Lyric Opera 2022-2023 Issue 10 - West Side Story

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 22 Shakespeare’s famous verse and prose to choreography, music, and lyrics now almost just as famous—are also what make the show enduringly theatrical. And ultimately, West Side Story reveals that illuminating differences requires a kind of diminishment, especially of Latinx identity. Theatricality always involves exaggeration, and the Latinx body onstage may not be immediately recognizable if it deviates from established generalizations. Tony and Maria do not immediately register the differences that are so crucial to their familial ties. Whether those ties are biological (Maria and Bernardo are siblings) or fraternal (Tony and Riff are old friends), deviating from the group brings either a metaphorical or literal death. Two characters most powerfully exemplify the ostracization that results from the dissolution of strong familial ties: Anita and Chino. The role of Anita has often been ethnicized and racialized in casting; Chita Rivera, who initiated the role on Broadway, and Rita Moreno in the 1961 film were the only Latinas in their respective casts. Anita has captivated audiences from West Side Story ’s first run and proved an award-winning role for most of the actresses who have played her. African American actress Debbie Allen played the role in the 1980 Broadway revival, followed by Afro-Latinas Karen Olivo in the 2009 bilingual Broadway revival and Ariana DeBose in the 2021 film. After Anita argues with Maria, she goes to Doc’s store for Maria’s sake, but the Jets assault her and she exits both the store and the play, leaving her narrative without resolution. Anita’s disappearance signals a loss of hope, and all the music goes out with her. If Anita’s departure signals a loss of hope, it is the role of Chino that solidifies that loss. Adapted from Shakespeare’s character of Paris, who dies inadvertently by Romeo’s hand when they both arrive at the Capulet tomb to mourn their love, Chino is the character most strikingly changed from the source text, and with greater implications for representations of Latinx men. Similar to Paris, Chino has few lines yet more stage presence due to his assimilation into gang culture; he is a character who represents the old world, Maria’s intended, and whose masculinity makes him apprehensive to enter the bridal shop. Unlike Paris who hurts no one, Chino becomes the agent of death, killing Tony (Romeo) in cold blood, and most likely going to jail for the rest of his life for it. Chino’s carceral death is the death of the American Dream for citizens who are nevertheless considered outsiders and mistreated by society. West Side Story was the rst adaptation of a Shakespearean tragedy on Broadway, and it fostered a creative strategy that I refer to as “the West Side Story effect,” the changing of any difference in Shakespeare— Amanda Castro,Mikaela Bennett,Julio Rey,and Manuel Stark Santos in Lyric Opera’s 2018/19 West Side Story . Todd Rosenberg