Unusual casting for West Side Story
I have a strange idea for casing West Side Story to make it current, though it would make the show very uncomfortable for viewers. Today it doesn't cause much strife, as it is very familiar between the popularity of the movie version and frequent school and community productions. When it premiered 55 years ago, it was a very controversial topic, as the US had not started to confront its racist tendencies.
The original story featured conflicts between Irish Catholics and Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe and their expression via gang struggles in the city. During the formative stages, the creators seized the popularity of Latin American music and changed the heritage of the immigrants from Jewish to Puerto Rican. Jewish Americans were more assimilated in the population after the Second World War than recent immigrants from Puerto Rico, so the conflict was more raw.
The problem is creating the conflict between the Jets and the Sharks. There aren't many urban Irish gangs anymore. Updating the show to capture the tension in the cities today is rather simple, with very minor changes. The Sharks could still be Latin, perhaps from Mexico, the Dominican Republic, or Central America. The music wouldn't really change dramatically, updated to current styles. The Jets would be changed dramatically.
Make the Jets black. Perhaps call them the Jetz. Some of the songs could be hip-hop, though perhaps not "Maria" and "Tonight," as the melodies are so essential to their effect, but other songs that are more up-tempo like "Officer Krupke," "Something's Coming," or "Cool" could work. A charter school in DC that I helped start and served as finance director did an abbreviated version, with many songs done in hip-hop style.
Done by a professional cast, with black actors as the Jets (Jetz) and their supporters and Hispanic actors as the Sharks and their supporters (no Natalie Wood replacements, please), the production would portray the very real tension between black and hispanic communities in cities today. It would be somewhat jarring for the current conflict to be portrayed in a beloved form, reviving the tension of the original 55 years ago. West Side Story is an iconic work of art in the US. So too are the works of Shakespeare, which are routinely set in different periods to dramatize conflicts. So perhaps it's time to stretch the American icon.
The original story featured conflicts between Irish Catholics and Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe and their expression via gang struggles in the city. During the formative stages, the creators seized the popularity of Latin American music and changed the heritage of the immigrants from Jewish to Puerto Rican. Jewish Americans were more assimilated in the population after the Second World War than recent immigrants from Puerto Rico, so the conflict was more raw.
The problem is creating the conflict between the Jets and the Sharks. There aren't many urban Irish gangs anymore. Updating the show to capture the tension in the cities today is rather simple, with very minor changes. The Sharks could still be Latin, perhaps from Mexico, the Dominican Republic, or Central America. The music wouldn't really change dramatically, updated to current styles. The Jets would be changed dramatically.
Make the Jets black. Perhaps call them the Jetz. Some of the songs could be hip-hop, though perhaps not "Maria" and "Tonight," as the melodies are so essential to their effect, but other songs that are more up-tempo like "Officer Krupke," "Something's Coming," or "Cool" could work. A charter school in DC that I helped start and served as finance director did an abbreviated version, with many songs done in hip-hop style.
Done by a professional cast, with black actors as the Jets (Jetz) and their supporters and Hispanic actors as the Sharks and their supporters (no Natalie Wood replacements, please), the production would portray the very real tension between black and hispanic communities in cities today. It would be somewhat jarring for the current conflict to be portrayed in a beloved form, reviving the tension of the original 55 years ago. West Side Story is an iconic work of art in the US. So too are the works of Shakespeare, which are routinely set in different periods to dramatize conflicts. So perhaps it's time to stretch the American icon.
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