West Side Story is about a conflict between two rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, which comes to a head when Tony, a former Jets member, and Maria, the sister of the leader of the Sharks, fall in love. Although the play centers around Tony and Maria, the character of Anita (played by Karli Dinardo) caught my eye since she revealed her purple dress which was different from the reds of the Sharks and blues of the Jets and I found myself drawn to her in each scene she was present in. I also found myself drawn to members of the Sharks as I understood the racism they faced from members of the Jets, Officer Krupke, and Detective Schrank. The characters of Tony and Maria were actually the characters I didn’t really like as I saw them both as selfish. …show more content…
The acting of the cast was very believable and precise to the time period of the 1950’s such as “tea”, referring to marijuana. I didn’t hear Tony call Maria his bae or the Jets/Sharks asking each other to “put some respek on their name”. I found both the New York accent of the Jets and Spanish accents of the Sharks to be a bit exaggerated, but I think that worked with the stereotypes given to people from New York and those of Latinx culture. I found the use of Latinx cast like Julian Alvarez, Daniel Martinez Marco Santiago and Salvatore Vieira and so many more of the cast which gives an accurate representation of the Sharks which wasn’t possible in earlier versions of West Side Story. I enjoyed the friendship of Anita, Rosalia, Consuelo, Teresita, Francisca, Estella and Marguerita as it seemed authentic through their was a disagreement between the pro-America Anita and pro-Puerto Rico Rosalia to Consuelo, Rosalia, and Francisca joking around with Maria in “I Feel Pretty”. The actors managed to …show more content…
I found that many of the actors in West Side Story vocals fit well with their characters such as Carly Evans soprano-like voice that seemed so innocent to the world just like Maria. The orchestra ability to match the emotions of the song or scene was very beneficial in letting the audience know of Tony and Maria’s undying love for each other in “Tonight” through the use of light and upbeat notes or Anita’s anger in “A Boy Like That” which uses harsher notes. The effects of the characters emotions would not have been as evident if the instrumentals they sang along too didn’t match the emotions they felt. Although the play is surrounded by dark themes, there are musical numbers with a tinge of comedic value such as in “America” where Rosalia praises Puerto Rico through phrases such as “Puerto Rico, you lovely island” and Anita retorts back “Puerto Rico, you ugly island” or “Gee Officer Krupke” where the Jets are joking as to what to say to Officer Krupke ending the song with “Gee, Officer Krupke. Krup you!”. In many of the musical numbers, there seems to be a kid friendly approach as profanity is nowhere to be found with the replacement of words such as “Buggin” in the Jet Songs although slurs such as “spic” and “brown boy” fill the script. Besides the musical numbers, there were also sound effects in
For the live theatre critique project I watched the Dearly Departed play. I watched this show at the Klein Oak High School auditorium and I watched it on November 9, 2015 at 7:00 P.M. Dearly Departed was about a guy name Bud who dies as known as Andrew Brown in the play his family plans a funeral for him, but everything goes wrong. Junior and Ray-Bud get into a fight and start punching each other they both were bad and were separated they both later sat down together drank beer and solved out the situation and they both apologized to each other. Everyone in The Dearly Departed play were really frustrated because Bud dies and Junior and Ray-Bud get into a fight Junior
During the 1670s, the government of Virginia's own Governor William Berkeley became hated by many citizens who didn’t like any of his rules.He had a rule in place that stated you must own land to be able to vote, he had taxes that had people paying so much money some people were going poor, and obvious avoidance of the war between the Native Americans and them. By that I mean that Berkeley had absolutely no interest in protecting his own citizens from the savage Indian attacks that happened every now and then, he only wanted to protect himself. Many citizens of Virginia, the majority being indentured servants, thought the governor would be extremely selfish and not protect anyone in the account of a brutal attack. Then Nathaniel Bacon, a relative
Watching the play to kill a Mockingbird was a wonderful production that captures the audience attention. A playwright is a person who writes plays for that stage and also they create scripts that tell stories through the words and action of characters. Most of the playwright’s people work alone and some of the time they share the work of creating script with the actors and directors.
The play I saw was The Woman in Black by Steven Mallatratt, based on the novel by Susan Hill. It was a matinee performance in The Lyric, Theatre Royal on Thursday the 21st of May 2015. The Woman in Black follows the tale of Arthur Kipps, who has hired an actor to help him become confident in telling his ghastly tale. The Theatre Royal is a regional theatre, this means that different performances come down to perform for a certain amount of time.
On the west side of Manhattan two groups compete for turf, the Jets, a group of white juveniles, and the Sharks, a group of young Puerto Rican men. The conflicts that arise from racial and cultural differences are what lead to West Side Story’s message. The Jets do not like the Sharks because they came from a different part of the world. They don’t want them in their neighborhood because they are worried that they will change things, take their jobs, and make the neighborhood dirty. People have always and still have this fear for immigrants because they can’t accept change. When Tony and Maria fall in love, it makes the two gangs’ rivalry even more complicated.
