Story Parallels

Romeo and Juliet starts out with a street fight between the Montagues and Capulets, as the Jets and the Sharks do. The beginning fight is broken up by Krupke and Schrank, just as Prince Escalus breaks up the Montague/Capulet fight. Juliet is betrothed to Paris, and Maria has been set up with Chino (however, their characters aren't very similar). Some Montague men crash the Capulet party in which Romeo meets Juliet. In West Side Story, Maria and Tony see each other from opposite sides of the dance and are immediately attracted to each other. Romeo searches for Juliet and finds her at her balcony. After the dance, Tony finds Maria and uses the fire escape. In Romeo and Juliet they go to the Friar to get married. Maria and Tony set up a fake wedding in a bridal shop. In the big fight scene, Bernardo kills Riff like Tybalt kills Mercutio. Tony avenges Riff's death by killing Bernardo, just as Romeo kills Tybalt. Both stories feature Maria/Juliet's false death. Anita tells the Jets that Chino has killed Maria. Juliet fakes her death. Tony seeks out Chino in misery, wishing for him to die also. Romeo wishes to visit Juliet's grave to take poison and die with her. The nurse is played around with and disgraced by Montague men. The same was for Anita by the Jets. Chino seeks out Tony to kill him. Paris finds Romeo in Juliet's tomb and duels with Romeo, resulting in Paris' death.

Many of the key characters in West Side Story are based on counterparts in Romeo and Juliet:


Tony
/ Romeo
Maria / Juliet
Bernardo / Tybalt
Anita / Nurse
Riff / Mercutio
Doc / Friar Lawrence
Chino / Paris
Jets / Montagues
Sharks / Capulets
Krupke, Schrank / Prince Escalus
Action / Benvolio