West Side Story - Characters

Characters

Male Jets

  • Riff, quick-tempered but zany leader of the Jets
  • Tony, former joint-leader of the Jets, gone straight. Riff's best friend.
  • Ice/ Diesel, second-in-command of the Jets. Ice was a character created for the movie, but has been adopted in later stage productions.
  • Action, the most quick-tempered member of the Jets, always ready for a fight. Takes over as leader after Riff's death.
  • A-Rab, a happy-go-lucky Jet who is beaten up by the Sharks in the opening sequence
  • Baby John, the youngest Jet, A-Rab's best friend
  • Snowboy
  • Joyboy
  • Big Deal
  • Tiger
  • Mouthpiece
  • Gee-Tar

Male Sharks

  • Bernardo, Maria's brother, leader of the Sharks
  • Chino, Maria's hot-tempered suitor, Bernardo's best friend
  • Pepe, second-in-command of the Sharks
  • Indio
  • Loco
  • Jauno
  • Luiz
  • Rocco/Anxious
  • Toro
  • Nibbles/Del Campo
  • Chile

Female Jets

  • Graziella, Riff's girlfriend (Ice / Diesel's girlfriend in some productions)
  • Velma, Ice's girlfriend (Riff's girlfriend in some productions)
  • Minnie, Baby John's girlfriend
  • Clarice, Action's girlfriend
  • Pauline, A-Rab's girlfriend
  • Anybodys, a tagalong tomboy, eventually accepted into the gang and falls in love with Action

Female Sharks

  • Maria, Puerto Rican ingenue; Bernardo's sister
  • Anita, saucy friend of Maria and girlfriend of Bernardo, though they seem poorly matched
  • Rosalia, argues with Anita in "America"; Indio's girlfriend
  • Consuela, Pepe's girlfriend
  • Teresita, Loco's girlfriend
  • Francisca, Jauno's girlfriend
  • Estella, Luiz's girlfriend
  • Margarita, Toro's girlfriend

Adults

  • Officer Krupke, an agressive but inept cop
  • Doc, a weary old candy store owner
  • Glad Hand, the inept chaperone at the dance
  • Detective Schrank, a racist police lieutenant

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Famous quotes containing the word characters:

    Thus we may define the real as that whose characters are independent of what anybody may think them to be.
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    Of all the characters I have known, perhaps Walden wears best, and best preserves its purity. Many men have been likened to it, but few deserve that honor. Though the woodchoppers have laid bare first this shore and then that, and the Irish have built their sties by it, and the railroad has infringed on its border, and the ice-men have skimmed it once, it is itself unchanged, the same water which my youthful eyes fell on; all the change is in me.
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    Waxed-fleshed out-patients
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    All dodging the toad work
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