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

[Marquise]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 6:53pm

And should only whites be allowed to play the Jets?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 7:21pm

Puerto Rican & Swedes for the Sharks

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 7:25pm

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

[MyDreamsRecurring]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 7:26pm

I'm a fan of multicultural casting but i think this play is an exception. people would get confused, plus it's trying to make a point about racial tension.

[littleredridinghood]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 7:37pm

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.

[Jon]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 7:48pm

What are we saying here? People who LOOK like they could be Puerto Rican, or ACTUAL Puerto Ricans? Are you saying it would be wrong to cast Mexican-American as a Shark???

I'm sure you don't mean to sound racist, but there are many kinds of Hispanic Americans besides the ones who's ancestors came from Puerto Rico.

That being said, many of the original Broadway cast Sharks were not Hispanic, but at least they were dark-haird and dark eyed. It would be unwise to cast a blodne haired, blue eyed Maria - yers, I know there are wigs and contact lenses, but it should be avoided.

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 7:53pm

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

Akiva

[Jon]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 8:16pm

Well, technically it would work because the Sharks are hated because they are "newcomers" to the city, as opposed to the Jets who are many different national backgrounds, but who's families have been in the USA for several generations. However, a racially mixed gang in the 1950's is highly unlikely.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 8:31pm

I want to see:

Sharks -- Asian actors
Jets -- Black American actors

Oh wait, that's like ROMEO MUST DIE.

[Dirty Rotten Scoundrel]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 8:44pm

my school put on WSS and due to lack of puerto ricans we wound up having italians, phillipenos (pardon my spelling), some spaniards, playing them, it never seemed to cause a problem, but then again, it was a school production so.

[MadameButterfly]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 9:10pm

"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)

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 10:11pm

Ack. I love West Side Story and I'd love to be cast in it, but I fear that I'm always going to be seen as a Shark. Why can't I be Tony? Since I'm not much of a dancer and I have the vocal range (kind of), Tony is ideal for me. Except I'm Filipino. Boo. Colorblind casting!!!

~Steven

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 10:14pm

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.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 10:15pm

If I can sit through a SOUND OF MUSIC with Black Nazis, then anything is possible.

[littleredridinghood]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 10:24pm

"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.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 10:29pm

DGrant, my friend's yeshiva did a production of The Sound of Music. Now that must have been awkward.
When LaGuardia High School in the City did it this year, I happen to know that they cast two black students as Riff and Bernardo with multiethnic gangs. And I heard that it worked. With really strong direction, colorblind casting and West Side Story really can work.

~Steven

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:01am

are philipenos similar to jalapenos?

[Elphaba]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:10am

and If I can sit through an all black childrens Chicago Parks production of Mikado, anything could happen

[LittleFish8386]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:35am

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.

[cathyhyatt]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 11:32am

littlefish- I totally agree with you it doesn't ahve to do with what nationality and race you actually are...but how you actually look.

[judy_in_disguise]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 11:49am

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.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 11:58am

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.

I dunno; they've been casing Hispanic actors in MISS SAIGON for years. If it's all to do with the visual look of an actor, I'd say many Filipino actors could pull off looking Puerto Rican.

[MrMarkCharlieBrownCohen]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 3:08pm

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...

[ally_kay_on_broadway]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 5:38pm

Heres something weird...

When my high school did it...

Our Maria was filipino
Our Tony was filipino
Most of our sharks were filipino actually (bernardo and chino)
Our Riff was hardcore portuguese (with dark skin)
Our jet girls were all white but...
Our 'Babyjohn' was asian, our big deal was asian..

no one really cared except for the fact that our tony and our maria had the same skin color. There was some questions asked about casting there...otherwise the show was awesome

[Justice]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 6:09pm

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.

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