Jets and Sharks

[TheBalladeer]

Posted: 11/3/04 at 3:06pm

Hey,

I was just wondering....would it be too much to suspend your disbelief as an audience member, if a director were to cast a few minorities as Jets in West Side Story? Would it take away from the whole point of West Side Story? Obviously, you can be more flexible with the Sharks, but would it be odd for Jets to have (Blacks, Latinos, Asians, Pacific Islanders, etc.) amongst their members? I am thinking of directing West Side Story soon, and I am probably going to have a very mixed bag of ethnicities in the talent pool, and was thinking about doing some non-traditional casting. I think it could possibly work, but I just wanted to get some opinions/ideas on this. I have actually seen a production of West Side Story with a Black Riff, and I had no problem with it. Again, just curious.

Cheers,
The Balladeer

[MagicToDo82]

Posted: 11/3/04 at 3:23pm

Honestly, I don't know the answer to that question. But I do have an amusing tidbit about past West Side Casting. My high school is probably 99% white. So West Side was announced as the musical, and I kid you not....all the blonde or redheaded kids were the Jets and all the darkhaired kids were Sharks. Seriously.

I have also seen the show done with a black Riff, and I thought it really worked out well.

Good luck!

[jmaclover]

Posted: 11/3/04 at 3:23pm

In reality, theatre is all about a willing suspension of disabelief.

If you take a black man and say he's white - then the audience should accept it.

I saw Aida and some of the Nubians were white.

Today's modern audiences might not like it.

[Jon]

Posted: 11/3/04 at 4:55pm

When I did the show, we had several black actors as Sharks - after all, many Puerto Ricans are part African - look at Haitians, Dominicans, etc. A Shark could theoretcally have a Puerto Rican father and a Dominican mother.

Before the "color barrier" was broken in baseball, some minor league teams would hire black players and have them use fake Hispanic names, trying to pass them off as Dominicans!

[TheaterGeek91]

Posted: 11/3/04 at 5:56pm

You know, why not? Musicals should be appreciated for musicals. And West Side Story should be appreciated for being West Side Story. As long as you have the talent, go out on a limb!

[edenespinosalover]

Posted: 11/3/04 at 6:03pm

I agree with TheaterFreak - West Side Story should be appreciated for being West Side Story. We're doing it this year, and not all our Sharks are Puerto Rican. I think all of our Jets are white though.

[edenespinosalover]

Posted: 11/3/04 at 6:04pm

I mean theatergeek. Sorry.

[tcoppola]

Posted: 11/3/04 at 6:20pm

When I did WSS in 1991, all of the Jets and Sharks were ethnicity appropriate. It was a summer theatre for high school afed kids, and the director was closely associated with the Robbins production (one of them), so he was not about to dabble with mixing up the cast.

The one thing he DID do was that Maria was Japanese (because she was the best one for the role), but that is still not bad, since it was an ethnic person playing an ethnic role.

Would you ever cast a blonde Maria against an Italian looking Tony?
Absolutely not. It's not true to the story.

[tcoppola]

Posted: 11/3/04 at 6:20pm

When I did WSS in 1991, all of the Jets and Sharks were ethnicity appropriate. It was a summer theatre for high school afed kids, and the director was closely associated with the Robbins production (one of them), so he was not about to dabble with mixing up the cast.

The one thing he DID do was that Maria was Japanese (because she was the best one for the role), but that is still not bad, since it was an ethnic person playing an ethnic role.

Would you ever cast a blonde Maria against an Italian looking Tony?
Absolutely not. It's not true to the story.

[musicgal04]

Posted: 11/3/04 at 6:48pm

I saw a production several years ago that set it in a post-apocalyptic New York city with a butch female Riff and a Black Tony. It was interesting.

[timote316]

Posted: 11/3/04 at 8:12pm

It depends on the talent you have. If your talent pool is thin on the ethnicities needed, its hard to do a production the way its written. West Side Story is a thing in itself, it really doesnt matter who's playing the roles, the show is just that good

[TheaterGeek91]

Posted: 11/3/04 at 10:57pm

Funny you say that, tcoppola, I saw a production last year where my very Italian, very Italian-looking friend was Tony, and he had a white Maria (although not Blonde)

[ShiksaGoddess2]

Posted: 11/3/04 at 11:05pm

We had an African AMerican Action and Tony. Since my school has a lot of hispanics, we had a few "white" hispanics on the Jet side, including one of our two Tonys. The funny thing was the hispanic tony had a twin brother, and he was a shark. They darkened him up a bit and gave him a mustache so he wouldn't look so much like his brother. I was a shark, or chark like we lovingly called it. I loved doing that show,, ahh sweet memories.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/3/04 at 11:13pm

all of the sharks were white when i saw it- but they did an awfully good job of tanning them up! same with the marias and anitas. (it was double casted) tony did not look italian though.