PLAY / The West Side Story

The synopsis of this play and pictures that was taken on May 25, 2007.

Gosh, It's hard to believe these people are mostly my classmates and friends.
Carlos, I'm gonna be your first fan. XD

Act 1

Prologue:

The act begins with the gang leitmotifs established musically.
The curtain rises. A conflict between two rival teenage gangs,

the "American" Jets

and the Puerto Rican Sharks,

is enacted through dance.

The tension between the gangs is quite visible.

The boys are struggling for control of the neighborhood.

Accented by police whistles and taunting phrases,
the Prologue establishes the fierce rivalry between the two groups.

The Jets break off and celebrate themselves. ("Jet Song").

But Riff (the Jet gang leader) has a problem:

he wants to get his friend, Tony, back into the gang.

Riff convinces Tony to re-join the Jets at the neighborhood dance,
where Riff's plan will be put into motion.

Tony agrees out of a sense of loyalty to Riff,
but expresses his unhappiness with his current life ("Something's Coming").

He feels himself growing away from the gang and envisions a different, better future.

Maria, the sister of the Shark leader, Bernardo,
has only been in the United States for a short time.

She works with Anita, Bernardo's girlfriend, in a bridal shop.

Anita is making Maria a dress to wear to the neighborhood dance.

Maria sees this dance as the official beginning of her life in this country.

Like Tony, she is full of hope.

Bernardo arrives with Chino, a quiet, intense member of the Sharks.

Maria's family has selected Chino to be her future husband.

A social worker, Glad Hand, introduces the rival gang members and their girls;
they dance sociably for about two minutes.

Then a challenge dance erupts ("Mambo").

Tony and Maria, however, suddenly see one another.

In a moment of romantic suspense, they dance together,
oblivious to the tension around them.

They fall in love at sight.

The romantic idyll is interrupted
when an enraged Bernardo roughly pulls Maria from Tony's arms ("Maria").

Maria is sent home and Riff and Bernardo arrange a War Council at the local luncheonette,
Doc's Drug Store, which is considered neutral ground.

Tony finds Maria and serenades her outside her bedroom ("Tonight").

Meanwhile, the Shark girls fawn over the differences between Puerto Rico and America ("America"). At Doc's, the Jets get antsy while waiting for the Sharks ("Cool"). After a war council and an interruption by Lt. Schrank, they agree that Bernardo will fight Action.

Tony meets Maria at the bridal shop, where they dream of their wedding ("One Hand, One Heart").

She begs Tony to stop the rumble and the violence.

Tony, Maria, Anita, Bernardo (& the Sharks in some versions),
and Riff (& the Jets in some versions) sing about what will happen that night ("Tonight Quintet").

In the Broadway version, Riff sings "Cool"
as a pre-rumble song to get the Jets calmed down for the upcoming fight.

Per her request, Tony tries to stop the impending rumble.

Though Bernardo taunts Tony, ridicules his attempt to make peace,
and provokes him in every way,Tony stays his ground.

During the rumble, Riff and Bernardo get in a fight involving knives.

Tony warns Riff to back away, but Riff blows him off and continues the fight.

Bernardo stabs Riff. In blind fury, Tony angrily kills Bernardo in an act of revenge.

The sirens scream; everyone runs except Tony, who stands transfixed at what he has done.

Anybodys, a tomboy whose dream is to become a Jet,
has followed the gang and prods Tony to escape, just in time.

The curtain comes down on a stage which is empty except for the bodies of Riff and Bernardo.

 

Act 2

Unaware of the tragedy under the highway, Maria daydreams during her work hours.

Her friends wonder at Maria's strange and sudden euphoria ("I Feel Pretty").

Maria mentions marriage, but her friends assume she is thinking about Chino.

Chino enters with the news Tony has killed Bernardo.

Left alone, Maria is praying; Tony enters through the window
and attempts to win her forgiveness.

He explains why he killed Bernardo in a moment of anger over Riff's death.

Maria forgives him, and they declare their determination to be together.

They both imagine a new world where they can live together in peace and acceptance,
where Jets and Sharks live in harmony. ("Somewhere").

At the end of the dream, Tony and Maria are in her bed, in each other's arms.

In an alley, Officer Krupke is questioning A-Rab and Baby John, two Jets,
about the murders. After they run away, the gang reforms and ridicules Krupke and the adults
(social workers, cops, psychiatrists, and judges)
who fail to understand what motivates their behavior ("Gee, Officer Krupke").

Anita arrives at Maria's apartment.

Tony escapes through the window, telling Maria to meet him
at the Docs Candy Store so they can run away to the country together.

Anita realizes Tony has been with Maria
and turns on Maria in fury for making love to the man
who killed her [Maria's] brother ("A Boy Like That").

However, when Maria explains ("I Have A Love"),
Anita realizes Maria loves Tony as much as she had loved Bernardo.

She warns Maria that Chino has a gun and is planning to murder Tony.

When Schrank arrives to question Maria, Anita agrees to go to Doc's to tell Tony to wait for her.

Anita is prevented from reaching Tony by the ethnic prejudice of the Jets.

The gang's verbal taunting of Anita gets physical and is turning into rape
when she is saved by Doc.

In her fury and humiliation, Anita lies and tells the Jets Chino has killed Maria
Doc tells Tony, who is hiding in Doc's cellar.

Maria and his dreams for the future are gone.

Feeling there is nothing to live for now,
Tony runs out to find Chino, begging for Chino to kill him too.

On the street, he finds Maria to be quite alive.

As they run towards each other, Chino turns up and shoots Tony.

Tony is still alive, but struggling.

As Maria the Jets and Sharks flock around the lovers,
Maria tries to pull Tony back from the brink of death ("Somewhere Reprise").

Tony dies in her arms.

The adults arrive at the scene, and Maria takes Chino's gun.

She tells everyone that hatred is what killed Tony and the others,
and now she can kill them because their hate has affected her.

But she is unable to bring herself to fire it, and she collapses in her grief.

She brings the cycle of violence that the gangs have had to an end.

Gradually, all the members of both gangs assemble on either side of Tony's body,
suggesting that the feud may be over.

The Jets and Sharks form a procession and together they carry Tony offstage.

In the words of the script, "The Jets and Sharks go off, two by two.

The adults stand, bowed, useless, as the curtain falls".

Chino is then hustled off to prison by Lt. Schrank and Officer Krupke.