The racism against Italian-Americans was shown by African-Americans and Caucasian individuals. A particular scene in the film that stood about was the racist rants. The characters alternate between Italian-Americans, African- Americans, and Caucasians who make fun of each other with name calling and racial slurs/ insults. This scene was very profound because of all the slurs being called to the different races.It was disturbing to hear because it showed poor communication that these races gave each other through stereotyping.
The Outsiders is a Novel set in the 1960’s that explains the divide between people with similarities and differences. The book explains life as it was in the past, is in the present, and will be in the future. It talks about the rift between different people in society and their social classes. Every rift must try to be changed by someone for the benefit of society, and that person is exalted as a hero. There are many heroes in the outsiders, but the biggest hero is Ponyboy because he was empathetic to others, quick to think and act, and stands strong and moves forward to overcome challenging events in life that seem impossible to overcome.
The play Wicked, written by American lyricist Stephen Schwartz, was a play that demonstrated several conflicts that a person went through during their lifetime. Elphaba, the protagonist, was born with green skin because of a choice that her mother made. She had to deal with the fear and the looks that people gave her because of her appearance. Elphaba dealt with the mockery of others during her years in school. When reading the play, one could compare Elphaba’s circumstances to discrimination or racism towards African Americans in the nineteen sixties. In college, she discovered that she had magical powers that she could use for good. The people in the town of Oz stereotyped her and assumed she was a witch who wanted to harm everyone because of her
In the reading West side story by Alberto Sandoval he explains how the film perpetuates the image of racial problems explaining that the film has its profound structure expressing segregation and racial preferences towards Latinos. The film makers presented the immigrants as stereotypical Puerto Ricans making their skin tones darker, black haired, skinny. The jets are blond, strong, and healthy. The clarity
On the 28th April 2011, I went to see a professional production of To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee at the 'Blackpool Grand Theatre'. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird is set in 1935 in Alabama, a story about innocence, knowledge, prejudice and courage. In the beginning the main character, Scout, starts out to be a very immature child not knowing the prejudice times around her, as the story goes on she gains knowledge of these times by fellow kids around her accusing her dad of being a "nigger lover" which then was an insult. Her father was being courageous of a black man being falsely accused of raping a white girl. Her father, Atticus, is a criminal defence attorney only
Literature enlightens human beings about profound life lessons and the complexities of human interactions. In the fictional novel, "The Outsiders," by S.E. Hinton, the protagonist, Ponyboy Curtis, undergoes a multitude of traumatic experiences that change his life forever. Through elaborate direct and indirect characterization and symbolism, S.E. Hinton develops many universal themes. The value of friendship and gang loyalty, staying true to oneself, and closing the gap between the rich (Socs) and poor (greasers) are among the most significant themes that the author wants readers to learn from and apply in life.
Tony and Maria - more romantic love, idealised, though Tony has to agree with Riff,
Just as there are different types of people who look at one glass of water and describe it as half full or half empty, the public has many different views on the future of our society. Gene therapy is also a glass that can be viewed in different angles – different perspectives. Some say it has great potential to shape the ideals of our future, while others believe it signifies intolerance for disabilities, imperfections that supposedly deplete from a person’s interests, opportunities and welfare (quoted by Peter Singer, xviii). This global issue has brought people with different opinions in the open, arguing their views using history,
"I Have A Dream," was a speech Martin Luther King Jr wrote on August 28th, 1963. His "dream" was that people of color would recognize the lack of freedom and rights they had and hopefully inspire many people to defend themselves as equals. His courageous opinions and inspirational tone affected listeners to fight for themselves. King, was a strong leader during the civil rights in the 1950's and 60's. He fought for racial equality for African Americans in the United States. King lead non-violent protest and also the famous, Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955. In 1964, he became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for resisting racial prejudice being pressed onto African Americans. He dedicated his life to establish equality among the American society. The speech is delivering the message that American citizens regardless of color are created equal and are on a land founded on freedom. Revoking rights and establishing laws to limit African Americans will soon be eliminated and replaced by the judgment of themselves as an individual. The "I Have A Dream" speech will be an unforgettable moment in history and shaped the United States of America to withhold equality among race, gender, and religion forever.
Defining play can be very difficult. The term play can be used to illustrate a wide range of behaviors and activities, and can be perceived as both essential and insignificant to the child at the same time. Santrock (2012, p.437) suggests a definition of play as "a pleasurable activity that is engaged in for its own sake." However, this is argued by Kernan (2007, p.5) who states that none of the potential definitions are broad enough to encompass all of the meanings associated with play. Despite the lack of such universal definition, Rennie (2003, p.22) claims, that "we can recognize play across barriers of language, of culture, even of species", which conveys its importance in the life and development of children, as it is