111 West Side Story Trivia Questions & Answers

Answer: Valentina

Moreno plays Valentina, the widow of Doc, the owner of the drug store in the original film. She has a unique perspective on the romance between Tony and Maria as a Hispanic woman who married a white man (during the Nadir of race relations, probably sometime in the 1920s).

Moreno, who won an Academy Award for playing Anita, has lost none of her steps as she approaches 90. Valentina is a mentor to Tony, giving him life advice and tutoring him in Spanish.

Rosalia (Ana Isabelle Acevedo Aviles), Charita (Tanairi Sade Vazquez) and Jacinta (Edriz E. Rosa Pérez) are girlfriends of the Sharks.

Answer: Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg was the director in charge of this remake of a film which won ten Oscars in its first version. Spielberg had first become interested in the film as a child and mentioned his interest in directing a new version back in 2014, although he has been quoted as staying he wanted to make a musical as long ago as 2004. The film was originally due to be released in 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic intervened, but the delay to 2021 gave the new film an extra resonance, 60 years after the original.

Spielberg's credits are far too numerous to list but include 'Jurassic Park' (1993), 'Saving Private Ryan' (1998) and 'Bridge of Spires' (2015) to name a few.

Answer: George Chakiris

George Chakiris appeared in numerous movies, on Broadway and TV. Good looking and a great dancer he could be seen in the chorus line of the movie "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", as a main character in the movie "Diamond Head" and on the soap "Santa Barbara". He won a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of Bernardo in "West Side Story". In the movie his girlfriend was Anita (played by Rita Moreno).

Answer: Chino

In "Romeo and Juliet", Romeo kills Paris, but in "West Side Story" Chino kills Tony.

Answer: Polish

Tony was of Polish descent. Rival gang members enjoyed using racial slurs towards him.

Answer: Chino

This happens in both the play and the movie, at the very end. Chino shoots Tony both to get revenge for the death of Bernardo, and also perhaps a little because Chino loves Maria, and is jealous of Tony.

Answer: Sharks

The Puerto Rican gang was known as the Sharks, their arch enemies, of course, the Jets.

Answer: New York

The film is set in the late 50s, early 60s and portrayed the time and troubles in New York, caused mainly by the problems of immigration.

Answer: Lincoln Center

The 2021 film opens with a long pan over a neighborhood that is in the process of renewal (or annihilation, from the perspective of the Jets). Half bulldozed apartment buildings are being removed to make way for the soon to be built Lincoln Center. Groundbreaking began in the spring of 1959 and construction continued throughout the 1960s.

The demolition intro would place the setting for much of the action on the Upper West Side of Manhattan (hence the name of the play). Lincoln Center is just west of Broadway, between 62nd and 65th Streets. It is the premier performing arts center in the United States, and is home to the New York Philharmonic Orchestra (which Leonard Bernstein led at the time he was working on "West Side Story").

The issue of urban renewal is a major subplot for "West Side Story" as the Jets feel they are being driven out of their neighborhood by forces they can't control. Add a major influx of immigrants into New York, and you have the keys to the tension in the play.

The World Trade Center was built in the early 1970s in lower Manhattan. The UN headquarters was built on the east side of the city and completed in 1952. Shea Stadium was in Flushing Meadows, Queens and was completed in 1964.

Spielberg uses the demolished landscape to great effect, especially during "Jet Song" at the start of the film.

Answer: Valentina

In the original version, Tony worked in a store for a character named Doc. Moreno was cast as the widow of Doc, still employing Tony in her shop and allowing him to live on the premises. Valentina is the mentor for many of the Jets, not just Tony, and (as Doc did in the original) prevents the gang attack on Anita and shames the young men for their actions. Moreno won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Anita but has not been nominated for the 2021 version.

As well as acting in the film, Moreno was credited as executive producer.

Answer: Romeo

Tony and Romeo are both the lead male lovers in these stories. Tony and Riff started the Jets.

Answer: Ice

Riff says, 'Your best man fights our best man, and WE pick him.' Bernardo had hoped to fight Tony.

Answer: Jets and Sharks

The gangs were based on the two rival families in Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' and the film has the same disastrous result.

Answer: Jose DeVega

Jose DeVega only appeared as Chino in the movie. William Bramley played Officer Krupke in both versions, Tony Mordente played A-Rab in the Broadway version and Action in the movie, and David Winters played Baby John in the Broadway version and A-Rab in the movie.

Answer: A bathroom

Riff and Bernardo meet in the men's room of the community center during, or shortly after, the dance. They discuss the location and weapons (and specifically exclude guns). Riff would later violate that and bring a gun to the rumble. Tony's attempt to talk Riff out of bringing the gun leads to a highly stylized performance of 'Cool."

Doc's drugstore was the setting for the negotiation in the 1961 film.

Answer: Tony

Elgort was born in New York in 1994 and began studying acting at the age of 12, overlapping with his ballet training at the School of American Ballet. His first acting role came on the stage in 2012 before he landed a role in 'Carrie' (2013) as Carrie's date for the ill fated prom. Ansel also starred in the 2014 film 'The Fault in Our Stars'. In 'West Side Story', Ansel did all his own singing, including some which were done live during filming of the scenes, including parts of 'Maria'. Playback was used for several songs - unsurprisingly when you consider how strenuous some of the scenes are.

Answer: Officer Krupke

William Bramley portrayed Officer Krupke both on Broadway and in the movie. This officer was somewhat slow witted.
The Jets sang this song to Officer Krupke as they tried to explain why they were the way they were. The Officer was seen a number of times in the movie, most notably at Doc's store. There were a number of famous lyrics from this song such as:
Dear kindly Sergeant Krupke,
You gotta understand,
It's just our bringin' up-ke
That gets us out of hand.
Our mothers all are junkies,
Our fathers all are drunks.
Golly Moses, natcherly we're punks!
And
Gee, Officer Krupke,
We're down on our knees,
'Cause no one wants a fellow with a social disease.
Gee, Officer Krupke,
What are we to do?
Gee, Officer Krupke,
Krup you!
This song was changed for the movie to get by the censors.

Answer: The Sharks and the Jets

The Sharks are the Puerto Ricans, the Jets are the Americans.

Answer: Romeo and Juliet

The modern play was based on Romeo and Juliet. The two gangs replaced the two feuding families with the end result being a tragedy.

Answer: Anton

Maria says the line, "Te adoro, Anton" on the balcony, after finding out Tony's full name. This means in Spanish, "I love (or adore) you, Anton."

Answer: Glad Hand

Played by John Astin, a few years before he became Gomez Addams on 'The Addams Family'.

Answer: Stephen Sondheim

Sondheim is rated one the finest lyricists of his generation. Anyone who can rhyme the word 'Krupke' with the line 'It's just my bringin' upke' has real talent.