For some reason, we all want to be the best, "the one who's right."

"It's a free country, but I ain't got the right," Lieutenant Shrank says in West Side Story. With all of this infighting, who does have "the rights"? Why does there have to be a "versus"?

These problems continue because of man's will, man thinking himself better than someone else, and ultimately by rejecting God's love or abusing the faith of others. No, I'm not talking about needing "religion"- just plain and simply acknowledging there is a God.

I will forever be convinced that people can't love each other until we fully appreciate how much God loves us. Will everything be perfect? No, humans are unable to satisfy each other all the time or put every single difference aside. But developing a deeper respect and love for each other and God could sure help make life more tolerable.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength" (Deuteronomy 6:5 in the Old Testament, Mark 12:30 in the New)." And next, "love your neighbor as you love yourself" (Mark 12:31). Without inflicting personal interpretations, denominations and regulations, these verses can help us love and respect each other, even if we don't agree on everything. Imagine that.

Sources:
-Current Broadway revival of West Side Story: http://www.broadwaywestsidestory.com/.
-Newest website by the daughter of Leonard Bernstein - http://www.westsidestory.com/site/level2/welcome.html.
-Photos, cast of West Side Story movie version: Imdb - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055614/.
-Academy Award info: AMC "filmsite" - http://www.filmsite.org/aa61.html.
-Romeo and Juliet, as found in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, from Cambridge University Press, 1921 to Amaranth Press, 1985.
-Bible Verses taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.