Analysis Of West Side Story

West Side Story suffered a doubtful early history before it made its first Broadway appearance in 1957. The musical was not appealing to potential investors because it was considered too dark and ugly to be commercially viable; its gritty realism and tragic ending seemed too serious to become mainstream. West Side Story dealt with serious subjects—bigotry, race, rape, murder, and death—in a more direct way than Broadway had seen before. Although it did not initially seem possible, West Side Story successfully synthesizes the large tradition of Broadway with the relevancy of Hispanic immigration and juvenile delinquency of the 1950s.

After Puerto Rico became a U.S. possession in 1898, Puerto Rican migration peaked. Many Puerto Ricans came to New York City to work in the garment and needlework industries and settled in “colonias” or communities in East Harlem. “Studies of the impact of Puerto Rican migration into the city surged during these years, raising concerns as to how this historically insular ethnic group was assimilating, in ever-increasing numbers into American mainstream c...