Should Puerto Ricans only be cast as Sharks in "West Side Story"?

And should only whites be allowed to play the Jets?

Well, if you've got them to choose from, then I would say do it, but if you don't then don't worry about it......

Updated On: 5/30/05 at 07:25 PM

Professionally, yeah, probably only Puerto Ricans should be allowed to play the Sharks. I'm all for multicultural casting as long as the race doesn't define the character - but the Sharks are Puerto Ricans. In high school or community theater, though, there might not be those options. Heh, last year in a reunion show for my theater group at my high school, we had a bunch of random guys playing the Sharks, and one of them was the whitest, blondest, WASPiest guy ever. It was funny.

I have a question...Would this show work if the Jets were black, or at least a mix a of white and black?

Akiva

I want to see:

Sharks -- Asian actors
Jets -- Black American actors

Oh wait, that's like ROMEO MUST DIE.

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"we had a bunch of random guys playing the Sharks, and one of them was the whitest, blondest, WASPiest guy ever. It was funny."

What would be funny is if that guy happened to be Puerto Rican. There are some Puerto Ricans, as well as other Hispanics, who are blond. The problem with stereotypes is that they overgeneralize and are often inaccurate, so perhaps it might be good to have a production of West Side Story that cast blond or light-haired Puerto-Ricans as the Sharks and dark-haired, dark-eyed "WASPs" as the Jets. (Alot of British people, incidentally, are dark-haired and dark-eyed...Colin Firth, Sean Connery, Catherine Zeta-Jones..even PM Tony Blair)

they always just cast dark becuase there's a limit of Puerto Rican actors. I think race is an issue with this piece. That's part of the tension. I think due to the score and songs like America, there'd have to be latin casting for the Sharks. It'd be weird to hear whites, blacks or asians singing about San Juan and singing Aie Aie Aie and such. The jets on the other hand I think could be different. I'd like to see Puerto Ricans and Blacks. I think it'd be an interesting statement esp for the 50's. 2 minorities who are discriminated against constantly discriminating people who are not like them. And an interracial couple? THat wasn't accepted by any race. A high school by my home town cast the show that way. Too bad I didn't get a chance to see it.

"What would be funny is if that guy happened to be Puerto Rican. There are some Puerto Ricans, as well as other Hispanics, who are blond. The problem with stereotypes is that they overgeneralize and are often inaccurate, so perhaps it might be good to have a production of West Side Story that cast blond or light-haired Puerto-Ricans as the Sharks and dark-haired, dark-eyed "WASPs" as the Jets. (Alot of British people, incidentally, are dark-haired and dark-eyed...Colin Firth, Sean Connery, Catherine Zeta-Jones..even PM Tony Blair)"

I understand where you're coming from and I definitely should have thought of that...but the guy was definitely NOT Hispanic.

are philipenos similar to jalapenos?

When I was in Fiddler, my Fyedka was black. We cracked on him all the time.

The thing with WSS is that the way people look is the main reason there is a tension between the two groups. I don't think a director should go out of his/her way to only cast Puerto Ricans as Sharks. I think the best way would be to make actors who had darker complexions and darker hair and eyes Sharks, and those with lighter complexions, hair and eyes Sharks. The actual race of the person should have nothing to do with it, probably just the way they look.


And HeyMrMusic, I totally hear you. I am never going to be able to play Maria or Anita even, b/c of this darned blonde hair. Looks likes its Anybodys for me.

When I did West Side Story, it was with a community theatre group in the whitest town in Southern Ontario (seriously, unfortunately this is the town that was once the KKK capital of Canada- scary stuff). Therefore- we had maybe two people of filipino origin, Chino and Rosalia, the rest were all white. So the dark- haired people played the Sharks, the blondes were the jets.

When I was in 4th Grade, the Junior High portion of the school did a production of WSS and they cast me (4th grade at the time) as a Shark. I have light skin and red hair and freckles... Thank God for makeup and colored hairspray. I played Pepe and as a 4th grader, I had the pleasure of saying the "with my pants unzipped" line in front of my parents and nuns at my catholic school. I dont know who thought this was a good idea...

West Side Story/Racial casting facts:

Dorothy Dandridge played Anita in the touring production of West Side Story.

Chita Rivera was the ONLY Puerto Rican in the original cast of West Side Story. (Not to mention she was the ONLY Hispanic)

Audra McDonald played Eva Peron in California.

Jose Llana, who played Chinese in Flower Drum Song, and a Mexican in Putnam Spelling Bee is Phillipine.

And finally, Yancey Arias, who is of the Latino race played Thuy in Miss Saigon.

(I mention the latter three just to mention that "race" doesn't play a part. It's more about the "look")

Mexicans, Cubans, Dominicans, even Phillipino's can play the Sharks (and let's remember that there are black AND white Puerto Ricans, like Ricky Martin (white)or Antonio Vargas (black))

There is no reason why they cannot have black people in the Jets, however, it is a dated show, and there is a lot of racial tension between the Sharks and Jets, so, I don't see how the Jets would be so excepting having a black kid in their gang. But, that is only if we want to go with accuracy of time periods, considering it is a period piece.

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Updated On: 5/31/05 at 06:09 PM